Can you explain the process you’re using to put the conditioner on the ends? I’m really not understanding why it adds so much time. When I don’t want the colour to get on to my ends from a root touch up, I put the colour on the roots first, then as I’m waiting for it to process I slap on a bunch of conditioner roughly where I want it and work it in for a couple of minutes. It doesn’t take any extra time really as it’s during time I can’t do anyth8ng other than wait anyway.
As for the colours, tricky really. Going lighter than what you have naturally, when you’re greying, instead of as dark/darker would make the roots more bearable. I’m just showing my first greys now at 45 (my family go grey young too, so it’s been a shock for me to not go grey until now!) and my plan is to keep my hair on the lighter side now, though i use unnatural colours anyway so it’s not quite the same. Highlights are tricky over long periods because the hair at the bottom will gradually get lighter and lighter as it’s tough to redo them in the same spot on the roots, so normally they just add new ones. Or at least, that’s what they used to do, it might have changed now. So it really depends on if you’re happy with it being lighter or not.