I think the Touch of Grey JFM stuff is "SEMI"; meaning it last only two weeks and does not cover Grey well. Thus the "touch". All these things work better on second application; if you need it.
Demi will last twice as long as Semi(2-week cover AKA 10-11 shampoos) and Demi last about 28 shampoos. But that's about when new growth (AKA Grey) is back anyway. Demi and especially Semi leaves you looking balanced if you stop and go back to Grey.
OK I actually had some Grey when I wrote all the above. After improving my wife's formula then I delved into what EXACT level and tone I actually am now (darker with age and looking at that which is not Grey) since I basically only need to cover my side burns; then how can I improve what I've tried *and* where do I get the stuff most inexpensively (TIP: It turns out to be fresh BOX KITS and good quality and including the matched peroxide developer AND larger tube of matched corrective quality conditioner.) All in a formula known to have the best oils (etc...) to least damage the hair and isn't hard to apply(with a handy old tooth brush for sideburns).
Well the goal was to EXACTLY match my Grey burns to the my 6.5AA (Lightest Intense Ash Brown) top hair. It's like a low dark (mountain/Nordic/blue skewed) blonde. All this study showed me Dark Blond is actually one of the most desired hair colors. Especially for men. Who knew? Appreciate what ya got right? It can look under mid level (brunette) in lower light and bright muted gold (dark cooler blond) in bright warm sun. Let me show you the difficulty and this real example; that you (maybe if you're a steely-eyed science man) could translate to your situation... I hit the mark. Absolutely and completely undetectable; where I'd been close enough before. Done.
The match(mine):
Grey (resistant thick Grey here) will take the tone assigned to the boxed color (usually correct as described on the box). So A or Ash (or cool) works on just the grey(since I'm A); but this is also going to be washed through most of my hair (barely) meaning the last 6 or 7 minutes or so before hitting the showers. This will exactly match the tone all over without doing damage.
Two issues: I want to blend areas around my Grey burns that are not completely Grey and though tying really hard then still some may get into my regular hair. What I used was not Semi BTW and slightly stronger than Natural Instinct Demi. We had "Revlon Colorslik 50" and that's Light Ash Brown(worked mostly OK before). See technically... my burns should become closer to AA (the double AA tone appears a little darker also). Burns are also naturally just slightly less brightened by the sun than top hair. I used this mild permanent (against my own advice); because Grey (only grey) needs it. Demi is for 50% Greys(areas) or less % interleaved! So this worked better to open up the resistant all white Grey burns. For the first 5 minutes (of 20+5 exactly per directions) the ONLY place this went is on my white Greys alone. Starting AFTER getting it in quickly(<5m); including the extra time (box directions) allowed for tough Grey. It looks like it's turning black at the end but does not dye that much after rinsing. (Matches your other similar level wet hair.) Follow the timing. The second problem is Grey has no warmer base tone BUT this Light Ash Brown was still too warm for me at A when I needed AA and it also needed to be slight lighter in level....
Note: The high rated Revlon kits are $3 on sale regularly. I'm ever so slightly sensitive to it; so be sure to do the simple arm allergic test per directions! Never do it over cuts or rubbed red skin. As with any hair make sure it's been washed mildly with low heat and conditioned well in the days before.
Formula = R50 (Light 'Ash' Brown) 2/3rds (4ml). Plus Revlon 60 (Dark 'Ash' Blonde) 1/3 (2ml) then (1:1) 6ml of the developer (from R50 kit), THEN 40 (Yes 40 in this tiny batch!) drops of blue (Looks royal blue) McCormick food color. Mixed all very well with tooth brush.
That made ~6.5AA perfect color level and tone. It looks like your dyeing your burns blue; but it changes at the end and thus ultimately (blow dried) gives the cooler AA not just A toning; all in one step. Now that R60 is very unusual as it's NOT Ash Dark Blonde as labeled but it is warm! Just weird that one. I think they changed it actually; it's model number also. I needed really ash and you might not. But the 1/3rd R60(7.5N?) made the 2/3 and darker R50(6A) like a 6.5 instead of darker 6 in light level. So right level 6.5 . Right tone; AA with extra blue.
