She talks Glam

Close up of Saida with grey hair and a pink sweater over a light blue backdrop

How I got my Grey Hair

First of all, let me tell you glamistas, this is no hair-friendly territory. If you are sensitive to hair suffering and/or want advice on how to get your mane to shine like a unicorn’s, then I am afraid you won’t find solace in this post –but maybe in upcoming ones! 😉

To put you in context, I have spent all my life with my natural dark brown bangs –that time I had henna doesn’t really count as its effects were negligible. Last winter I decided it was about time I did something crazy to change my look radically. And what was the answer to the winter crisis I was clearly going through at that moment? You guessed it, choosing one of the most difficult hair colours to achieve artificially: GREY!

My hairdresser expressed some concerns after hearing the idea, as due to my dark base we would need to lighten my hair about a million levels, and it would suffer. Like a lot. But despite me being a very undecided person, you must know that once I make up my mind, there is no turning back, and me getting my dreamy silver hair was not a trendy whim but a long-time-considered and carefully-researched decision, so I was not going to give up so easily, especially when the whole of the Internet was conspiring for me to fulfil this dream! See below:

Gorgeous girls with different shades of silvery hair. #GrannyHair

Finally, after reading a trillion blogs on the Internet and watching all the available YouTube tutorials on how to get the perfect granny hair, we set out for the adventure, my hairdresser and I!

It was a long and laborious afternoon: two rounds of bleaching, me looking as Lucius Malfoy with dark eyebrows, me second-guessing half of my life decisions, us realising there was no way out, just colouring forward! 🙂

After the bleaching, we toned the persisting brassiness using Wella’s Colour Charm #T18 Lightest Ash Blonde, a toner that is supposed to leave a snowy white tint and remove any rogue orangy undertones that could still be present after bleaching dark hair. It sort of did that…

Five hours after the start of the session, we got to apply the grey colouring, hooray! We had chosen a steely grey with blue undertones which looked really nice on the sample and package. However, turns out the blue tones were not really undertones and after applying the dye, I ended up with a patchy blue-blondish bob that didn’t look exactly how I had pictured it in my mind… 🙁  I was gutted, but no one said it would be easy, and I was determined to succeed!

When I arrived home that day, I washed my hair lightly to tone down the colour and obtained a cute white hair with blue hues that my colleagues were still shocked to see but accepted as the radical change I was going for. Shorter than having to explain that my makeover experiment hadn’t turned out quite as expected, uhm…

A month later, I came back to my salon and this time round we only had to bleach the roots and instead of the steely blue dye, we went for the Wella’s Colour Charm #T18 and then applied a second toner, Wella’s Colour Charm #050 Cooling Violet. The magic combination of the two semi-permanent dyes got me a gorgeous dark grey with purple undertones which I fell in love with instantly.

50 Shades of Grey (G-rated) visually explained (excuse the pre-iPhone era pics!)

GIF showing the transition from my dark brown hair to the current shade of grey I style

And that’s it, lovely peeps! That’s the story of how I got my granny hair 🙂

To this day, I am still a young lady with sometimes-silvery-sometimes-blondish-hair that doesn’t regret the crazy decision made but that would appreciate enormously if grey was an easier colour. I believe this colour looks gorgeous and different, and I have managed to restore part of the inflicted damage (Dear hair, hope you can forgive me one day…) but I won’t lie to you: it is pretty hard to achieve and maintain! –more on that on a separate post 😉

What is the craziest thing you have done to change your look? Let me know in the comments!

Lots of silvery love,

Saida

32 Comments

  1. Chloe

    16th March 2017 at 10:04 pm

    Yes! This grey color looks amazing on you! I’ve always wanted to go grey with my hair but it’s waay to painful for me to bleach my scalp since I’m allergic! 🙁 So now i’ll just stick to my ombre blonde! Loool!

    xo, Chloe // http://funinthecloset.com/convenient-style-rompers/

  2. Liat B-S

    16th March 2017 at 10:35 am

    Love the hair!!! who knew that nana chic can be so lovely? Big kisses!!!

    1. Saida

      16th March 2017 at 7:51 pm

      I know right? The weirdest fashion trends out there and I am embracing them all, hahahaa
      Thanks for your comment, dearest! Xx

  3. Kat

    18th February 2017 at 10:45 am

    I did a DIY for an ash blonde (gray-ish) and it was a fail so I really envy yours, you look so awesome! 🙂

    x
    Kat | Nested Thoughts

    1. Saida

      18th February 2017 at 4:40 pm

      hi Kat, thanks for reading and for your comment! After watching all the YT tutorials, I was tempted to give it a go at home too, but as this was my first time ever changing hair colour, I went for professional help in the end! As you can see here, it was not a one day makeover, but a long and rainbow-coloured adventure to get here! 🙂
      Hope you are enjoying the weekend! Xx. Saida

  4. Yasmin

    17th February 2017 at 12:39 pm

    Your grey hair looks so sophisticated and chic! I hope you’re enjoying it.

