Covering greys - L'Oreal Casting not cutting it anymore. What's next?

[WhereAreWeNow]

I've got mid brown hair and an ever increasing number of greys .

I've been using L'Oreal Casting in various shades (Iced Truffle, Light brown) for years now. It fades pretty quickly and now it's not even covering the greys properly. I leave it on for longer than the box says (about 40 mins - on advice of my hairdresser) but there are still a few white hairs that don't take the colour properly.

What do I do? Do I need to move to permanent dye? If so, do I need to get it done by a professional? Do I just go for an all over colour or is it worth spending more for highlights/lowlights/balayage or something?

I want it to look natural, not blocky and flat like over-dyed hair can do.

I'm no expert but I've read that pretreating resistant greys (with either bleach or a developer, but not long enough to change colour) will help greys take on the colour. Maybe ask your hairdresser about that?
I found this kind of thing
behindthechair.com/articles/5-expert-tips-for-better-gray-coverage/

I use Naturatint. It's permanent but still have lots of grey after just 4 weeks. Nothing else works. I'm 100% grey but don't want to go grey as I'm still in my 40s.

Casting -is that permanent? Most ranges have a 'natural ' range so they may have a light brown 5(poss 5.0) , a light natural brown 5.0(poss 5.00) and a light natural golden brown (5.03) . The first should cover say a plain light brown , the second is the most strong and more opaque and the last is a mix of natural and fashion tone so would cover the least . The word to look for is natural ,they are what we call base shades and have more coverage than say gold or chocolate .The number system is the same in salons , if it's got enough base it's not going to cover or even blend

What's next?

Acceptance.

I came on here to write nearly this exact post - I've been using L'Oreal Casting Creme for about 4 years but the last time I used it the colour barely lasted a fortnight... Watching with interest!

I'm in the same boat and am about to try Josh Wood on the recommendation of a friend with a similar problem. It's meant to be permanent but my friend says it does fade after a while. This is my last ditch before resigning myself to the salon! Hoping to do it this weekend...

I'm a greying dark brunette and have used Casting for years. Like you I am finding it fades quickly on the roots.
I was at the hairdresser recently and she advised using a permanent on the roots and semi on the rest of my hair.
I tried it and was quite pleased with the result. My hair was beautifully glossy. I'm a few weeks in now and i notice the roots are more obvious now than when the semi was fading out. There's a very definite line. I'm going to use a root colour spray for now while I decide what to do next.

The answer is hairdresser permanent dyes. I use Inoa. It doesn't fade at all and my hair is at least 50% grey.

I find Clairol permanent best for my resistant greys tbh

Nice & Easy that is 😊

Thanks everyone. Ounce I agree acceptance is probably the best solution but I'm not quite there yet. Give me a couple of years .

I worry about the more obvious roots if I go down the permanent route but maybe that's the only solution.

Lia777 that's interesting re. the different shades. I hadn't realised that some of them had more lasting power than others. I usually try to go for an ashy/cool brown but maybe I'd be better off going for "natural" brown.

Hi I’m a hairdresser and of course I’m going to recommend professional permanent colour at a hairdresser. If you are not going to change colour and you can’t stretch to a hairdresser you will need to pretreat the hair. You can do this by applying some developer (at least a 6 vol) to the hair with no colour and blow dry it in. Then apply your (permanent) colour mixed with developer as normal.

As far as brands go you will need a permanent colour, not too dark that says it will cover greys. As a professional I use wella and it works for me. Good luck

I've been using the Clairol Age Defy for the last few months and find it good. I have a lot of greys but it covers them well and the colour comes out very natural looking. It even let some highlights I had still shine through.

Last time I dyed it I had to use the regular nice and easy permanent. It didn't cover my greys as well and even though i choose the same shade it came out much darker. And it completely covered my highlights 😖