A Trichologist’s Advice to Slow and Repigment Grey Hair With Arey
When my client Allison Conrad and I co-founded Arey, our goal was to create clean, effective haircare to slow, delay and reverse grey hair naturally. As a Trichologist (haircare expert) with over 20 years experience in salon haircare, I want Arey to be truly customer-focused – and that means some of my clients play a key part in Arey’s development. I'm excited to introduce you to one of them – Clare.
Clare was one of the first people to try our core haircare product designed to reverse grey hair – the nutritional supplement Not Today, Grey. With around 5% grey, and hair that was not thriving from using drugstore brands, Clare was an ideal person to give feedback on Arey’s clean, balanced haircare.
It’s safe to say Clare and her hair have inspired a bit of each product we have created. Clare loves to be proactive about her health so she was already eating a clean diet, exercising and using other products designed to preserve her healthy, youthful appearance. Here’s how Clare boosted her hair health by adding Arey’s products to her haircare routine:
1 – Clare’s Hair Health Analysis with Arey Trichologist Jason Small
When I first started working with Clare as a salon client, her hair wasn’t looking or feeling its best. She was also seeing her first silver hairs. Clare was on a quest to improve her hair health and get advice on the safest way to cover up her grey hair. Clare was using drugstore haircare at the time which can often be the root cause of dull, dry, and damaged hair.
My Trichologist tip – always choose haircare with ingredients that help, not harm, your hair and scalp health:
❌ Avoid sulfates: sulfates are harsh cleansers that strip the natural oils from your hair and scalp skin. The result – an irritated scalp and dry, frizzy hair.
❌ Ditch synthetic fragrances: artificial scents can irritate your sensitive scalp skin and unbalance your scalp microbiome. The result – red, irritated scalp skin, flaking and itching.
❌ Skip synthetic colors: synthetic colors like D&C Red 27 or FD&C Blue 1, have been linked to cancer, skin irritation, and even ADHD. Many of these are already banned in Europe.
✅ Pick balanced haircare: look for gentle, sulfate-free shampoos like Wash that restore balance to your tresses and scalp.
✅ Condition carefully: heavy silicones and oils can weigh down your hair and leave it lank and dull. Look for lightweight conditioners like Smooth that contains Amodimethicone to weightlessly lock in moisture and reduce frizz.
✅ Beat the heat: repeated heat styling can fry tresses that are already dry and vulnerable. Using a leave-in conditioner like Mend reduces the signs of hair heat damage and protects your hair up to 450° F.
Like many of my clients, Clare thought she was taking good care of her hair.
It can be overwhelming trying to understand all the ingredients in haircare products. That’s why our philosophy at Arey is to use the fewest possible ingredients and to commit to clean ingredients. That means we are vegan, cruelty free and always free from potential irritants like gluten, phthalates, parabens, artificial scents, Polyethylene Glycol, formaldehyde and dyes.
2 – The Safest Way for Clare to Cover Her Greys
Clare is happy with dyeing her few totally white hairs, but wants to slow new grey hair growth and avoid frequent touch-ups. Clare’s main concern about hair color is potential risk of scalp irritation and other allergic reactions.
As a Trichologist I often see clients with scalp irritation from using at-home hair dye, or chemical treatments. Permanent hair color is a prime offender as it contains harsh chemicals and sits on your scalp for a long time. If you’ve ever had an itchy scalp after coloring or felt a tingling sensation during coloring at home or in the salon, that’s your sensitive scalp skin reacting to the chemicals.
Calm It Down™ is the perfect solution for someone like Clare who is using hair dye and looking to delay new grey hair growth. Calm It Down™ soothes and protects your scalp and delivers our grey-hair-reversing Mela-9™ Complex direct to your roots.
My Trichologist tip - use Calm It Down™ before and after coloring your hair to:
✅ Boost pigment production in your hair roots
✅ Protect your scalp from hair dye irritation
✅ Soothe redness and irritation after using hair color
Consistent use of Calm It Down™ keeps your scalp healthy when coloring and helps repigment your hair so you have to color less frequently.
3 – Clare’s Hair Health Goals: Slow, Delay and Reverse Grey Hair
Clare’s naturally brown hair is showing some grey and white hairs. Both her mom and sister are greying and have to dye their hair frequently, but Clare is looking for a more natural way to preserve her natural hair color (which she loves).
Clare is a good candidate for Not Today, Grey because she has around 5% grey hair. Arey’s Mela-9™ Complex is most effective at repigmenting hair that is less than 30% grey. It works well to prevent new grey hair growth and can repigment existing grey hairs, but totally white hair has lost its ability to produce melanin (pigment) and it cannot go back to its original color.
My Trichologist tip - how Not Today, Grey helps repigment your grey hair:
✅ Boosts melanin production: delivers the vitamins you need to produce melanin.
✅ Guards against greying caused by oxidative stress: contains antioxidants that protect your melanin-producing cells (melanocytes) against damage.
Like Clare, most of us don’t get all the vitamins our hair needs through diet alone. That’s why we launched Arey with Not Today, Grey. We wanted to boost hair health and color from the inside out. Your hair grows slowly and it takes time to see results. It took about 8 months of consistent use for Clare and I to see obvious results from using The System – Not Today, Grey in combination with Arey’s To The Root™ Mela-9™ Complex Serum.
Read more here about my own grey hair reversal journey.
4 – Clare’s Arey Haircare Routine for Her Best Hair Health
I’m personally not a fan of layering on multiple products so I don’t like to inflict that on my clients either. Less is definitely more when it comes to healthy hair. That’s why Clare’s core regime is nice and simple so it fits easily into her daily routine.
As a Trichologist I know that your lifestyle shows up in your hair. Part of my job as a haircare expert is to understand what specific products a client might need to maintain their hair health.
My Trichologist tip - a dry shampoo to address Clare’s specific hair challenges:
✅ Wait A Sec®: Clare’s fine/medium hair type can be damaged from washing too frequently. I recommend using Wait A Sec® dry shampoo on her roots on clean hair and on days 2 and 3 to extend time between shampooing.
Wait A Sec® also contains Arey’s Mela-9™ Complex so it doesn’t just refresh your hair, it nourishes your roots with antioxidants to protect against oxidative stress and boost pigment production.
✅ Live In Mist®: Clare spends a lot of time in the California sunshine, so I recommend using Live In Mist® – a leave-in conditioner that protects her hair from sun damage.
Live In Mist® does double duty protecting your hair from the sun's damaging rays and delivering frizz-free styling.
Read more about protecting your hair from sun damage here.
Arey Is Customer-Driven, Trichologist-Designed Haircare
We care about your hair and we want to you to see results from using Arey. That’s why we offer 15% off auto replenish orders. Because we know that consistency is key to your best hair at any age.
We are Arey.
Have questions? Send us an email hey@areygrey.com or go to our FAQ page.
Jay Small is a sought-after hair stylist and Trichologist in Los Angeles with over 22 years of experience. His clients consist of high-profile business and creative leaders. He trained as an apprentice to the owner of Paul Mitchell and worked in education and product development for Paul Mitchell Systems. Jay is incredibly passionate about the creative process both in terms of styling hair and developing effective products.
Why You Need to Nourish Your Hair From the Inside Out
