Source: Aveda Color Squad artist Minhwa Lee

Aveda’s new Full Spectrum Demi+™ Grey landed in salons this fall, and colorists are finding opportunities for new services and shades with every client. Ice down your blondes, smoke out your brunettes and make your grey clients sparkle with Full Spectrum Demi+™ Grey. And for those fashion-forward clients, the addition of grey to their formulas gives an on-trend, metallic effect.

Why Grey? Why Now?

“During and the pandemic shutdown, guests were not able to maintain their color,” says Alberto Swanson, Executive Director of Education and Hair Color Sales at Neill and Aveda North America Artistic Team Member-Color. “A lot of them embraced their grey and transitioned away from color. And we’re still seeing clients who want to maintain or transition to grey.”

Ian Michael Black, Aveda Global Artistic Director, Color, says “We’ve been working on this for a long time. Our chemists have gone back and forth to get the perfect shade of grey.”

Grey is the New Toner

There’s an opportunity to use Full Spectrum Demi+™ Grey on every client from brunette to blue and everything in between.

“A five or 10-minute grey shine service works on anyone and creates something more pearly,” Swanson says. “All brunettes get warm over time. This is a quick way to smoke all that warmth out.”

The same goes for cool blondes. “If those blondes want to remain cool,” he adds. “They need to be glossed every four to six weeks. It can extend the life of their color if they want to go longer between services, too.”

“Think of any color and imagine what a little bit of grey in it would do.”

Polishing the Silver

But first, let’s talk about those grey clients. They grew out their color in hopes of revealing a beautiful, natural silver shade. But for most, grey hair means a flat, dull shade mixed with their faded old color. For these clients who want to continue on their grey journey, Full Spectrum Grey can brighten them up.

“Most clients still have some color that exists in the hair as they go grey,” Swanson says. “A Grey gloss and lowlights will help enhance natural grey and add shine—and get that bright white they want.”

Sarah Sibley, owner of Lavender Square salon in Southlake, Texas and an Aveda color educator, says her post-Covid clients who want to grey have proven tricky.

“Customizing formulas for my salt-and-pepper clients was always a shot in the dark because there is so much going on with their original shade, white and silver all present,” she says. “Now, with Full Spectrum Demi+™ Grey, I feel like I can get very predictable results and use it in their formula or as a toner, depending on what the client wants.”

When your grey clients see the bright silvery tone they desire come to life with Full Spectrum Demi+™ Grey,  they’ll be loyal color guests—just like your grey coverage clients—but with a simpler service.

“You can enhance silver with a five-minute gloss—it’s a great service for low-maintenance grey clients,” Swanson says. 

Keeping it Cool

But the clients with natural or fashion grey hair are in the minority of guests you’ll use Full Spectrum Grey on.

Source: Ian Michael Black going live on IG to talk Full Spectrum Demi+™ Grey with Aveda Color squad artist Trish Urso

Swanson says his favorite use of the new grey shade is on brunettes, who always battle underlying warmth.

He finds performing a Demi+™ Grey glossing treatment gives these clients the rich, smokey, matte brunette that’s trending.

Black agrees. “My favorite formulation is grey mixed with gold,” he says. “On brunettes, it cools down redness. And it can give you a cooler version of gold, yielding the warm side of neutral.”

For Sibley, it’s all about the blondes. “I thought I did a lot of blondes when I was in Florida, but here in Dallas, everyone wants to be blonde, and they want that icy-white finish.”

She has found adding even just a couple grams of Full Spectrum Demi+™ Grey controls the warmth.

“It gives me an icier finish—a true blonde without any brown or gold,” she says.

“We’ve always been able to give blondes a cooler tone,” Swanson says. “But now we’ve got a true ash tone I can create in five minutes. Before, I’d have to lift the yellow out and put a neutral over it. Now I can just tone with the grey and get a really ashy blonde.”

And for redheads who want a pure red tone, grey can cool it down without making it look purple. “Redheads can go burgundy, and they hate it,” Swanson says.

Source: Aveda Color Squad artist Opal Simone

Not-Heavy Metal

For those clients who love their fashion shades, metallic colors are in, and grey is the key to those unique shades.

But in order to make a color look metallic, you need grey in the background. “We can get a super blushed metallic copper effect that’s beautiful,” says Swanson. Blues also look amazing with a metallic sheen. There’s endless potential for fashion shades.

No matter what shade your client desires, think about how grey can give her better, more predictable results.

“My team feels more confident when they know they can deliver the results the guest is looking for with a predictable formula,” Swanson says.

And now with Full Spectrum Demi+™ Grey, there’s a whole new world of color possibilities.