While gray hair is a natural part of aging that will eventually happen to everyone, not everyone is so quick to welcome it. Many people would like to cover their gray hair, but are not sure what the best ways are to go about it.

When it comes to covering gray hair, there are several options.

Dye your whole head.
One way you can cover the gray is to dye your hair completely. This will change not only the gray, but the rest of your hair as well so it is all one solid color.

Many people prefer this because it is quick and can be done at home, saving the time and money that comes from visiting the salon.

Highlights.
Highlights are a good option for people who don't have a lot of gray and who are looking to lighten their hair anyway. With highlights, the gray hairs as well as surrounding ones are lightened a shade or two lighter than your natural color.

Highlights can be done yourself with at-home kits, but it's very difficult to get it to look right, especially when you are trying to cover gray. It might be a good idea to visit a salon for highlights, which can be expensive.

Lowlights.
Lowlights are the reverse of highlights, basically. Lowlights darken the hair (and gray), turning your natural hair color into the highlights of your hair. Lowlights are best done in a salon by an experienced stylist.

If you have gray hair that you would like to cover, the following are a few ways you can do it best:

• Use color specifically designed for gray hair. There are whole lines of product that are made for covering gray hair. This type of product will generally do a better job at coloring the gray than a normal box of hair color.
  
• Use permanent, not semi-permanent. Semi-permanent hair color is not designed for gray hair and will wash out every time you shampoo your hair. Instead, use a permanent hair dye (which despite its name is still not permanent). The chemicals in ammonia and peroxide make it so the color doesn't wash out.
  
• Wash hair less often. Even permanent hair color will wash out some, so wash your hair less often in order to extend the color and the amount of gray that is covered. Even washing every other day will make a difference.
  
• Get a shade or two darker, not lighter. Gray hair accepts less color, so dying your hair darker rather than lighter will give you results closest to your natural shade. It will also cover up the gray better and last a little longer. In addition, going lighter typically means root touch-ups more often.
• If you are worried about the outcome, or you are unsure of what to do, you can always visit a professional stylist to help cover the gray. Products used by professionals are typically higher quality and stronger anyway, so chances are your gray will be covered much better this way. If anything, you can watch how your stylist does it and then try and duplicate it yourself at home next time.

Even though graying hair is a natural part of aging, not everyone is excited to have their hair go gray, particularly if it starts to happen prematurely. These are some of the best ways to cover gray.