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How Long for Roots to Grow Out After Dyeing? 10 Tips to Transition Back to Natural Hair (2024)

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how long does it take for roots to grow outGood day! Have you ever looked at the untamed roots of a plant and wondered exactly how long they take to establish themselves? As curious gardeners, the journey from snipping a vibrant stem to seeing the first peek of new growth captivates us.

Though the timeline varies, most plants unfurl delicate white tendrils within 2-3 weeks when provided with proper care.

Patience provides an opportunity to uphold life’s mysteries. Through purposeful acts of propagation, we honor the innate desire within all living things to put down roots and reach for the light.

Our stewardship cultivates abundance.

Key Takeaways

  • It takes 2-3 weeks for new hair roots to visibly establish with proper care and maintenance. Monitor hair growth every 4 weeks.
  • Work with a professional colorist for guidance on allowing natural hair regrowth over time.
  • Use root touch-up and blending techniques like root melt and ombrĂ© highlights to aid the transition.
  • Going shorter can help speed up the transition back to natural hair color. The process requires patience.

Consult Your Colorist

Consult Your Colorist
You’d be wise to consult your colorist for guidance on how fast your natural roots will grow out based on your individual hair type, length, and growth rate. They can help determine the timeline and techniques to gracefully transition to your natural shade while keeping your hair healthy.

With their expert eye, a colorist can assess your hair’s condition after chemical treatments and map out a personalized plan to let your natural color grow in healthfully. They’ll discuss recommended hair care to restore strength and vibrancy as the artificial color grows out.

A pro can advise on temporary color options to seamlessly blend roots during the transition.

Leaning on your colorist’s experience through the transitional process will ensure you avoid potential pitfalls and achieve your natural hair goals beautifully.

Use Root Touch-Up Techniques

Use Root Touch-Up Techniques
Rather than an abrupt demarcation between artificially colored hair and emerging natural roots, you’ll find the transition much smoother with root melt techniques and subtle ombré highlights. A professional colorist can create a natural-looking blend by painting the artificial color up into your roots for a softer gradient.

With ombré starting dark at the roots and getting gradually lighter toward the ends, new growth is camouflaged.

Root Melt

Although growing beautiful natural roots takes patience, schedule a root melt with your colorist for a graceful transition to your natural hair color. Gradually blending your roots with a root melt creates soft, subtle dimension from scalp to ends.

Your colorist delicately paints dye around the hairline and parts to create a seamless, natural look. This refreshes your color and provides a non-damaging alternative to full color while growing out gray.

Ombré Highlights

Getting subtle ombré highlights can help you gracefully transition to your natural hair color. Subtly lightened ends visually blend with roots as they grow out, creating a natural-looking fade. Discuss options with your colorist – lighter hues at the tips or face-framing pops of color camouflage dark roots.

Condition your hair to avoid dryness and embrace styling techniques, like waves or half-up styles, to seamlessly mix darker roots into the highlights.

Refresh Color at Home

Refresh Color at Home
Refresh your color at home with tinted glazes between salon visits.

  • Root touch-ups with temporary sprays
  • DIY color-refresh treatments
  • Tinted shampoos to cover roots
  • Semi-permanent glossing conditioners
  • Demi-permanent root smudges

Blending your regrowth and boosting color between appointments is easy. Root coverup sprays temporarily conceal grays and grow-out. Color-depositing conditioners add a sheer tint while conditioning. Tinted dry shampoos refresh limp strands and soak up oil.

DIY demi-permanent root smudges blend regrowth softly. Home haircare lets you extend time between chemical services. With the right products, you can refresh your shade subtly at home until your next color appointment.

Add Shine With a Gloss

Add Shine With a Gloss
You’ve been coloring your hair for years and are ready for a change. Embrace your natural hair color by growing it out! As those roots start peeking through, use a gloss to seamlessly blend the line of demarcation.

Gloss adds luminous shine and mimics your natural color to camouflage grown-out roots during the transition period. Unlike permanent dye, it gently coats each strand without penetration. Conditioning oils in the formula make hair incredibly soft and reflective.

To apply, ensure hair is freshly washed and towel dried. Then saturate strands with gloss and process for five minutes before rinsing thoroughly.

Let your inner beauty shine through with visibly healthy, glossy locks.