See the thing is you can not lengthen the timing without damage. And you can not shorten the timing without getting lighter due to not taking/depositing the color. Dye deposits near the end of the opening up procedure. It's takes over 7 minutes (in) to see any (after drying) difference(depending on average porosity). Which means any wash through for toning at the end needs to start applying at about the 8 minutes (left) mark on your timer. You have to make yourself stop after getting it into the Grey only areas and for at least 5 minutes. But that 's 20 minutes left or 12 until pull through application time starts adding it. In the middle you can color any in between gray-ish interleaved areas you want to be a little LIGHTER than your mixed color target base low light. Basically making interleaved Greys into higher blonde 3D strands or highlight like. So If you want them closer to the base (low lights) then do them sooner; after finishing the 100% Grey areas. Do pause though. It's easier than it sounds. While you're waiting clean up the mess and the whole thing will take less time. (Demi is only 15 minutes. This was 25 timed after applied). The washing through; even if it's <4 minutes and does no coloring then shampoos your hair. If you like it do not wash it for a few days so it will set. Dry shampoo spray can help it look good anyway. Coloring is best done on greasy hair. So wash it gently many days before and mainly with deep conditioning. Two weeks deep conditioning each is the ideal. Remember this is something you can only fix like once; without noticeable damage if you do it wrong. Yes even for guys.
I hope the point came through. Cheap boxes mixed intelligently and some cheap food color (if you are cool toned) can effect an EXACT match. But you do have to understand color matching. Plus, though counter tones need to be adjusted cooler *if* you do not want center natural or warm *and* if you lift a level (like mid brown to light brown) *and* that's if your hair level (darkest non-Grey) is not ash (now) and you want ash.
Also I wanted to push the ash because it can warm up a bit over the next month until it washes out! So for example if your warm toned you might target a neutral tone so worst case tone fading would go no more than warm. Ash(cool and that still has a tiny bit of warmth) and has neutral as the next "level" and warm(golden) as 2 "levels" up from ash. So these go with the known (B&W) light levels. If you are a light brown(neutral tone) and apply a regular kit Dark Blond then you get WARM. Even though they were both neutral. Lifting alone takes it one "level" warmer. See? That's where the food color comes in. If you were targeting light blonde (9) then you may need Violet mixed food color. They sell packets of hair color Red Out and such but it's the same as food color. A darkest Brown might need to counter redness with Green (blue and some yellow). For men's and using Demi it's going to be blue. You not making the total dye mix. You're just skewing it. It may still have a blue/green skew just by your adding some Blue. Let my 40 drops to get AA from A; into just 6ml of color-only (12ml with developer) be your guild.
Demi will last twice as long as Semi(2-week cover AKA 10-11 shampoos) and Demi last about 28 shampoos. But that's about when new growth (AKA Grey) is back anyway. Demi and especially Semi leaves you looking balanced if you stop and go back to Grey.
OK I actually had some Grey when I wrote all the above. After improving my wife's formula then I delved into what EXACT level and tone I actually am now (darker with age and looking at that which is not Grey) since I basically only need to cover my side burns; then how can I improve what I've tried *and* where do I get the stuff most inexpensively (TIP: It turns out to be fresh BOX KITS and good quality and including the matched peroxide developer AND larger tube of matched corrective quality conditioner.) All in a formula known to have the best oils (etc...) to least damage the hair and isn't hard to apply(with a handy old tooth brush for sideburns).
Well the goal was to EXACTLY match my Grey burns to the my 6.5AA (Lightest Intense Ash Brown) top hair. It's like a low dark (mountain/Nordic/blue skewed) blonde. All this study showed me Dark Blond is actually one of the most desired hair colors. Especially for men. Who knew? Appreciate what ya got right? It can look under mid level (brunette) in lower light and bright muted gold (dark cooler blond) in bright warm sun. Let me show you the difficulty and this real example; that you (maybe if you're a steely-eyed science man) could translate to your situation... I hit the mark. Absolutely and completely undetectable; where I'd been close enough before. Done.
The match(mine):
Grey (resistant thick Grey here) will take the tone assigned to the boxed color (usually correct as described on the box). So A or Ash (or cool) works on just the grey(since I'm A); but this is also going to be washed through most of my hair (barely) meaning the last 6 or 7 minutes or so before hitting the showers. This will exactly match the tone all over without doing damage.
