Embracing your grey is an inside job that ultimately begins with standing in your authenticity. After a little positive self-talk and inspiration from others who have decided to go grey, standing in your greytness becomes a breeze. Still, realizing how fly your grey hair can be is just half of the journey.
The other sometimes not-so-easy part of embracing your grey is the care and nurture that is required. But what do you do when you start to experience the ever-so-common annoyance of yellowing? And a more commonly asked question, what’s causing it?
Here are 5 reasons why your hair may be turning yellow and what you can do about it.
1. Heat Styling
Grey hair or not, excessive blow-drying and the use of styling tools will do damage to anyone's hair over time. Heat Damage causes drying, breakage, and a loss of your natural curl pattern. In grey hair it works overtime to damage your hair and that one symptom is yellowing. Our solution? Aside from going easy on the heat and alternating natural styles, the Manhattan Grey vegan moisture pomade contains Avocado oil which has a high heat tolerance and is excellent for blow-drying and use with styling tools.
2. Pollution, Sunlight, and Environmental Factors.
Where do you spend the most time? Do you live in a major city where there is pollution or smog? Are you a smoker or spending time BBQ’ng and going to BonFires? A Swimmer who is constantly exposing your hair to chlorine? Or, do you spend a lot of time in the sun? All of these environmental factors can take a toll on your grey hair.
Although we may not have a 100% yellow proof solution for how the sun or your environment behaves, within the Manhattan Grey family we have products that contain Shea Butter, Coconut Oil, and Peppermint oil all of which have up to at least 7SP and help protect your hair from sun damage and ingredients like Castor, and Petroleum oil to protect your hair from bacteria and insects.
3. Product Buildup
One commonly overlooked cause of yellowing is product buildup. Sometimes, we find a product that works for us on the style and moisture side but don’t see the gradual damage it does until it is too late. Oftentimes these products are the ones that contain sulfates, parabens, and silicone. Not sure what to look for? Read our blog post on the top worst chemicals to use on Grey Hair and stay far away from them.
4. Hard or Well Water
This one is a little harder to spot and must be proven through science. As in you have to do an actual test on the water you are washing your hair with which most of us don’t have the time to do. Hard water is more common than we think and the only way to be proactive in how it affects the color of your grey is to wash with a blue or purple-based shampoo and install water filters on your showerheads. In addition, be sure to moisturize with Manhattan Grey Vegan Hydration Oil which penetrates the hair shaft helping to keep your grey’s shining.
5. Illness, Vitamin Deficiency, and Nutrient Overload.
If all else has failed and your grey hair is still yellowing it may be time to speak to your doctor. Certain health issues and treatments like chemotherapy have been shown to cause yellowing of grey hair. Other internal triggers for yellowing are a deficiency of B-12 or an overload of Beta-Carotene (the stuff found in sweet potatoes, carrots, Kale, and Cantaloupe.) The solution to this lies in your diet and personal care plan for your well-being. A nutritionist may be able to help you get to the bottom of what your diet is lacking and the way it is affecting you outwardly.
Yellowing of Grey hair is no joke. We didn’t opt to be blonde! We’re choosing greytness and doing what we can to maintain our fly, and with Manhattan Grey and the Black Grey Hair family, you can always count on us to help you do just that.
