Gray hair tends to be stubborn when you try to cover it up. If you don’t use the right kind of dye and follow the right process, you might find grey streaks and strands still left in your hair after dyeing.
In this hair dyeing guide, we explain how to go from grey to blond. We discuss what happens if you put blonde dye on grey hair and give you some tips on how to color and style your grey or white hair.
Can You Put Blonde Dye On Grey Hair?
With many hair colors, you can’t just apply a certain dye like blonde on it and expect hair to change to that color. Color pigments interact to create new colors, so you might get unwanted results.
That’s not the case with naturally grey hair. Because it contains almost no color pigments, applying blonde dye on it will turn it blonde. The same is true for naturally white hair, which has no color pigments at all.
However, this applies only if you have 100% grey or white hair. If you still have some black, brown or yellow tones in your hair, you could get different results.
Another exception is if your grey hair comes from dyeing. In that case, the dye and your natural hair color (e.g. red) could interact with the blonde dye to create unexpected results.
In both these cases – where your hair is not completely grey and where you have dyed grey hair – you cannot just put blonde dye on your hair. There are some steps you need to take before you use the dye.
How To Dye Natural Grey Hair Blonde
Here’s a step by step process for going from grey (or white) to blonde.
1. Assess Your Current Hair Color
The first step is to figure out exactly how grey your hair is. Depending on your age and genetics, your level of grey can range from ‘bits of grey starting to appear at the roots’ to ‘a full head of grey’.
There are so many other variations in between these extremes. You might have only 25% or 50% of your hair that’s grey.
Knowing how much grey hair you have is important in choosing the style and dye for your hair.
For instance, if you have grey on just your roots, you can forgo the dye completely and use root concealer instead. If you have 25% grey, you can opt for highlights that preserve the grey hair while creating a beautiful style.
If your hair is partially grey, you can get away with using semi-permanent dye instead of permanent dye.
2. Decide What Kind of Blonde Dye You Want
The next step is deciding what kind of blonde dye you want.
First, determine if you need semi-permanent, demi-permanent or permanent hair dye. The best choice depends on the level of grey in your hair and how much grey you want to cover up.
If you have about 30% or less grey hair (or if you only want to cover 30% of your grey hair to create highlights), a semi-permanent dye is perfect.
Because semi-permanent dye only coats your hair, it doesn’t contain bleach or hydrogen peroxide. This makes it less damaging to your hair compared to permanent dye.
If you have up to 70% grey hair (or if you want between 30 and 70% of your grey hair), go for a demi-permanent hair dye. It provides better grey coverage and it’s safer for your hair since it also doesn’t contain peroxide or bleach.
If you have mostly or completely grey hair and you want to cover it all up, a permanent hair dye is the only one that can do that.
Permanent dye contains hydrogen peroxide, so it’ll do some damage to your hair. On the upside, it takes a lot longer to fade compared to semi and demi permanent dyes. It’s also more effective at hiding grey hair.
Next, decide which kind of blonde look you want. Choose a color that goes well with your skin undertone. Use an undertone color chart to determine if you have a cool, neutral or warm skin undertone.
Cool blonde dyes like platinum, pearl, ash or sandy blonde match nicely with cool skin undertones. Golden, strawberry, caramel and other warm blondes go well with warm skin undertones.
People with neutral skin undertones look good with any blonde hair color. Lucky them.
3. Bleach Your Hair, If Necessary
Understandably, most of us don’t want to hear the word ‘bleach’ when it comes to our hair. But it is necessary sometimes if you want to achieve the look you want.
As I explained earlier, putting blonde dye on grey hair without bleaching is fine. You’ll get the blonde look you want. But this works if your hair is 100% grey or white.
If you have some of your original hair color left, you’ll need to get rid of it before applying blonde dye. This is the only way to ensure you get a uniform blonde color.
There are two ways to bleach or lighten your hair to remove natural color pigments.
One, you can use a developer. Developer lightens hair about one or two levels on a hair color chart.
Developer is great if your remaining colored hair is already greying and just needs a final push to go fully grey. It also works well if your natural hair color is light brown or blonde.
The second option is to use bleach. This is stronger and can lighten your hair several levels. This makes it a good choice for darker hair colors.
You can go from brown or black to a very light yellow or blonde (note that you may need more than one bleaching session to completely remove hair color).
Note: Make sure you strictly follow application instructions for the bleach or developer. It’s especially important that you don’t leave it on your hair longer than the recommended time.
Once you apply bleach or developer, you’ll be left with a mix of grey and pale yellow hair. You can now dye it blonde.
4. Dye Your Hair
It’s best to go to the salon to have your hair dyed. Having a pro do it ensures you get great results and your hair is protected.
But you can also dye your own hair at home using a box dye kit. These kits usually include the developer.
Alternatively, you can buy the products you need separately. Get the shade of blonde dye you want plus a 20 volume developer. Mix the two in a 1:1 ratio.
Note: Don’t apply dye without the developer. The dye will not take. The developer is necessary for opening up the hair cuticles and allowing the dye molecules to get into your hair.
When applying blonde dye, be sure to fully cover all your hair starting from the roots to the tips. Divide your hair into four quadrants and tie three of them up. Starting with the untied section, work on each quadrant at a time.
Leave the dye mixture for the recommended period then rinse with water.
5. Apply Toner
Finish by applying toner (choose a shade that matches your new hair color) to reinforce your new blonde hair color and prevent brassiness.
How to Change Dyed Grey Hair to Blonde?
If your grey hair is as a result of a previous coloring, then the first step is getting rid of the artificial dye.
If it’s a permanent dye, you can bleach the hair to remove both artificial and natural colors or use a hair color remover to get rid of just the artificial dye.
If you have semi-permanent or demi-permanent grey dye, there are color removers formulated specifically for non-permanent hair dyes. You can also use homemade color removers like baking soda.
Alternatively, keep washing your hair with shampoo and the dye will eventually wash off. This could take some time, however.
After removing the artificial dye, check the color of your hair. If it’s already blonde, you can just use toner (plus developer) to get the perfect blonde shade.
If it’s too light, apply blonde dye and toner to get it where you want.
Can I Add Blonde Highlights To Grey Hair?
I know going fully blonde can be a big commitment for some people. Luckily, there’s a couple ways to test the waters before you go all in.
The first, which we have already discussed, is using semi-permanent or demi-permanent blonde. These wash off after several shampoo washes (6-12 for semi-permanent, 12-24 for demi-permanent) so you can go back to your original color if you don’t like the blonde look.
Another option is to go partly blonde using blonde highlights. It’s best to get these done at a salon as they can be tricky to do properly at home.
This option involves applying blonde hair color only to some sections of your hair. You get a beautiful mix of blonde and grey. When done right, the effect can be stunning.
Here’s a great video of grey hair being blended with highlights and lowlights (darker hair colors).
Can I Dye Grey Hair Blonde Without Using Bleach?
If your hair is fully grey or white, you can dye it blonde without bleaching it. You’ll still need to mix the dye with a developer for the new color to set.
However, if your hair is only partially grey, you’ll have to bleach it to get rid of the color pigments. Otherwise, you’ll not get the blonde look you are going for. Looking for more hair dyeing tips? Here’s what to do with expired hair dye
