I've had this color now for over two years and during that time, I've come quite familiar with many of the hair colors on the market. Of course I haven't tried them all, but I could easily say that I've tried most of them. During this time I've noticed that gray hair has grown in popularity and even though many people on the streets give me the weird look, so many have also told me that this color is amazing and wondered how I'm able to maintain it. And I'm talking about total strangers on the shop counter or restaurants. (In Amsterdam and London my hair was a big hit - so many people came to tell me that my hair is amazing, which is SO NICE!)
But before the hair colors a word of wisdom: Gray color is the hardest color to maintain at least if you have naturally dark hair ( as I do) and it takes up your time, patience and money. I go once a year to a hair saloon to get rid of the dark roots from around my head, and 2 times a year I blond my roots at home by myself. And getting the bleached hair gray is sometimes almost impossible. Somehow the color doesn't seem to attach to some parts of my hair and even after 2 years the parts are still a bit too yellow for my taste. But if you're ready to spend time and money on your hair then go for it!! And now to the colors:
I'll give each product stars from 1-5. one being the lowest score and five being the highest. This is the rate of how good the product is, how easy it is to find and how much does it cost.
1.) The POP COLOR hairgum - gris acier (✰✰✰½)
This is a French made color and it's a basic tool in my coloring set. Good for freshly bleached roots. Be careful with the time on this one. Sticks to everything! Semi permanent color - no treatment features. Hard to find, but quite cheap. One bottle is very durable.
where to find: Popcolor ( shipping worldwide, but expensive)
Flash World (shipping only Germany, Belgium and Netherlands)
Beautycoiffure (ships only to Europe)
2.) La Riche Directions - semi permanent color SILVER
(✰½)
Backstreet (in Finland) also in the shops.
La Riche homepage it seems that you have to buy at least 12 boxes of it in minimum?
Foksi (shipping to Europe from UK)
3.) Gatsby Natural Bleach&Color - Aqua Silver (✰✰✰)
A Japanese hair color from Gatsby. This is not a semi permanent, but a permanent color with ammonia. Which means that this might do some harm to your hair and it's very effective. Don't use this if you have one of these things: hair in bad condition, very blond hair or very thin hair. I tried it in Japan in 2012 summer and I had a very white hair and it turned my hair dark purple even though I kept it only for 10 minutes. I have used this afterwards for the yellow roots and it works well! Just be careful with this. If possible do a small test on your hair before applying it to your whole head. This is quite expensive, not conditioning and permanent and hard to find. you can buy it from Ebay or Amazon, but with shipping it can be as expensive as 20-24€ per product with few exceptions. This is a bit hard color to use and ever harder to come by, unless you're in Japan - if that's the case you can find this in almost all Don Quijote stores and from some drug stores.
Also found from:
Rakuten (may not ship all products to all countries. costs ONLY 4€!! I'm amazed.... lol )
4.) Every annadonna Gray color treatment (✰✰✰✰½)
Another Japanese color. This one is one of my personal favorites. It's very easy to use (can be used as a conditioner, because of the treatment aspect) and smells good. The consistency is thick and plum-colored. It takes about 5-10 minutes to affect and it gives a nice gray shade. It doesn't stick too easily to sinks and walls or your hands, so gloves are not that important. I bought mine from Tokyo, Shinjuku's ALTA and it costed about 15€ with that year's currencies. It's quite durable. The only downside is that it's hard to come by unless you're in Japan. However you can find it (again) from Amazon or Ebay, but it's quite expensive. My friend just went to Japan and I asked her to bring me this, since I really like it a lot.
Get it also from: Rakuten (only problem is that it's not shipped to every country - at least not Finland)
5.) WELLA Color Fresh 7/19 (✰✰✰✰½)
This is also one of my favorites. It's easy to use, smells very good and it affects quickly and gives a nice color. It's not too hard and it has a small treatment aspect to it so I basically use this at least in every second time in shower. If you keep it too long it might turn a bit blue/lilac, but that's just normal with the grey colors. It foams in wet hair and it's easy to apply. Gloves are not necessary. It's quite a small bottle but it's quite durable. In my opinion it gives the best color if you want to dye your hair from blond to gray. Darker hair must be bleached before use. This series also has a color 10/81, but that just mainly takes off yellow from blond hair. I just discovered that there is also a darker grey shade 5/19 and now I'm really interested to try it out! If I can find it somewhere....You can find it from Amazon or Ebay but I usually buy this from some hair stores. I found many pages for Finns to buy this, but not so many international sites. (Suomalaisille: Helsingissä on city-käytävällä kampaamokauppa sitruuna, joka myy tätä, mut se on usein loppu. Oon löytänyt myös joistain muista kampaamokaupoista ja salongeista tätä. Vaatii vähän etsimistä. Voit löytää myös Stockmannilta ja stockan netistä.) This costs about 12-15€/bottle but it's worth it. If you have long hair and you use this to color blond to gray you may end up using this whole bottle so buy 2 instead. I use it in showers to correct the already gray hair. It has very small amount of ammonia.
