Transitioning Dyed Red Hair to Gray: All My Steps 18 Month Mark

This is my gray hair transition journey. You too can learn how to transition from dyed red hair to natural gray with a clear, step-by-step process. Tips for blending, maintenance, and embracing your gray journey

I titled this 18 months, but it is actually 18-21 months. There are two appointment write-ups in this post. The next write-up it will be two years since I last used red hair dye.

Transitioning Dyed Red Hair to Gray: All My Steps 18 Month Mark

This is my 12th salon visit on gray transition journey.

I expected this appointment to be a quick toner over my yellow hair, and I would be gone quickly.

The best laid plans…

My stylist seems surprised when she saw how bad my hair looked this visit. I told her my purple shampoo theory (my purple shampoo was old and not working well), and she was amenable, but not convinced, about that idea.

We had a very long chat about my cutting it to a bob and just coming in every other month for a toner, but I really, really like pulling my hair back and up, so she had a different idea.

She started by cutting some more off… the “dark tips” as she called them.

Then she heavily foiled my hair.

Heavily.

She only used a 7 vol so it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. (I think she later regretted not doing 10 vol.)

That picture was after it had sat on my head for quite some time and she checked, and then rubbed in the lightener, and then just squished those few together.

After the heavy foil, I went back to the sink for a pretoner. And after the pretoner, the icy silver toner.

And then it was back to the chair for more hair to be chopped off.

In all, I was in the chair for FIVE HOURS. It has been a long time since my appointment was that long. Hubby actually called me because he was concerned I was gone so long!

My hair has not been this short is over 10 years. And I really do not like it. It just touches my shoulders. Getting the short bob would have been bad. Very bad. I am glad I did not do it.
(Note: Looking back, the bob would have been the ticket. I’d have hated it for six months – really, really, REALLY hated it – but I would have been gray/silver/white and done.)

I did purchase new purple shampoo. Between that and the pretone, I am interested in how my hair will hold up until my next appointment. Right now, it shows a dark smudge in the images, but in real life it is white/silver/gray.

Follow-up …

A week later I asked Hubby if he thought my hair looked gray, or white with a dark smudge. He agreed I do not look gray/silver.

I have no idea what has been going on the last few months. I know my hair changed after my fall last year, but this is kinda weird. He thinks it looks yellow-ish. I think it looks white-ish. I. We both agree it does not look gray or silver.

I am 20 or so months into my gray transition. As of now, I am considering finishing my hair appointment for the year, and then just letting it grow for a while.

My bangs, which were about 1″ long when I started this journey (I didn’t do it, my old hairdresser #$@!et them up) have grown out to below my chin and been cut the last few times I went to the hairdresser. That means my gray hair grow out should be as just long, and it isn’t. Maybe too much highlighting?

I may change my mind come December, but as of now (it is June), I just want to let it grow and stop with the highlights (I stopped the lowlights about six months ago). Time to bite the bullet? We shall see.

10 days before my next appointment I am seriously considering canceling it and just growing my hair out never mind waiting until December. I am almost 21 months into this journey, and after that last lightening session, I only have about 3-4″ of roots in some place on the top layer of my hair. And my hair looks terrible.

At 21 months, I should be pretty close to done my transition to gray with the length my hair currently is, not looking at another year of growth before I can bob it. The entire underside of my hair is silver/gray/white. When I realized my face framing pieces -which are naturally white and were white down past my chin are now 3″roots, I got upset. Very upset. And then Hubby mentioned I was really blonde, and yeah, I am really blonde… with silver/gray/white/brown roots.

Even taking into account the fall I had 15 months prior that really messed up my hair growth (and appears to have changed some of the natural colors!), my roots “should” at least be to my chin based upon what my white face framing was before this last trip to the salon.

Even though I would have hated it (I sure don’t like what I have now), maybe I should have gotten that bob? I’d have been done and on to the “just let it grow” stage.

The last few months have been my most “What am I doing!?” thoughts in quite some time. I feel like no progress has been made and that I have actually taken steps backwards after the last two foiling sessions.

What to do, what to do?

This is my 13th salon visit on gray transition journey.

I went in with my hair looking atrocious. I was ready to either dye it or shave it off. My hairdresser, however, was thrilled at how yellow (no orange) it was after the toner faded.

I had asked her if it was possible to apply a toner without touching the white as I was losing out on the face framing. I also told her no more highlights (she agreed) and that I was on a cutting hiatus.

What she did was clarify my hair, then pre-tone, but not the roots. She basically painted it on the pre-toner like it was hair dye and then rubbed it in.

After 20 minutes, it was back at the sink and she toned with a no-lift toner in icy smoke.

The photos show it as blonde, but it is not. It is silver/gray with shots of white and pepper (I have no idea why these after photos are on a diagonal). And, it looks wonderful.

She also told me I can use purple shampoo right away on this toner if I like. The other toners I would have to wait a few washes.

So, we shall see how long this toner lasts as my next appointment isn’t for seven weeks.

Follow up…

This was a difficult after session for me. I got very sick for nearly two months, and did not keep up with my hair routine. In some ways, that was good – I allowed it to dry naturally (no heat) a number of times, and even spent longer in-between shampoos than normal.

The negative is my hair did not seem to grow. At all.

It also did not get brassy, although the toner did wash out.

To be honest, I am strongly second guessing not cutting my hair into a short bob the visit before last, or last visit. If I had, I would have been gray/white/silver and just growing it out. All that foiling on the top of my hair resulted in foils on gray, silver, and unfortunately, white hair.

Combining that with my hair not really growing much the last two months… I am again reassessing my hair choices. (Because of the foils on the top of my hair the last two foil sessions, it is too short to bob and get rid of all the non-silver right now.)

It is funny, the longer between sessions the more I seem to look at my hair and wonder if I am doing the right thing. I am now very close to two years from my last red hair-dye, and I feel I should be further along in the grow out process.

This is where the gray blending does a grow-out dirty. If I had gone cold turkey, I’d have been done. Of course, if I had gone cold turkey, I would not have lasted six months and I would have been back to dying it.

It is quite the conundrum.

I will say that the underneath of my hair is finished. Every time I pull my hair back to put it up, all I see is gray/silver/white. A ponytail is hilarious because it is this 6″ tail that starts gray/silver/white and then becomes brown/blonde/banana colored from mids to the end. A French twist is my “best” hairstyle right now. It hides most of the non-silver.

My next appointment is in two days. I plan on never foiling again. I need to make some hard choices, power through, and let this grow.

Now, to see if I stick to this decision.

Note: This is the ninth in a series of posts about my gray hair transition journey. I hope you will stay with me for my quarterly updates on the highs, and lows, of transitioning to gray/silver/white. My multicolored hair journey!

● Transitioning Dyed Red Hair to Gray: All My Steps This is my initial post that includes all the in-depth research I did when coming to the decision to go gray.
● Transitioning Dyed Red Hair to Gray: All My Steps, Part 2 Lots and lots of highlights and low-lights
● Transitioning Dyed Red Hair to Gray: All My Steps, Part 3 more highlights, and finally some gray!
● Transitioning Dyed Red Hair to Gray: All My Steps, Part 4 The start of visible natural gray.
● Transitioning Dyed Red Hair to Gray: All My Steps, Part 5 – A bad month
● Transitioning Dyed Red Hair to Gray: All My Steps, After The Fall – This is what happened after I had a major fall.
● Transitioning Dyed Red Hair to Gray: All My Steps One Year Mark
● Transitioning Dyed Red Hair to Gray: All My Steps 15 Month Mark