Best Highlights for Covering Grays
Balayage Highlights for Gray Coverage:
A Transformative Hair Journey
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Today, I’m sharing an exciting transformation where I’m doing balayage highlights on a returning client who’s noticed some grays popping up around her hairline and part line. She’s not ready to embrace those grays just yet, so we’re going to cover them and give her the copper highlights of her dreams. Let’s dive into why balayage highlights are the best type of highlights for covering grays and how the process works!
Why Balayage Highlights Are Ideal for Covering Grays
When it comes to covering grays, you traditionally had two options: go dark and stay dark, or highlight your hair to blend with the grays. However, both options can keep you stuck in the salon with little variety. This is where balayage highlights shine! Balayage highlights are low maintenance, allowing you to play with colors without damaging your curls or spending too much time and money on constant salon visits.
Benefits of Balayage Highlights:
Low Maintenance: Balayage highlights are applied away from the scalp, meaning you can go longer without touch-ups.
Variety: Allows for more color options and creativity without worrying about gray hair ruining your look.
Healthy Hair: Less frequent processing means healthier, stronger curls.
The Balayage Process
Step 1: Base Color Application
To start, I mix my client’s base color close to her natural shade using a permanent color that will completely cover her grays. Permanent color is essential for full gray coverage and durability.
Step 2: Mixing the Bleach
Next, I mix blue bleach for her highlights and incorporate Olaplex within the lightener. Olaplex is crucial as it eliminates breakage from chemical services by rebuilding bonds, ensuring her hair remains strong and healthy throughout the coloring process.
Step 3: Applying Balayage Highlights
Balayage, a French word meaning “sweeping,” involves freehand painting the lightener to create soft, natural-looking highlights. This technique allows for a sun-kissed look, blending seamlessly from dark roots to lighter ends. It’s perfect for curly hair as it maintains the hair’s integrity and avoids a patchy appearance.
Step 4: Processing and Toner Application
After applying the highlights, my client processes with foils in her hair. Post-processing, I wash out the bleach and apply a toner to achieve the desired copper color. Toners, which are demi-permanent, refine the highlight color and provide the perfect finishing touch.
Silk Press Styling: Essential Products and Tools Used
Moisture Shampoo
Why I Use It: To hydrate and protect color-treated hair.
Benefits: This shampoo is color and keratin-safe, ensuring that it doesn’t strip away the color while providing necessary hydration. Color-treated hair, especially curly hair, can be very dry, so a moisture-rich shampoo helps maintain its health and vibrancy.
Bring your hair back to life with our Moisture Shampoo. This creamy, nourishing formula is designed to infuse your strands with long lasting hydration while keeping them light, bouncy, and full of movement. Unlike heavy moisturizing shampoos that can leave buildup behind, this one delivers the perfect balance: deep hydration without weighing your hair down.
Features:
Gently cleanses while replenishing moisture to dry hair
Creamy, rich formula leaves hair soft, hydrated, and manageable
Keeps hair weightless, making it perfect before blowouts or silk presses
Strengthens and nourishes from root to tip
Safe for all textures, including fine hair, extensions, and color-treated strands
Benefits:
Your hair feels hydrated, silky, and smooth after every wash
Perfect second step after the Volume Shampoo for a balanced cleanse
Preps your strands for styling by keeping them moisturized and pliable
Helps prevent dryness, frizz, and breakage between wash days
With Moisture Shampoo, every wash day leaves your hair hydrated, soft, and ready for whatever style you choose, whether it’s a blowout, silk press, or natural curls.
What’s inside:
SUNFLOWER SEED EXTRACT: provides UVA and UVB protection to preserve radiant color.
COCONUT MILK: creates a strong barrier around the hair shaft to prevent breakage.
RHODOCHROSITE: balances moisture levels.
How to Use:
SHAMPOO: wet hair and lather from roots to ends. Rinse well. Repeat if necessary.
CONDITIONER: after cleansing with shampoo, apply evenly from roots to ends. Leave in for 2-3 minutes and rinse well.