Two issues: I want to blend areas around my Grey burns that are not completely Grey and though tying really hard then still some may get into my regular hair. What I used was not Semi BTW and slightly stronger than Natural Instinct Demi. We had "Revlon Colorslik 50" and that's Light Ash Brown(worked mostly OK before). See technically... my burns should become closer to AA (the double AA tone appears a little darker also). Burns are also naturally just slightly less brightened by the sun than top hair. I used this mild permanent (against my own advice); because Grey (only grey) needs it. Demi is for 50% Greys(areas) or less % interleaved! So this worked better to open up the resistant all white Grey burns. For the first 5 minutes (of 20+5 exactly per directions) the ONLY place this went is on my white Greys alone. Starting AFTER getting it in quickly(<5m); including the extra time (box directions) allowed for tough Grey. It looks like it's turning black at the end but does not dye that much after rinsing. (Matches your other similar level wet hair.) Follow the timing. The second problem is Grey has no warmer base tone BUT this Light Ash Brown was still too warm for me at A when I needed AA and it also needed to be slight lighter in level....
Note: The high rated Revlon kits are $3 on sale regularly. I'm ever so slightly sensitive to it; so be sure to do the simple arm allergic test per directions! Never do it over cuts or rubbed red skin. As with any hair make sure it's been washed mildly with low heat and conditioned well in the days before.
Formula = R50 (Light 'Ash' Brown) 2/3rds (4ml). Plus Revlon 60 (Dark 'Ash' Blonde) 1/3 (2ml) then (1:1) 6ml of the developer (from R50 kit), THEN 40 (Yes 40 in this tiny batch!) drops of blue (Looks royal blue) McCormick food color. Mixed all very well with tooth brush.
That made ~6.5AA perfect color level and tone. It looks like your dyeing your burns blue; but it changes at the end and thus ultimately (blow dried) gives the cooler AA not just A toning; all in one step. Now that R60 is very unusual as it's NOT Ash Dark Blonde as labeled but it is warm! Just weird that one. I think they changed it actually; it's model number also. I needed really ash and you might not. But the 1/3rd R60(7.5N?) made the 2/3 and darker R50(6A) like a 6.5 instead of darker 6 in light level. So right level 6.5 . Right tone; AA with extra blue.
See the thing is you can not lengthen the timing without damage. And you can not shorten the timing without getting lighter due to not taking/depositing the color. Dye deposits near the end of the opening up procedure. It's takes over 7 minutes (in) to see any (after drying) difference(depending on average porosity). Which means any wash through for toning at the end needs to start applying at about the 8 minutes (left) mark on your timer. You have to make yourself stop after getting it into the Grey only areas and for at least 5 minutes. But that 's 20 minutes left or 12 until pull through application time starts adding it. In the middle you can color any in between gray-ish interleaved areas you want to be a little LIGHTER than your mixed color target base low light. Basically making interleaved Greys into higher blonde 3D strands or highlight like. So If you want them closer to the base (low lights) then do them sooner; after finishing the 100% Grey areas. Do pause though. It's easier than it sounds. While you're waiting clean up the mess and the whole thing will take less time. (Demi is only 15 minutes. This was 25 timed after applied). The washing through; even if it's <4 minutes and does no coloring then shampoos your hair. If you like it do not wash it for a few days so it will set. Dry shampoo spray can help it look good anyway. Coloring is best done on greasy hair. So wash it gently many days before and mainly with deep conditioning. Two weeks deep conditioning each is the ideal. Remember this is something you can only fix like once; without noticeable damage if you do it wrong. Yes even for guys.
I hope the point came through. Cheap boxes mixed intelligently and some cheap food color (if you are cool toned) can effect an EXACT match. But you do have to understand color matching. Plus, though counter tones need to be adjusted cooler *if* you do not want center natural or warm *and* if you lift a level (like mid brown to light brown) *and* that's if your hair level (darkest non-Grey) is not ash (now) and you want ash.
Also I wanted to push the ash because it can warm up a bit over the next month until it washes out! So for example if your warm toned you might target a neutral tone so worst case tone fading would go no more than warm. Ash(cool and that still has a tiny bit of warmth) and has neutral as the next "level" and warm(golden) as 2 "levels" up from ash. So these go with the known (B&W) light levels. If you are a light brown(neutral tone) and apply a regular kit Dark Blond then you get WARM. Even though they were both neutral. Lifting alone takes it one "level" warmer. See? That's where the food color comes in. If you were targeting light blonde (9) then you may need Violet mixed food color. They sell packets of hair color Red Out and such but it's the same as food color. A darkest Brown might need to counter redness with Green (blue and some yellow). For men's and using Demi it's going to be blue. You not making the total dye mix. You're just skewing it. It may still have a blue/green skew just by your adding some Blue. Let my 40 drops to get AA from A; into just 6ml of color-only (12ml with developer) be your guild.
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This is not about vanity. It's about looking 10 to 20 years younger.
