Manage Your Hair While Going Gray

There are things that need to be taken into consideration when it comes to taking care of our gray hair. Regardless of how you decide to transition to gray, the most important thing is to focus on the health of your hair.  Healthy hair grows faster.  Whether you have chosen to shave your head, or do it cold turkey, the process involves growing your grays out, so the faster the better! 

This is the time where we need to start reassessing our hair routine, because gray hair is a bit different than the hair we have taken advantage of for years.  The first thing to know is that gray hair may be drier than before, which can lead to frizz and changes in texture.  The second thing is that gray hair can yellow due to a plethora of reasons.  I will do a separate post on “Why your gray hair is Yellowing”.  Arming yourself with this information is the first step in coming up with a great game plan on how to take care of your gray hair.  

The first thing to do is address the hydration of your hair.  Hydrated hair is stronger and healthier, so finding a good hydrating shampoo and conditioner is key. Washing your hair less will also help build the moisture barrier, because you are not stripping it as often of the natural oils.  Brushing your hair thoroughly to distribute the natural oils is always a good practice along with getting your hair trimmed regularly. Basically, everything you do to keep your body healthy reflects through our skin, hair, and nails. I think keeping this step as simple as possible is best, because if we start adding to many additional products, oils, etc., you really have to be careful that they are not causing other problems, like weighing your hair down or discoloring your hair.

 The next issue that is very common is yellowing of gray hair. There are ways of combating this, such as purple shampoo to tone your hair and clarifying shampoos to remove any product build up, but both of these shampoos are drying, so you really want to use these sparingly. What I think is more important than combating yellow, is preventing it in the first place. 

 One thing that can yellow our grays is heat, but did you know that heat can actually burn your hair? I was watching another youtuber, and she had grown out her beautiful gray hair for 18 months.  It was stunning, and she is beautiful regardless of what color her hair is, but she used a new flatiron on her hair that was apparently way too hot, and it literally scorched her hair.  She actually showed in her video her using the flatiron and how it turned her hair this reddish/brown color.  I was shocked.  She tried all these treatments to remove the stains from her hair, but ended up having to dye her hair back to a dark brown.  I was devastated for her, it was heartbreaking to know that she went through all that time growing her hair out, and then it was ruined beyond repair.  So, I decided I needed to do some research and see why something like this could happen.        

I found out that heat can damage all hair, but on hair that has lost its pigment (gray), you will actually see the burn.  Pigment, even synthetic pigment, adds to the strength of our hair, so when your hair loses its pigment, it is more susceptible to damage caused by heat and that is not just styling tools, that can also include sun exposure. Depending on the degree of damage, it can look anywhere from pale yellow to a dark, burnt, orange-brown color.  Damage can be chronic in the case of daily exposure to heat, or it can be acute, just like in this case, where you expose your hair to extreme heat at once.  Either way, you can damage your hair beyond repair. 

 So, we need to do our best to protect our hair from heat.  A couple suggestions I have are using heat protectors, sunscreens for your hair, as well as limit the use of styling tools. Test to see if you can use less heat when using these tools.  Try it on lower settings.  The less heat you use, the better.  I know all of you have probably already heard this before, but especially with gray hair, it will be in your face just how important this is if you scorch your hair beyond repair.