Salt And Pepper Hair Color Guide
Choose by how much gray you actually have, not by how much you think you have. We make four salt and pepper blends, running from mostly white through to mostly dark. This page explains which is which, how to pick, and why our gray is blended rather than dyed.
The four shades
| Shade | The blend | Suits you if |
|---|---|---|
| Light | Mostly white and silver, with a small amount of dark left in | Your hair has fully turned - close to all silver or white |
| Standard | Predominantly silver and white, dark strands scattered through | Your hair has largely turned - gray throughout, not just at the temples |
| Medium | Balanced - gray and naturally dark hair in roughly even proportion | You are part way. This is the shade most of our customers choose |
| Dark | Mostly dark, with silver woven through as a detail | Your gray is coming in but dark still dominates |
How to pick, in one minute
Photograph yourself outdoors in natural light and look at the photo on your phone. Mirrors and bathroom lighting flatter; a daylight photo does not.
If your gray is obvious in the photo without zooming in, you are further along than you think and should go one shade lighter than instinct says.
Two things worth knowing before you order:
- Our wigs read slightly darker in person than in studio photographs. When torn between two shades, choose the lighter one.
- Curly textures look darker than straight ones in the same blend, because curl casts shadow. If you are comparing a curly style to a straight one, that difference is texture, not colour.
Undertone matters as much as percentage
How much gray you have tells you where in the range to sit. Your skin's undertone tells you which end suits you.
- Cool undertones (veins look blue or purple) suit ashy, silver-heavy blends - the Light and Standard end.
- Warm undertones (veins look green) suit gray with brown or depth in it - Medium, or our Brown with Gray blends.
- Neutral undertones can wear either.
The full test is in our undertone guide.
Our gray is blended, not dyed
Most gray and silver wigs on the market are made from dark hair that has been bleached out and then toned to gray. We do not dye or bleach our salt and pepper hair at all. We select white hair and blend it with naturally dark hair, and the four shades are different proportions of the two.
Here is why that matters, and you can check it on your own head. Natural gray hair is not gray hair. When hair loses pigment it grows in as individual white strands mixed among the dark ones. Every strand is either white or dark - almost none are actually gray. "Gray" is what your eye does with the two colours from a normal distance.
Bleaching and toning makes every strand the same shade, which real hair never is. Blending rebuilds the actual structure, which is why it reads as real up close.
It also means the cuticle has not been stripped by bleach, and there is no toner to wash out and fade.
One exception: our brown-and-gray blends are not entirely undyed - the brown portion is coloured.
Frequently asked questions
Which shade is most popular?
Medium, by a wide margin. It is also the safest choice if you are unsure, because it suits the widest range of natural hair.
Can I get a custom shade mixed?
Not in the way a dye-based maker could. Because we blend rather than dye, the shades come from proportion rather than a recipe. What we can do is help you pick between the four - email a daylight photo to service@soulladywigs.com.
Will the colour fade?
It does not fade the way a toned wig does, because no colour was deposited to lose. Gray does pick up warmth from hard water, sun and product buildup - how to prevent yellowing is here. Lighter blends show it soonest because they contain the most white hair.
Can I dye it darker?
We do not recommend it. Gray and white strands have little or no pigment, so dye grabs unevenly and goes patchy, and there is nothing for bleach to lift. Changing shade is safer than changing the wig.
What if I choose wrong?
Contact us within 15 days of delivery with the wig in original condition. Returns go to our US warehouse - nothing ships back overseas.
See everything: all salt and pepper wigs.