Quickly Cover Up Your Grays at Home With One of These Root Touch-Up Products (2025)

If your grays are peeking through at the top of your head right now, it may be prime time to touch up your roots. But what if you don’t have the time for a hair salon appointment right now? Luckily, you can turn to the best root-touch up products for quickly and easily concealing your gray hair or grown-out roots right at home.

“Root touch-ups are a spray or a powder that you spray on your gray roots to hide them...if you can’t get to the salon or if you are trying to stretch out time in between touch ups,” explains Jenna Spino, hairstylist at Maxine Salon in Chicago. “They come in different colors to match your hair color.” These products wash out when you shampoo, meaning that they hide your roots temporarily and don’t permanently color your hair, notes Spino.

Meet the Experts: Jenna Spino, hairstylist at Maxine Salon in Chicago, and Laurabeth Cabbott, hairstylist and owner of Artistry By LB.

Still, root touch-ups are an easy, affordable way to hide your roots until your next hair appointment—whether you’re looking to cover up grays or need to hide your grown-out roots after previously dying your hair. But, with so many different hair products out there, it can be hard to know which root touch-up product is right for you. That’s why we’ve narrowed down all the best ones recommended by pro hairstylists—and top-rated by reviewers—right here, including the best sprays, powders, and even sticks for every hair color and type.

Ready for easy, convenient, and affordable coverage of your grays? Ahead, check out the best root touch-up products you can use at home.

Spino recommends this pick from L’Oréal if you’re looking for an affordable option. “This can be bought at any drugstore and is a great not-expensive option,” she says, noting that it also comes in a wide range of different shades. “It is quick-drying and will not dry you out,” she adds. It boasts over 41,000 five-star ratings on Amazon, and it’s also a favorite of Drew Barrymore—in fact, the star once raved that the product “changed her life.” “It literally takes my strip of gray and completely transforms it perfectly into my color,” she said.

If you’re looking for a reliable root touch-up that comes in powder form, this pick from Color Wow has you covered (literally!). “Color Wow root cover-up is a powder comes in many colors,” says Spino, noting that the water-resistant formula is “never sticky or waxy.” It comes with a handy dual-ended applicator brush that makes it easy for precise application along your roots. “This can be used to cover up areas where you are finer to make [hair] appear fuller,” Spino notes. “Some people feel they have more control with the brush.” Did we mention it has over 10,000 five-star ratings on Amazon?

This root touch-up stick from dpHUE has a personal stamp of approval from makeup artist Bobbi Brown. “I cannot live without this,” Brown once said about the stick in a TikTok, adding that it’s “really great at-home hair coloring.” The dual-ended stick has a color applicator on one side and a blending brush on the other, making it easy to apply and blend the color to your hair. Reviewers say it blends well, lasts long, and is easy to use. “I like the sponge tip for blending it as needed,” writes one Amazon customer.

For an affordable root touch-up powder that you can find at drugstores, reach for this popular pick from Clairol. Available in five different shades, the formula is lightweight, non-greasy, and blends seamlessly with your natural hair to cover up your grays and refresh your root line. It can also be used to define your eyebrows. Over 12,000 Amazon users give it a perfect rating, with one reviewer writing: “I’ve used many hair powders over the years but this one is my favorite. Easy to apply. Opaque but not heavy or greasy.”

Thanks to its twist-up crayon form with a pointed, precise tip you can apply directly on specific strands, this color stick from Bumble and Bumble is especially great for targeted touch-ups. Reviewers say it looks natural, stays put, and is super easy to use—with one shopper swearing it’s the “best and easiest way to touch up gray hair in between color treatments.” Another reviewer writes, “This is the best coloring product that I have found for my roots in between professional coloring. I have curly hair, and I love that I can control exactly where the product goes unlike other forms of coloring.”

Root touch-up products are a great way to temporarily hide your grays or grown-out roots “if you can’t get to the salon or if you are trying to stretch out time in between [professional] touch-ups,” says Spino. They can quickly and easily cover up your grays right in the comfort of your home; plus, some products even come in a portable, travel-friendly form that you can use while you’re out and about for quick, on-the-go touch-ups. Not to mention, at-home root touch-up products are a more affordable option than regularly getting professional touch-ups at the hair salon.

To cover up gray roots in your hair, Cabbott suggests using either a spray concealer, which she notes “will give more coverage,” if that’s what you’re aiming for, or a powdered substance using a makeup-like brush. If you’re using a spray, Spino recommends applying it directly in the area you want to cover. “After styling your hair, you should spray on the roots where you can see your gray coming in, usually on the part or along your hair line,” she says.

Cabbott recommends seeing your stylist for a professional root touch-up every four weeks. “Depending on how different your hair color is from your natural or how much gray you have, you should touch up your roots at the salon every four to six weeks,” agrees Spino. “Those who color their hair close to their natural [shade] and don’t have much gray may be able to go eight weeks,” she continues, noting that the more grays you have, the sooner you’ll need to color.

We consulted Jenna Spino, hairstylist at Maxine Salon in Chicago, and Laurabeth Cabbott, hairstylist and owner of Artistry By LB. Additionally, we combed through hundreds of online ratings, reviews, and product specs to find the best root touch-up products you can use at home.

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