Fading out teal to make way for silver

So I have decided I will try out silver hair for my friends wedding in a month or so. It will also be a step towards the paler colour needed for a comic con coming up in June that I’d like to cosplay as pilot Amethyst from Steven Universe who has very pale lilac hair. In the meanwhile, unlike the purple that I was really fussy about getting just the right tone, I’m happy to dabble anywhere along the grey white silver pastel blue and lilac spectrum.

The only downside to going silver is that my favourite brand of semi-permanent colour, Directions, don’t exactly do a true silver – their “silver” is a lilac toner that is meant to be good for maintaining silver hair but doesn’t actually dye it a grey

I’ve contacted my local salon who were brutally honest that even with just over a month of fading I’ll probably need to have my hair bleached in order to achieve a silver tone and that my hair could be quite brittle and straw-like after. (See a future post about Olaplex for strengthening and treating bleached damaged hair). She was reassured when I said that the demi-permanent dye I will be bringing with me to apply can create a dark gun metal silver rather than a pastel white one (see upcoming post on Chromasilks Vivid Silver). I’m very lucky 🍀 they are up for experimenting and happy for me to bring my own colour but it’s always best to ask or see what the professionals advise!

(I will post about the silver/lilac maintaining products I plan to use soon).

So I’ve switched from using my L’Oréal pure colour non-sulphate shampoo and conditioner to using TRESemme’s clarifying shampoo and a sulphate conditioner.

I’ve also bought some pink toning shampoo & conditioner by London Bleach called “Rose”. I thought I’d try this after watching this YouTube video where someone used it only once or twice over faded mint green hair and managed to achieve a grey/lilac tone: https://youtu.be/Z9kmQd9Vkcw

The idea is that to get rid of green tones, I can neutralise them with pink as it’s opposite in the colourwheel. (This is why if your bleached hair goes brassy yellow orange you’re advised to use a purple toner).

The first time I used the pink stuff I had already switched to the sulphate and clarifying combo but only for a few washes so it didn’t really do much but then again my teal hadn’t been as pale as that in the video. (Guess that means teal is a very hardy colour at least).