i am a hairstylist, just to throw that out there.

gray is such a pain to start dealing with for most people. if you want color, the best route is the highlights. only because it blends away that line of demarcation you get (skunk stripe) if you are heavily graying. i'd say, do box color until you get the stripe, then consider getting highlights to take the edge off and eventually grow out the gray.

for those that might be wondering, you cannot dye your hair gray. not possible to do and to look natural, most stylist won't even entertain the idea of trying. it just doesn't look like natural gray, it looks more like a punky color. a lot of people come in wanting to dye their hair gray when they start going gray, and it is weird that it is pretty much the only color you can't get from a box or from a stylist.

anyway, that is my suggestion, that, and if it were me, i wouldn't commit to color, i would just ride out the grays. i am starting to get my first few, and my hair is at a point where it is close to my natural color. i'm going to grow it out natural. good luck!