Cover Your Roots

How to disguise dark roots between salon appointments

Look around, roots abound. Never fear, there are easy ways to camouflage your roots at home, The easiest way? Create volume at the top of your head. This little trick can hide up to an inch of growth. To start, use a volumizing shampoo and conditioner. Towel-dry hair and apply volumizing spray at the roots, then flip your head upside down and blast your roots with a blow-dryer while you brush it with a paddle brush (with your head still upside down). Place large velcro rollers, available at any beauty supply or drugstore, at the crown of your head; leave them in for 20 minutes.

If grey hairs are just beginning to crop up (some women see them as early as 25, though the average age is 34), opt for a few strategically placed highlights to blend them with the rest of your hair. If you are blonde or brunette, ask your colorist for three-dimensional or “multitonal” color with a neutral base and two distinct highlight hues that are warm, not cool. If you are a redhead, a single-process shade (as close to your natural color as possible) is your best bet.

Invited to a last minute party without having the chance to color your hair? If you can’t get to the store to buy a root touch-up kit, reach for your mascara wand. To instantly cover grey roots, part your hair and apply a mascara that matches your hair color to the root of your hair. If you're blonde or have red hair, consider that Anastasia makes blonde- and strawberry-tinted brow gels that will help to blend your roots with your natural color.
 

Shampoo your hair and treat your roots with a deep conditioner once a week, since gray hairs tend to be coarse. While it may be tempting to break out the tweezers and pluck the shorties that sprout from your scalp, try to resist the urge. It’s not because two grey hairs will grow back in its place, but because the one hair that does grow will stick straight up, leaving you with an undesirable Mohawk effect right down your part. --Stephanie Simons

TRY ON HAIRSTYLES BY UPLOADING A PHOTO TO TAAZ