Deep Repair Treatment
Why I Use It: For intense moisture and strengthening after color treatment.
Benefits: This deep conditioner from my curly hair care line combines moisturizing and strengthening properties, infusing the hair with keratin to rebuild its structure while keeping it soft and manageable. It’s perfect for maintaining the health of both color-treated and gray hair.
Give your hair the ultimate reset with our Deep Repair Treatment. Formulated with the perfect balance of strength and hydration, this intensive mask revives dry, damaged strands while keeping them soft, defined, and healthy. Infused with keratin protein and rich moisturizers, it works from the inside out to repair, fortify, and restore your hair’s natural beauty.
Features:
Deeply hydrates while reinforcing strands with protein
Infuses keratin to strengthen and protect against breakage
Restores elasticity so curls clump, pop, and define
Improves softness, shine, and manageability
Ideal for hair that is heat styled, color treated, or prone to dryness
Benefits:
Hair feels instantly stronger and more moisturized
Visible results, curls spring back with bounce and definition
Keeps straight naturals and curly girls alike protected from heat and stress
Perfect for weekly deep treatments or paired with a steam treatment for maximum absorption
When your hair needs both moisture and strength, the Deep Repair Treatment delivers. It’s the key to keeping your strands resilient, hydrated, and full of life.
What’s inside:
SUNFLOWER OIL + MALACHITE: restore moisture, shine, and resilience while protecting hair from environmental stressors.
RHASSOUL: a mineral rich clay, makes this a great treatment for even finer textured hair.
How to Use:
Apply to clean towel dried hair and leave in for 5 to 15 minutes, then rinse. Tip: Focus on mid-lengths to ends to help prevent split ends.
Steam Treatment
Why I Use It: To enhance the deep conditioning process and provide extra hydration.
Benefits: Steam treatments help open the hair cuticles, allowing the deep conditioner to penetrate more effectively. This is especially beneficial for curly and color-treated hair, which often require more moisture to stay healthy and manageable.
Emergency Miracle Treatment
Why I Use It: As a leave-in conditioner to maintain moisture after washing.
Benefits: A leave-in conditioner is essential for curly hair, which tends to be drier and more prone to tangling. This treatment helps the hair retain moisture longer and prepares it for styling, ensuring it remains soft and hydrated.
Give your hair the hydration it craves with Emergency Miracle Treatment. This lightweight leave in conditioner penetrates deep into each strand, delivering lasting moisture without heaviness. Perfect as the foundation for any style, it preps and protects your hair so it stays hydrated, healthy, and manageable all week long.
Features:
Lightweight formula absorbs quickly to hydrate from the inside out
Provides lasting moisture retention between wash days
Strengthens and softens without buildup or heaviness
Ideal prep step before blow drying or heat styling
Safe for natural hair, relaxed styles, extensions, and fine strands
Benefits:
Keeps hair hydrated longer, even if you heat style weekly
Perfect balance of moisture and weightlessness
Leaves hair soft, manageable, and frizz-free
A must-have for straight naturals or wash and go girls who need moisture without reapplying product daily
With Emergency Miracle Treatment, you can enjoy long lasting hydration and strength without compromising your style, it’s the leave in that truly lives up to its name.
The Benefits:
• SILK PROTEIN: nourishes, repairs and protects hair.
• SERECITE MICA: smooths, seals hair color and provides radiant
shine.
• UV FILTERS: block sun damage.
How to Use:
Depending on the length and type of hair, apply desired amount to damp hair after washing.
Comb through roots to ends for even distribution.
Do not rinse out. Style as usual.
Le Deux (Blow Dry Cream)
Why I Use It: To protect the hair from heat and add moisture during blow drying.
Benefits: This cream helps smooth out the hair, reducing the need for excessive heat and keeping the hair hydrated. It ensures a soft, smooth finish after blow drying, preventing the hair from feeling dry and crunchy.