Here's some internet stores, where you can buy this:
Uusikauppa (for Finns only)
Beautynet (for Finns only)
Bangerhead (Out of stock, but if they order it more.....?)
Perfect hair (don't know if international shipping is provided)
Nice Beauty (cheap products and worldwide shipping)
6.) Men's Palty Waterwax Hair Color Silver (✰✰½)
Another color from Japan. As the stars show, I was not too pleased with this. Yes, it was easy to apply, but the color was very light gray (almost non-existing) and it washed off within the next shampoo wash. This has a strange name, waterwax which basically just indicates the consistency of this product. It comes in a small plastic jar and inside is some small bottles that you mix up and it turns into a elastic jam / wax and it's easy to apply, but once again if you have a long/thick hair, one of these won't do anything. You have to have a very blond, almost white hair to have any affect on it. I bought this from Tokyo's Don Quijote and if I remember correctly it was about 10-13€. you can buy this from retail stores like Ebay and Amazon, but if you have some other option, don't buy this - it's really not worth it. If you want to have your hair a bit more gray for 1 week, then this is the thing for you. Otherwise, don't bother.
And here I'll just quickly list some other products that you might find in some hair stores and saloons:
✦ L'ORÉAL Silver Shampoo Expert ✰✰✰½ : best silver shampoo I have tried. Comes in good sized bottles and has a good value. Easy to find. Doesn't make your hair gray, but it's good for gray hair anyways.
✦ Biozell Professional Color Mask Silver ✰✰: Not too expensive color mask treatment, but it does sh*t to your hair if you have gray hair. It's so light lilac that it has no effect on my hair. But at least it treats the hair and I just basically use it as a conditioning. Easy to find in Finland.
✦ KC Professional Color Mask Silver ✰✰: This is very similar to the Biozell's Color Mask, but I think it's slightly more pricey. Again, a good product as a conditioner, but has no effect on grey hair. Easy to find.
✦ KC Professionals Four Reasons Silver Shampoo ✰✰½: Not as good silver shampoo as the L'ORÈAL's shampoo, but it's easy to find and not too expensive.
✦ Stargazer Semi Permanent Hair Color Silver ✰✰: Easy to use blue color, that does NOT make your hair gray. Might take off some of the yellow vibes in your hair, but that's it. Very cheap product, if you're able to find it. Doesn't have a conditioning effect. Once again, don't bother if you're looking for gray hair color.
✦ Lolane Pixxel Permanent Intense Grey ✰✰✰½: Easy to find from Ebay or Amazon, and it's very, very cheap for a hair dye that has ammonia. The color is not as intense and dark as they suggest in the box, but be cautious with it. It's a product from Thailand so you have no guidebook. Unless you know Thai. Use plastic gloves while handling this, since it has ammonia. Good for yellow roots. Do a test coloring if possible, since every ones hair acts differently. I have quite thick and rough hair so it might not be too intense for me, but it might be for you.
I might have tried some other products too, but this is what I was able to remember at the moment. If you have ANY questions, shoot me with an email or facebook or leave a comment. I'll try my best to answer any of your product or usage questions and I hope this will make your hunt for the perfect grey hair color a bit less hard. May the gray hair be with you and here's some pictures of my hair to proof that I'm not trying to fool you!
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| Last summer. With Nemo and my Mom in Seurasaari. |
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| Last summer in Germany. Grey hair - as you can see. |
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| Germany. My cousin is eating a bread and on the right is my Mom. And I was not as bored as I might seem. lol. |
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| Again last summer. On a beach Café with Nemo. A bit irrelevant, but I love his face ♥ |
Ok, That's it for this time! Give me some of that love and let me know, if you have something on your mind. Thank you!
TOKI!
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| My cousin and me with snail collagen masks, that I bought from Japan. |