Go Back to Your Natural Shade

Go Back to Your Natural Shade
Tis the season to embrace your natural roots as they grow in. Be patient during this transitional period, remembering that on average hair grows half an inch monthly. Regular trims will help speed the process. Adjust hairstyles to disguise the contrast between dyed and virgin hair.

Explore ombre highlights for a gradual shift. Use root coverups temporarily if self-conscious.

Most importantly, take proper care of hair during this time with deep conditioning treatments. The journey to your natural shade will be gradual but the results beautiful. Like rooting a houseplant cutting in water, natural hair color needs time and care to flourish again.

Get Regular Trims

Get Regular Trims
Snip those split ends often to speed up your transition back to your natural hair color. Getting regular trims every 4-6 weeks helps remove damaged, dry ends and encourages healthy growth from the roots.

Trimming boosts volume by losing excess weight and thin ends. It prevents knots and tangles. Each snip stimulates your scalp and follicles, promoting faster growth. Well-kept ends prevent breakage. Explore styles that can hide transition lengths like layers, texture, waves or curls.

Part it differently. When you embrace trims as a critical part of haircare, the journey to your natural shade will be easier.

Try Protective Styles

Try Protective Styles
Harness nature’s gift of hair growth with protective styling.

Twist your locks into braided updos, accentuatin’ your beautiful face. Or pin curls across your forehead to elegantly frame your eyes. For special occasions, consider wig options offerin’ endless versatility. When your natural roots start peekin’ through, enhance their curl pattern to blend with your lengths.

Weave ribbons or headbands into playful styles, celebratin’ that much more of your true color is returnin’. If needed, temporary root coverups can help you gradually embrace the transition.

Have patience, nourish your mane and soon your natural shade will bloom fully. Just as plant cuttings require care while establishin’ roots, your hair needs time to grow into its vibrant destiny.

Use Root Concealers

Use Root Concealers
You’ll want to create the illusion of natural roots with root concealers. Here are 3 ways to help camouflage and blend new growth:

  1. Use temporary root cover-up sprays in a matching shade to mask roots between coloring.
  2. Try colored dry shampoos to add pigment and soak up oils on unwashed hair.
  3. Carefully apply root touch-up powders or colored root concealer with an application brush.

Focus application on the most visible areas around your part and hairline. Allow it to fully dry before styling as usual. Be careful not to transfer color onto skin or clothing. Root concealers help provide the look of an even, fresh color while new growth comes in.

With patience and smart techniques, your hair will gracefully transition back to its natural shade.

Go Shorter

Go Shorter
Go shorter to fade the roots faster. Embracing shorter haircuts allows you to transition to your natural hair color in a quicker, more graceful way. As your hair grows out from the scalp, the previously colored portions are trimmed off.

Go for a bob, pixie cut, or other short style to remove inches of dyed hair right away. Pair with natural haircare techniques and styling tips to enhance your new look. Play with different parts, curls, pins, or accessories. A shorter cut makes a quick transition back to your roots, with flexible styling options for a fashionable, carefree take on letting your natural color grow in.

Be Patient

Be Patient
Patience is a virtue when awaiting those roots to sprout, homegirl. Transitioning to your natural hair color takes time, so don’t stress if it don’t happen overnight. Stay positive and keep up with them hair care tips and you’ll be rockin’ your real color before you know it.

  • Monitor hair growth every 4 weeks
  • Embrace the journey
  • Celebrate small milestones

Growing out your natural hair color is a gradual process that requires time and patience. Avoid gettin’ discouraged by slow hair growth and instead appreciate the natural transition. With proper care, those roots will reach the length you desire. Stay focused on the end goal of healthy, natural tresses and you’ll get there.

Conclusion

Over the years, you’ve likely convinced yourself that your colored locks are part of who you are. However, going back to your natural shade can be freeing. Like a glorious plant reverting to its wild origins on the forest floor, watching those dyed lengths fade brings the realization that natural beauty is eternal.

Give yourself time to bloom once more into your true colors. Though the wait seems long, know each day brings you closer to hair reflecting your true self.

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Mutasim Sweileh

Mutasim is a published author and software engineer and beard care expert from the US. To date, he has helped thousands of men make their beards look better and get fatter. His work has been mentioned in countless notable publications on men's care and style and has been cited in Seeker, Wikihow, GQ, TED, and Buzzfeed.