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All About Hair...and So Much More.
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All About Hair...and So Much More.
244 Embracing the Transition to Natural Gray Hair with Confidence
Embrace the journey to your natural gray hair with confidence and grace. What if transitioning to gray could be one of the most empowering moves you make, redefining beauty on your own terms? Join me, Danise Keilitz, as we unravel the intricacies of this transformative process on All About Hair. Drawing upon my 30 years of expertise as a stylist educator and salon owner, I’m here to guide you through five common challenges of going gray, from handling that stark demarcation line to embracing the patience required for a full transition. Discover practical strategies, such as gray blending and hairstyle adjustments, to help you maintain a polished look and manage texture changes.
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Transitioning to your natural gray hair can be an empowering and beautiful journey, but it's not without its challenges. If you've been coloring your hair for years, there are a few things to consider before embarking on this transformative process. We're going to discuss five common concerns that often come up when going gray, along with some tips to navigate them successfully. Welcome to All About Hair, the podcast for anyone who loves the hair industry. I'm your host, denise Kylitz, a former stylist educator and owner of four award-winning salons with over 30 years of experience. Whether you're refining your skills or expanding your hair knowledge, you're in the right place. Skills or expanding your hair knowledge you're in the right place. Join me for expert tips, industry insights and practical advice to help you thrive in the world of hair. This is all about hair. You've probably seen all over social media all these beautiful, beautiful women growing out their gray hair, especially since COVID happened. However, there's a lot of people out there that are trying to grow out their gray hair because they see all this on social media and they're really discovering it's not as easy as it looks. You could either go in and pay someone to get you there gradually or, in some cases, someone to get you there gradually, or in some cases one full day session, because it is quite the challenge to do so or you can let it grow out naturally, and today we're going to discuss some of the concerns with growing it out naturally and maybe give you some advice on what you can do about that. So number one the demarcation line. You know, that line that comes in as your natural gray grows in the line between your colored and your natural hair can be very stark and very noticeable, almost looks like a skunk stripe, and it could feel pretty awkward for some of you, especially during those initial stages when you're not used to seeing roots. Strategies like blending, highlights or lowlights to help soften that transition that can really get you through. You could also do a gray blending. It's a very translucent, transparent, kind of semi-permanent color that where your whites are they look like highlights and where your darks are it looks like low lights, but it's got a little bit of tone to it. That could be something you might want to think about as well.
Speaker 1:Number two time commitment. Growing out gray hair requires patience because your hair only grows like half an inch a month. So, depending on your hair length, it could take months or even years to fully transition. So embracing the journey and working with a stylist to maintain a polished look during this time is key. So say, you have shoulder length hair and you start growing it out. You might want to consider taking your length a little bit shorter, so you're not dealing with all the colored parts versus the gray parts. Maybe change up your hairstyle a little bit during this journey, or maybe get layers, and that might help with that as well If you're not wanting to do any blending, highlights or lowlights. Also consider number three texture changes.
Speaker 1:Gray hair often has a different texture than pigmented hair and sometimes it's coarser, drier or more prone to frizz. So you might notice that difference in the two areas of your hair. So adopting a moisturizing and smoothing hair care routine is essential to keeping your grays looking healthy and vibrant, and you might want to consider maybe a hair oil to give you even some more moisture into coarse gray hair. You might want to just put it on where your gray hair is showing. You might want to put it on everywhere.
Speaker 1:Number four something you might want to consider as well is social or emotional adjustments. Yeah, that's a thing. Letting go of years of hair color can bring up mixed emotions, from excitement to insecurity, and some of you might feel a little unsure on how others will perceive your new look. Support and styling guidance can help you feel confident as you embrace your natural beauty. So ask your stylist how you can style your hair differently. You don't want to just wear it straight down, you don't want to wear it just in a ponytail. You need some kind of guidance to help you still feel confident and feel good and not feel like you're not taking care of yourself, because that's not what it is. So that leads me to number five styling adjustments. So natural gray hair can change the way you approach your styling. Your current wardrobe, your makeup or your hairstyle preferences might need some slight adjustments to compliment the new tones in your hair.
