I guess I should be grateful that I wasn’t completely gray by the time I turned 30 like my mother and her mother before her, but I still get annoyed when I see gray hairs popping up around my hairline.

Thankfully I found a few easy ways to camouflage my gray situation and buy myself an extra week or two between colors without having to leave the house wearing a beanie every day.

1. Change Your Part

I know, it seems like total commons sense to change your part and hide those grays at the temple, right? I mean, only an idiot wouldn’t think to do this. RIGHT?

Sadly, I only figured this out in the last year or so. Even though one temple might be loaded with dozens of grays the other side might have not a one (like mine). Who knew?!

BONUS: Changing my part also gives my hair added volume.

To make myself feel better (and less idiotic) I’m adding this to the top of my list and we can all pretend this is huge beauty news.

2. Cover Grays With Your Mascara

A L’Oreal color specialist once told me to use a black Sharpie pen to cover my stray gray hairs. I thought this was a genius idea but when it came down to doing the dirty work, I could never quite hold the strand of gray and properly color it with a Sharpie. I’d either miss the whole strand or only get part of it.

Then I bought the Oscar Blandi Pronto Colore Root Touch-Up & Highlighting Pen, which has a brush-like applicator and works really well, but I lost it before long.

Since mascara is part of my daily routine, I know it’s always at hand and I can lightly coat the gray hair in no time at all. So far, this tip has worked best for me when I need some fast coverage.

3. Touch Up Roots in Ten Minutes with Color

If you have ten minutes to spare, my favorite way to get rid of grays is with Clairol Nice ‘n Easy Root Touch-Up (I use the medium brown shade). This formula is made especially for covering grays and it’s SO EASY!

This morning I applied this in less than 4 minutes, then sat at my computer and responded to emails for ten minutes before taking a shower. Even though it takes ten minutes to process, it’s really only application time that counts (I mean, I would have been at my computer anyway)—totally worth my time!

I am loving the Gigi character in the new Clairol Nice ‘n Easy commercials. Played by Angela Kinsey from The Office, Gigi is like your straight-shooting girlfriend that will NEVER let you out of the house looking less than your best.

“I love girl talk, especially when it comes to beauty: sharing tips and tricks about what really works,” says Angela.  “I’ve been coloring my hair for years, so I understand that instant emotional boost that comes with getting your color just right, and I’m excited to help other women achieve that, too.”

Check out this hilarious out-take of making the commercial:

Visit Gigi on Clairol.com for advice on your perfect Nice ‘n Easy hair color with highlights, lowlights and tons of shine.

PS- I’m a natural medium brown, what color are you?

We’ve known our entire life that getting gray hair was inevitable for us.

Our mother is gray, her mother is gray, and now — we’re going gray.

Over the last 6 months, we’ve found (and pulled out!) several tiny gray hairs sprouting up near our hairline and tried to attribute them to stress (read: TEENAGERS). Several stress-reducing massages and dozens of yoga classes later, we’re still finding gray hairs. Damn.

The good news is that we can now cover our grays in just TEN MINUTES while adding extra shine and bounce to our fine hair with the NEW Nice ‘n Easy Perfect 10.

Earlier this week we applied this product in Medium Brown with the no-mess applicator, answered emails for ten minutes, then rinsed it out. THAT simple. Our hair ended up super glossy with no gray hairs!

Not only does Clairol Nice ‘n Easy Perfect 10 make at-home coloring a breeze, it leaves us with extra money in the bank for eye cream. (We all have our little beauty splurges, and for us– the hair is not it. Seriously, why spend a fortune on your hair color when you don’t need to?)

Clairol Nice ‘n Easy Perfect 10 comes in 15 shades and sells for $13.99.