How to Enhance Natural Gray Hair Without Damage
Today, I’m sharing how I took my natural grown-out gray hair from this to this, all while preserving my gray hair strands. I did this without damage, without hair dye, and without the major production that is a typical home hair coloring session.
Stick around to learn about my process to get this result and my ultimate hair care companion that helps me jazz up my brassy, dull, mousy brown hair.
Welcome and Introduction
Hello, my friends! I hope you’re doing fantastic today. To my newcomers, I am very happy that you’re here, and I do hope that you’ll subscribe to my little corner of the internet where I share insights, ideas, and hopefully inspiration in the things that I’m passionate about: creativity, organization, and self-care.
My Journey to Embracing Gray Hair
Before I get to my process, let me set the table. I decided to let my gray hair grow out about six years ago after contending with covering my gray roots for close to 20 years.
I still very clearly remember pulling out my first few gray hairs in high school, which is a gift from my father, who was completely gray by a very young age. Shortly after those first strands, I hopped onto that hamster wheel of coloring my hair every three to five weeks to cover up my roots.
Fast forward to my 39th birthday, sitting across from my dad in his mid-70s at the time of this photo, and I realized I was fighting a losing battle that I no longer wanted to be a part of.
It was the spring of 2018, the icy white highlights and the silver hair look were very much in vogue, and I figured it was as good a time as any to bite the bullet and be done with dyeing my hair and covering my roots. I just let the gray hair go.
Challenges and Benefits of Going Gray
Six years later, I am still very content with the decision that I made. But there were some things that I missed from those days of regular hair coloring sessions.
For one, I missed the richer hair color tones that Mother Nature did not bless me with, but that I think are more complimentary to my eye color and my skin tone.
Second, there was a level of frizz control and added shine that I got following each hair dye session that I appreciated and wanted the benefit of. I just didn’t want all the hassle and headache of dealing with hair dye.
The Game-Changing Product: L’Oreal Le Color One-Step Toning Gloss
That’s absolutely why I love this product from L’Oreal. The Le Color One-Step Toning Gloss checks all the boxes.
It gives me a hint of color, tames my frizz, adds shine and dimension, preserves my gray hair, and kind of enhances it a bit.
Most importantly, gone are the days of the full-blown production during the application and treatment process.
I am able to apply this product in the shower. I don’t need gloves, I don’t need to be hyper-concerned with any cast-off or anything getting stained, and I have white walls and white floors, so that is very important to me.
Preparing for the Treatment
Basically, the steps of the treatment are so incredibly easy that I decided to share them here with you today. It’s a mishmash of footage, and I’m hoping that it’s not too jarring and that you can tolerate it.
To prepare for the treatment, I use a clarifying shampoo to strip away any of the residual buildup I have on my hair to ensure that I get the best absorption and longevity out of the color that is deposited from the glossing treatment.
I use this product from Amazon, and it’s free of all the bad stuff that you don’t want—parabens and sulfates, you name it, it’s free of it. But it’s really gentle;
you can use it every single day, and I just feel like it creates the perfect clean slate to do right before I do the glossing treatment.
Applying the Toning Gloss
After I’m done shampooing, I will use a dry washcloth in the shower to remove as much water as possible and to take my hair from soaking wet to just slightly damp.
Next, I will apply the product. I’ll split my hair into two sections and do my best to distribute the treatment throughout all the strands.
I then pile my hair on top of my head, throw a hair clip into it to keep everything kind of collected on top of my head, cover it with a disposable shower cap, and then let the glossing treatment work its magic.
Passing the Time
Once I’m all set, I get out of the shower, and to burn the 15-minute treatment time that’s required, I will actually do a facial treatment and some other chores just around my bathroom while I’m waiting for the time to pass.
Here I am doing an at-home laser treatment with the NIRA laser around my crow’s feet, my nasolabial folds, my smile lines, and my upper lip.
This is one of many of the skincare devices in my arsenal, and I have got an entire series in the works in honor of my 45th birthday, which is about two months from now. So definitely stay tuned if that’s something you’re interested in and want to learn what I have to share in the world of self-care and skincare because I am absolutely self-care obsessed.
DIY Sugar Scrub
Next, while I still had a little bit more time to wait on the treatment, I decided to refill my at-home sugar scrub mixture.
I got the inspiration for this mixture while I was working at The Ritz Carlton Spa Vita the Lago in Lake Las Vegas, my first job straight out of college way back in 2001.
They offered this blue flower scrub treatment, and after learning how simple the ingredients were and how easy it was to make the body scrub, I figured I could make my own DIY version using baby oil for a fraction of the cost.
I love the exfoliating and moisturizing components of this treatment, but it definitely increases the possibility and risk of slipping in the shower.
I will also link the floor mat in the description below that solves that concern and takes away any risk of me slipping while I’m doing this hydrating exfoliating solution.
Finishing the Hair Treatment
Getting back to the hair treatment, that’s all there is to it. I jumped back in the shower after about 25 minutes, rinsed out the product, dried my hair last night before bed, and here are the results.
This is without any additional lighting in the room; there is a window opposite me, and then this is just a light that I have on top of the camera just to get a little bit different imaging.
I just love the fact that I get so much dimension and color and shine with none of the headache, and without, and being able to preserve my gray strands and almost kind of make them look, for me, more like highlights as opposed to gray.
They’re definitely shimmery highlights, but I’ll take it.
Maintaining the Results
I will get about two weeks of life out of one treatment, and that is figuring that I wash my hair about three times a week. Sometimes I will reapply the treatment within those two weeks to enhance and stretch the color treatment a bit more.
Or if I go longer than a two-week period, I will just go back to grabbing the clarifying shampoo and getting that clean slate and starting all over.
Using the clarifying shampoo actually removes any hint of color that’s left over, so this is also an option if you’re unhappy with the glossing results or if you don’t like the color that your hair turned out, but that has never been my experience, and I have never wanted to prematurely remove the color from my hair.
Conclusion
That’s it for today’s video. If you’re considering letting your gray hair grow out, I think this is a great product to help through that transitioning time.
I wish I knew about it back then. If you’re like me and you’re sporting the salt and pepper combo and you have gray hair intermingled with pigmented hair, there are plenty of different color options that the color gloss offers that you can play with while still preserving your gray strands.
Finally, if you are a full silver-haired beauty, Le Color offers shades that will enhance your silver hair and make it really pop, or you can opt for the clear color option that doesn’t add any hint of color but still provides the frizz control and the shine.
Please like this video if you found it informative or helpful, and let me know in the comments below if you plan to or have used this product and love it as much as I do. I hope to see you in my next video, and until then, have a good one!
