resistant gray hair

help me puleez!!!! I want to achieve some blonde color on my resistant gray hair. i have some dark hair, very little...that was my natural color untill my natural color became platinumish, i must achieve some lift on the dark hair and deposit on the gray,.....but it just isn't happening!!!

I have tried loreal mega blondes lightest beige blonde,and champagne blonde..I really loved the yellow color that i saw on some of my hair,from the champagne shade,I've also tried satin brand in shade 10g which is ultra light golden blonde...my hair turned a ruddy pale brown/gray . I always stay level 10 or 9 I know not to jump levels and to stay within 2 levels at least. I also have used wella coloe charm in shades 841 combined with 941, but i don't like that neutural brown I detected from 911 shade. I was using 20 volume but had tried 30 and found the coverage was more evenly dispursed how ever minimal.I've also tried combining 841 with shade 1200. no matter what the combo the gray stayed white and didn't take regardless of all claims made on every box of color ,boasting 100% gray coverage. I know my hair has to be filled, not sure how to achieve this. Last month I was able to afford ,by exception to go to a shop and to have my color done professionally, the results were not better just more evenly white w/some pale yellow. I read about softening hair but the instructions said to apply 20 volume comb through and wait 10 min then rinse completely. what was confusing is that I am unsure, and have never applied color to wet hair before,and if I am to dry it first it still doesn't make sense because you aren't suposed to apply color to freshly washed/clean hair. can you understand my confussion?.....And that is why I haven't tried softening.p.s. This color history was over a period of 21/2- 3yrs.

Most blonde dyes bleach hair (or lighten it), I'm not sure you'll be able to get hair that is already lighter than blonde to blonde....I think the only way you can cover gray is to cover it a darker color. I really don't know that much about gray though, so if anyone thinks I'm wrong about this, please correct me!

Have you tried looking into a yellow pigment depositing shampoo, to see if you can get a yellow shade deposited onto the gray? I haven't tried this as I said, and I'm not convinced that it would look very natural (I'm imagining it coming out crayon yellow...not good), just something to consider. I'm not even sure where you'd get yellow shampoo... Complements may make one, but I don't remember seeing yellow last time I was at Sallys. (I only know of it because I had one when I was a teen for putting gold in your hair, but they don't make that one anymore).

I've been wondering about this, turns out I'm wrong! I found this article about softening gray hair before going blonde:
http://www.hairboutique.com/tips/tip1120.htm

An excellent article on going gray:
http://www.hairboutique.com/tips/tip10011.htm
which actually suggests you avoid yellowing of gray hair by using a violet shampoo (the opposite of yellow). It also gives many examples/photos of gray haired ladies who are now blonde.

Unfortunately, I've been unable to find anywhere on the net that actually tells you how to DO it yourself, most just say go to a salon.

I don't know if you meant "soften" as in "to ripen for dye" like the first article states, or just soften as in make your hair softer. The best thing I've ever used to make my hair softer (and again, I don't have experience with gray) is to use shampoo full of silicones, like pantene. These can build up on hair, so you should clarify hair once every week or two with a clarifying shampoo if you use them (or you can just pour diluted vinegar on your hair to get the same result...about 1 tablespoon vinegar in 1 cup of water). Stripping off this buildup will make hair feel softer. Some people don't like silicone shampoos because if your hair has a tendency to frizz, it will with cones (silicones can be identified in a conditioner as any word in the ingredients that end in "cone").

Also, doing a final rinse of the hair (after washing/ conditioning) in cold bottled water helps soften it as well. Water that sits out for 24 hours lets the chlorine escape, and if your water is "hard" or full of minerals, bottled water would be even better.

When I was a redhead/alburn I had tried a violet based color and my grays turned fuscia! I have also heard that ash shades can't cover gray. Does anyone know?

Y es I do have some dark hair in my crown area and the rest is blended with ots of grays in the back of my head and a little near my temples , if I notice that the color isn't lifting enough I just put some bw2 directly on those areas and blend it together with the dye. I always use high lift colors like around level 10 so when my gray comes in it doesn't jump out at you.I have been complimented on my platinum highlights....but we know better! I have used gray busters back when I had more natural color and was med brown/alburn they were ok then, but I also wasn't as gray or light as I am now. Have you tried gray busters on or with blonde? Any recomondations?

I was using just a high lift color-single process with developer on my whole head. It manages to blend with the least deposit in the front where my hair is most gray. I just want some deposit there and throughout. My hair is fine as it is and I don't want to break it. I actually went to a shop and the owner suggested that she should apply color every 2 weeks whole head applications to build the color on my strands, it started to look VERY DRY and I did it for 2 months and the deposit was minimal so I stopped going.

I was only touching up roots. I just didn't buy the shop owners theory of whole head applications to build color, I could see my hair becoming damaged and my hair actually looked slightly more colored as it was oxidizing(after 6weeks)then she'd reapply the whole head and I could swear she lifted me higher...I really think what little doposit was gained was gone with every new application. I just touched up my roots with colorsilk 11n I think they have mixed bases even though the n could be for neutural . Roots look ok. Do you think this color could be safer because it's low ammonia?

blonded by nature wrote: I was only touching up roots. I just didn't buy the shop owners theory of whole head applications to build color, I could see my hair becoming damaged and my hair actually looked slightly more colored as it was oxidizing(after 6weeks)then she'd reapply the whole head and I could swear she lifted me higher...I really think what little doposit was gained was gone with every new application. I just touched up my roots with colorsilk 11n I think they have mixed bases even though the n could be for neutural . Roots look ok. Do you think this color could be safer because it's low ammonia?

If Color Silk comes with 20 v then its going to do the same damage as any other tint, salon or otc.

Deposit only like Casting( Color Spa) or NI are a little better bc their peroxide is about 12v, and their deposit is more concentrated. Then if refreshing is needed its not going to be on long, about 5 min.
The only other thing I can suggest is a color rinse.
I would most def not keep using 20 v and color.

blonded by nature wrote: If I could've gotten away with using semi permanant color rinses etc.. that woud've been my first choice.NI isn't recommended for use on gray hair.

Yes it is, however they do give a percentage of how much gray, and they are talking about virgin hair( non processed)
You using NI after a highlift- its been processed. Many times a demi doesn't work well because the volume of peroxide doesn't break the base to allow the color. You hair has been processed, the NI will act as a deposit only color.

get a box of NI Sahara and do a Strand Test, you can leave it on 5 min or even up to 30. You want some color deposit- try 5 min and see, you can always go longer.



Adding: Your hair is probably very porous from all the processing. You can get a demi and use 5 volume- you will have to get this at Sally's. You should get alot of color deposit, but it will fade.