White hair appears and multiplies with age. While some people resort to coloring to hide them, others choose to embrace them. To manage the transition and have a beautiful, uniform white mane, follow our advice.
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White Hair: How to Manage the Transition?
Summary
- The transition to white hair: a significant change
- Advice #1: Transient Coloring
- Advice #2: A Suitable Haircut
- Tip #3: Accessories to conceal the transition
- Advice #4: Accelerating the transition through discoloration
- The maintenance of white hair
Published June 1, 2023,
updated on May 28, 2024,
by
Pauline, Head of Scientific Communication
—
5 min read
The transition to white hair: a significant change.
The first gray hairs typically appear a little before one's forties and are a result of the natural aging process of the body. More specifically, they are due to a gradual decrease in melanin synthesis by the melanocytes in the hair bulb. Melanin is the pigment that colors the hair, so in its absence, the hair turns gray. Additionally, the number of melanocytes gradually decreases over time.
Although this phenomenon is completely natural and affects everyone at some point in their life, the transition from colored hair to white hair can sometimes be challenging. While one common response is to conceal it with hair dye, others choose instead toembrace their white hair. However, the whitening process is not always uniform and occurs gradually, starting from the roots. Here are all our tips for a smooth transition.
Advice #1: Transient Coloring.
The lightening of the roots forms a more or less noticeable demarcation with the rest of your hair depending on your original color. If you have rather dark, red, brown, or black hair, you might find this unattractive. For a smoother transition, you can opt for a lightening of the rest of your hair through bleaching or highlighting. By choosing a shade lighter than your natural color, the transition to white hair will be less noticeable.
Advice #2: A Suitable Haircut.
The transition from colored hair to white hair occurs more rapidly with short hair. Indeed, the ends of your hair will be the last to turn white. Therefore, one option to better manage this transition is to gradually cut your hair to gently accompany the change. Additionally, cutting your hair will help to eliminate any potentially damaged ends and lighten the rest of your hair. If you're unsure about which haircut to choose, you can seek advice from a hairstylist. By studying the features and shape of your face, they can provide guidance and suggest haircuts that will enhance your appearance.
Tip #3: Accessories to conceal the transition.
When the whitening of hair intensifies and extends over several centimeters without, however, affecting the entire head of hair, it is possible to conceal these areas with accessories. Headbands, scarves, hair clips, hairpins, caps, hats... The choice is vast. You can choose the accessory that best suits your style and needs, and change at will according to your desires.
Don't hesitate to also play around with hairstyles to conceal the white areas while waiting for your hair to become uniform. You can also use extensions, which allow you to add length and volume to your hair, while covering the white strands. Choose them close to your original color for a natural result or lighter to add highlights to your hair.
Advice #4: Accelerating the transition through discoloration.
A final, more radical option that allows for a clear and quick transition is to bleach all of your hair. This will immediately give you a uniformly white head of hair without having to go through the various stages of hair growth. However, we recommend that you do this in a hair salon and not attempt to bleach your hair yourself. This is indeed a delicate and somewhat aggressive process for your hair. Therefore, it is better if it is carried out by a professional.
The maintenance of white hair.
Once the transition from your colored hair to your white hair is complete, it is important to take care of the latter. The absence of melanin within the hair fibers makes them more vulnerable to external aggressions, particularly those generating oxidative stress (UV rays, pollution...). This indeed tends to yellow the hair, which would somewhat spoil your efforts to maintain a beautiful silver mane.
To avoid this, we recommend using protective and nourishing treatments, such as masks for instance, but also applying a hair sun protection on the days you expose yourself. This type of treatment has a similar action to skin sunscreens, but are specifically formulated for hair. Finally, white hair does not tolerate heat well, to avoid further weakening them, avoid heating devices such as straighteners or heated brushes.
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