Speaker 1:Now let me tell you a story about this. This actually happened. Well, it's happened to a lot of my clients. They grow out their gray hair and they're going to think they're going to love it. Think about this as we age, our skin tone changes too. Okay, so sometimes when we grow out our gray hair and it's a very ashy gray and then you have kind of an ashen, if you will, skin tone, it doesn't really compliment each other. So you almost feel like, whoa, do I need to wear more makeup? And you know that goes against what you're trying to do. You're trying to be more natural, less maintenance all over If you're like me, less maintenance on your makeup routine as well.
Speaker 1:So what I always suggest is a very, very translucent gray blending method of taking a demi-permanent color, maybe a beige, maybe level eight, just depends on where you're starting mixing that with clear. So it's very translucent, maybe a beige, maybe level eight, just depends on where you're starting Mixing that with clear. So it's very translucent, putting that all over your hair. And so what happens is it's almost like wearing a translucent pink nail polish very nude, very sheer. Same thing, almost like pantyhose If you remember wearing pantyhose. You can still see through everything. It's still your hair. It just adds just a little bit of tone to it. So it really looks a lot better on your skin tone and the wonderful thing is is that it just fades off gradually. You will never see a line of demarcation. It adds a ton of shine to your hair and your stylist can actually play with the tone of it.
Speaker 1:It doesn't have to be beige. You can actually do it with just clear color and add maybe your hair looks a little brassy. Well then you would want your stylist to put in some violet tones in there to balance out the yellow or the brassiness. There's all kinds of things. It's just using the color wheel, it's using common sense and then mixing it with clear so it's very, very translucent, and make sure it is a demi-permanent or even a semi-permanent color.
Speaker 1:You do not want to use anything that's going to lift your color out of your hair or lighten your hair. You don't want to change the level of your hair or lighten your hair. You don't want to change the level of your hair. All you want to do is put shine, put a little bit of tone on top of your hair. So just think about that, ask your stylist about that. More and more hairstylists are offering this service out in the salon and if you're a stylist and you're not offering it, you might want to consider it. And if you have questions on how that actually works, get in touch with me. I do not mind.
Speaker 1:Let's review those five concerns with growing out natural gray hair. Number one the demarcation line. Yep, that skunk line. Uh, you're either going to have to live through it or have a strategy like blending, highlights or low lights to soften that transition while it's growing out. The time commitment. It takes a long time to grow out the hair longer than you probably think. The texture changes might want to consider using more moisturizing and smoothing hair care routine.
Speaker 1:Your social or your emotional adjustments yeah, getting used to that. What are you going to be looking like? Right, what? How are your friends? How are your peers going to perceive you? Um, and styling adjustments you might want to try a new, fresh hairstyle.
Speaker 1:You know, um, my, I have a twin sister. Y'all know that, um, and she's a hundred percent gray and she loves it and he looks spectacular on her. If you want to see her hair, I have a YouTube video. I've cut her hair. You can look through there. It's on a layered bob or graduated bob. She's got beautiful hair and so sometimes just the styling adjustment of modernizing your haircut to go with the gray hair, it actually makes it even look better, because the last thing you want is I'm doing this in quotes an old lady haircut with gray hair. You don't want that, you're just wanting to have lower maintenance, I'm assuming. Look, if you happen to live in my area, I would love the opportunity if you're ready to take the first step towards embracing your natural gray, let's create some kind of customized transition for you. If you want some more information on that, I have a YouTube video.
Speaker 1:You can contact me. You can get in touch with me. You can get on my Instagram. You can email me, go to my website. Make sure all those links are linked below, and I really appreciate you being here today. So, as always, always remember when you know better, you do better, and go out and make it a great day. Thanks for tuning in to all about hair. Here's what I'd love for you to do next Take a screenshot of this episode and share it on your Instagram stories. Tag me at Denise Keilitz so I can see you're listening. Sharing helps more people discover the podcast and if you're really enjoying the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find us. Thanks again, I'm Denise Keilitz, and remember when you know better, you do better. See you next week.
