How To Get Silver Hair With Toner? The Step-by-Step Guide

Here’s how to dye your hair silver or gray at home if you’ve been wondering!

After much experimenting and finally achieving the look I wanted, I thought I would prepare this little guide for those of you who are interested in achieving the same look.

What are toners?

There is an agreement between most manufacturers of hair dyes about what can or can’t be called a “toner” in this product category. Because they all agreed on these kinds of characteristics, if a product has some of them but not others, it will probably have the characteristics agreed upon by several companies, so it will have the hair dye toner characteristics.

If your product contains oils or hydrogen peroxide, then you can call it a “hair toner”. If your product contains amino acids or something similar to them, you could also call it a “toning hair dye”. You can find tons of products that have silver shade options, but not all of them are considered as true silver toners.

How to get silver hair with toner?

Step 1:

Bleach your hair at a light blonde tone. Make sure to use a heat protector and gloves before applying the bleach. Let it process for about an hour or so, depending on how much of natural color you have.

Step 2:

Wash your hair with cold water afterwards to close the cuticles for an extra strong effect.

Step 3:

Towel dry your hair and wait for it to be completely dry again if it’s not super wet. If your hair is very dry, then put some coconut oil into your hair before you start styling it. This will give a more healthy look overall and also makes the silver last longer. When you have washed out all of the chemicals from your hair, apply toner on your own. Here are some options which you can choose from:

Option A

Mix 10 parts toner with 1 part color developer (for example 40 volumes), leave it in for about 15 minutes or longer depending on how strong you want the silver tone to be).

Option B

You can also mix the silver hair dye of your choice with 20 volume developer. Depending on how light you want your hair to be, choose 20 volumes or 40 volumes respectively. Leave it in for about 30 minutes and rinse it out. If you don’t have a hairdryer, that’s alright. Just let it air dry and then use an old t-shirt to wrap around your head in order to let the curl develop.

Step 4:

To get that stunning silver tone then when your hair is completely dry (or when you’re done styling it), use some magnesium sulfate gel in your hands and rub them together until it becomes a white powder. Then apply it on the top of your head. Leave this in for about 10 minutes or so before washing it out with lukewarm water, but make sure not to touch your face or any part of your body during these 10 minutes! If you don’t have magnesium sulfate you can also leave in regular conditioner for 5 minutes instead.

Step 5:

If you want to maintain that super bright silver tone then every time before you wash your hair (before applying conditioner), soak a cotton pad in lemon juice and apply it on the top of your head where you see most white-coloured parts. Leave this in for about 10 minutes preferably in front of a good TV show or in another relaxing place and then go ahead and wash it out with lukewarm water after words. You can do this every day if you want since it’s just lemon juice which is very natural

What is the difference between a toner and dye?

There are various differences between these two products. Even if you’re looking for a silver color, there is still some research that needs to be done before buying your next silver hair product. Here’s what you should know:

A hair toner can lift up your hair color from one level to another, while a hair dye will only add or change the original color of your hair with another different shade of it. If your natural hair was black but you wanted it lighter without going too far from its original color, then a toner would be perfect for this job because it won’t actually remove any pigment from your natural roots and therefore will keep them healthy.

Shade of hair when using toner

A toner will not only provide the offer of silver color, but it is also used as a demi-permanent hair dye. This means that it contains some ingredients like hydrogen peroxide and oils, which allows an easy way to change your natural hair color for several washes (the term “wash” refers to coloring session).

However, if you decide to use them regularly, they will damage your natural roots after some time because the pigment they contain isn’t gentle enough with your hair fibers. If you are looking for the best base tone to apply silver toner, there is a simple test.

What is the best shade for applying silver toner?

Applying some bleach on your hair is the only way to get an idea of which tones suit you best. This is because silver toner can look very different according to how light or dark your natural color is. For example, if it’s too dark, it will give an ashy effect rather than metallic shine. On the other hand, blondes with bright yellow-golden hair may not achieve the desired result when they add silver toner to their hair without bleaching first.

If this occurs and you don’t like the shiny result, remove the toner with a clarifying shampoo at home. If you don’t like it, you can remove the toner with a clarifying shampoo at home.

If you’d like to change your tone, consider using a permanent silver toner instead of demi-permanent. It will give the exact result you want and will stay almost as long as a permanent dye would, except it will fade out gradually rather than in a couple of months.

Frequently Asked Questions