    xo, Yasmin
    I AM YASMIN

    1. Saida

      17th February 2017 at 5:13 pm

      Thank you dear Yasmin, I absolutely love the final result and how it looks with my skin, which was a bit risky as I had mostly seen really fair skin girls with this style! Phew…
      Thank you for your comment and have a fantastic weekend! Xx

  5. AliyaPatrice

    15th February 2017 at 6:26 pm

    I think you made the right decision, because you look absolutely fabulous with grey hair! I am also a huge fan of the grey hair and would totally try it if the color complemented my skin tone a bit better! 😉

    XOXO, Aliya
    https://aliyapatrice.com/2017/02/07/that-military-slay/

    1. Saida

      16th February 2017 at 2:14 pm

      Thank you, Aliya, you are so sweet! I have found a colour that I really identify with, but only till the next hair affair 😉

      Have a great end of the week, Xx

    1. Saida

      16th February 2017 at 2:15 pm

      Thank you so much Sheena!! Glad you like it. Thanks for stopping by my blog

      Lots of love,
      Saida

  6. followmygut2014

    13th February 2017 at 5:34 pm

    I feel like my hair is naturally way too dark of a black to dye that way. It would take FOREVER to life the color, but geez I love it on you. You look so cute and the length is adorable!!

    Danielle | FollowMyGut.com <3

    1. Saida

      13th February 2017 at 6:58 pm

      Awww, thanks a lot for sweet words Danielle, you have an amazing hair and we can always wear wigs and dress up and pretend we have unicorn hair! 😉
      Have a great week ahead!

  7. emily

    13th February 2017 at 2:43 pm

    Such a cool hair colour! It sounds like a lot of work, but definitely worth it in the end!
    x Emily
    http://shedoes.com.au

    1. Saida

      13th February 2017 at 7:11 pm

      Glad you like it, Emily, thanks a lot for reading
      Xx
      Saida

  8. asterienne

    13th February 2017 at 2:18 pm

    This reminds me of the time I met my boyfriend’s parents. I’m a weird brunette redhead combo but I was dyed black then, so his dad tried to guess my natural hair color. So, being the charming girl I am I laughed him off “Besides blondes, brunettes and redheads there’s little choice!” “What?” he said, twinkle in his eye. “What about grey?”

    1. Saida

      13th February 2017 at 7:03 pm

      What a wise man indeed! 🙂 I often say I wanted to see how I will look when I am older, not really in a rush, but some people say I have a grey addiction, so why not try? Life is short, as was my hair when I started the process, so the risks were minimal 😉
      Thanks for stopping by and commenting

  9. didier

    13th February 2017 at 5:11 am

    The hair looks great! I’ve always wanted to dye my hair grey too but I have asian hair which is absolutely THE WORSE to bleach to the lighter shades. Super envious!

    -Didier
    http://www.didieryhc.com

    1. Saida

      13th February 2017 at 6:47 pm

      Hi Didier, I had my reservations too, but I really needed that change in my life and went for it and now I am really happy with the result
      But I guess we can all wait for the grey hair to appear naturally, I am sure we will rock it!!
      Thanks so much for visiting ♥
      Saida

  10. Amy Arnold

    13th February 2017 at 1:44 am

    Love the grey!

    Amy Ann
    Straight A Style

    1. Saida

      13th February 2017 at 6:47 pm

      Thank you dear Amy! Happy Monday
      Xx

  11. Anne

    12th February 2017 at 6:53 pm

    I remember the difficult beginnings when we met in Warsaw, you’ve come a long way and it’s gorgeous!

    1. Saida

      12th February 2017 at 8:01 pm

      Indeed, my friend, it was white-purplish when we met >.< Not an easy journey, but a fun one! See you very soon, my dear friend Xx

  12. Marivi

    12th February 2017 at 6:29 pm

    Te has cortado?…yo creo que azul estaría ” mu chuli “

    1. Saida

      12th February 2017 at 8:03 pm

      No, la foto es de hace un par de meses, jijiji. Azul me gusta, ahora se lleva mucho el color “Denim”. Le consultaré a mi peluquera!
      :*

  13. Koral · Fábrica de Imaginación

    12th February 2017 at 1:44 pm

    love uuu. sigue un rato más con ese color, que una vez que te lo quites sí que va a ser un rollo volver a hacerte algo parecido. Yo pasaría por todos los colores antes de quitarmelo del todo 🙂

    1. Saida

      12th February 2017 at 4:44 pm

      Yaaa, estoy de acuerdo, mermaid hair al poderrrr!!! Cuál debería ser el siguiente color? 🙂

  14. Yedra

    12th February 2017 at 12:08 pm

    Yo a esta velocidad de canas ultrablancas, pronto estaré como tú. El tono que más me gusta es el que tira a mirado. Keep it up! Besos

    1. Saida

      12th February 2017 at 12:59 pm

      Hahahaha, te entiendo perfectamente, yo tengo suerte de que estas sean solo canas falsas (de momento!). Ya sabes, cielo, take it easy!!! :*
      Sai

Leave a Reply