I inherited my head of natural brown hair (uncommon amongst East Asians) from my dad and premature greying from my mum. It wasn’t a disheartening rite of passage spotting my first grey hair when I was still in my early 20s. They were on the underside of my hair, and as the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind.
Now that I’m in my mid-30s, I’m roughly 10% grey. Demi-permanent colour (aka “hair manicure” in Japan) has served me well for years as it softly blends white strands. While I didn’t have to worry about regrowth or damage, I find it high maintenance since I see a complete colour reversal in about a month.
I had a bit of an epiphany around December when I was scrolling through Instagram. Instead of blending to minimise contrast (or covering them up), I wanted to do the opposite. Add in strategic contrast highlights to make those pesky white strands unnoticeable even as the hair grows.
I originally wanted high-contrast highlights against a dark base. But thank goodness for Kei who listened to what I wanted (roots that weren’t noticeable when they started to show through) and convinced me to do something better suited for my colouring and style.
Here’s a closeup of my hair a few days BEFORE the appointment. Do excuse the potato quality photo — it’s the only up-close photo I have that shows the natural colour (greys at all) and condition. I should have taken another (better) one. Too late!
And this is the after. The changes were diminutive, the overall effect was quite uplifting – and I didn’t have the settling-in period of high maintenance colour. It was my hair — greys and all — but better.
I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. Kei strategically placed ash-blonde foil highlights and babylights (super-fine, floss-thin highlights) where greys are. He also added lowlights as close to my natural shade as possible and gave more of a balayage effect. To finish, beige toner was applied all-over to counteract the warmth.
Cleverly placed highlights and babylights connect the new grey hair coming in and make it seem like the white strands are just part of the highlight. Having a blend of light and dark create a multi-tonal look that helps camouflage any unwanted greys while distracting from new growth. It’s much lower maintenance than a solid colour as it helps sneak grey hairs into my normal colour so regrowth isn’t visible.
I can highly recommend it if you have pesky premature greys and want to freshen up your colour but are bored of the frequent trips to the hair salon required for maintenance.