Meet your new heat-styling essential. Le Deux Blow Dry Cream is the perfect balance of moisture and protection, giving your hair a silky, weightless finish every time you blow dry. Unlike traditional heat protectants, this cream based formula not only shields your strands from heat damage but also infuses deep hydration. Keeping your hair soft, smooth, and manageable.
Features:
Provides heat protection against blow dryers and hot tools
Cream consistency delivers intense moisture while protecting
Keeps hair silky, soft, and frizz free without weighing it down
Makes blow drying easier by improving slip and manageability
Ideal for naturals, relaxed hair, silk presses, or extensions
Benefits:
Your hair stays hydrated even under heat
Smooth, shiny results without dryness or breakage
The perfect foundation for silk presses, curls, or protective styles
Lightweight, so it works beautifully on both fine and thick textures
With Le Deux, you don’t have to choose between moisture and protection, you get both. Make it the final step before blow drying for salon quality results at home.
What’s inside:
• SUNFLOWER SEED EXTRACT: acts a UVA and UVB protectant while preserving radiant color.
• SWEET PEA PROTEIN: hydrates, smooths and defines hair.
• MAGNESIUM: hydrates and improves the elasticity of hair.
How to Use:
STYLE STRAIGHT: Apply to towel dried hair. Leave for 2-3 minutes and blow dry.
Amethyst Oil
Why I Use It: For heat protection and to add shine and smoothness.
Benefits: This lightweight oil penetrates deep into the hair, providing a silky, shiny finish without weighing it down. It also speeds up drying time and offers excellent heat protection, making it ideal for both blow drying and flat ironing.
Seal in shine, lock in moisture, and protect your hair with Amethyst Oil. This lightweight finishing oil is designed to penetrate the hair shaft, delivering long-lasting hydration without weighing your hair down. Perfect for both blowouts and silk presses, it doubles as an extra layer of heat protection while keeping your hair soft, smooth, and frizz-free.
Features:
Provides a second layer of heat protection for styling
Lightweight formula that absorbs quickly without buildup
Seals in moisture from your creams and leave-ins
Leaves hair silky, shiny, and frizz-free
Works on natural hair, relaxed hair, and extensions
Benefits:
Protects against dryness from hot tools
Adds natural shine without greasiness
Perfect as the final step before a silk press or as a daily shine oil
Fine-hair friendly — no heavy residue or weighed-down strands
Whether you’re blowing out, silk pressing, or simply refreshing your look, Amethyst Oil is the perfect finishing touch for healthy, shiny, and protected hair.
What’s inside:
• HEMP SEED PROTEIN: fights fly-aways and frizz. Soothes scalp.
• AMETHYST: protects the hair from hot tools up to 410 degrees and
speeds up blow dry time.
How to Use:
ON WET HAIR: apply a few drops concentrating on the mid-lengths and ends. Comb through to distribute evenly. Style as usual.
ON DRY HAIR: lightly apply and work through hair for added shine and to tame fly-aways.
TREATMENT: apply throughout scalp and hair, cover with a plastic cap for 20 minutes to an hour. Shampoo and condition hair as regular.
Aftercare Tips for Color-Treated Hair
To keep your hair color vibrant and your curls healthy, follow these tips:
Wash Less Frequently: Aim for once a week to retain moisture.
Use Color-Safe Products: Ensure all your shampoos and conditioners are formulated for color-treated hair.
Deep Condition Weekly: Helps keep your hair strong and hydrated.
Avoid Hot Water and Heat Styling: Keep your hair cuticles closed to prevent color fading.
Final Look
Here’s my client’s final look: beautiful, blended copper highlights that complement her natural hair and skin tone. The highlights are away from her scalp, ensuring a graceful grow-out and a natural appearance. She can go 6 months to a year without needing a retouch, making this a perfect low-maintenance option for covering grays.
Balayage highlights offer a versatile and low-maintenance solution for gray coverage, allowing you to play with colors while keeping your hair healthy and strong. If you’re considering balayage for your grays, I hope this guide helps you see the benefits and process involved. For more transformations and tips, check out my other videos and stay tuned for more content. Until next time, bye!