Coloring Hair With BFF & Busting Myths Ft L’Oreal Casting Creme Gloss 316 Plum

I was meaning to color my hair for a long time to get rid of faded highlights & some grey hair. However I had never done it myself so I asked my friend to help, as she colors her hair herself and surprisingly her favorite hair color brand was L’Oreal Casting Creme Gloss. We picked shades for us, I chose  L’Oreal Casting Crème Gloss 316 Plum & She picked Iced Chocolate. 

I’ll go thru the step by step process to share with you how easy this is.

What’s in the box

1. Crème Colourant – The actual colour in the pink tube
2. Developer – You need to mix this with the colourant before application
3. Nutri Shine Conditioner – To be used to wash off the hair after the coloring process
4. A pair of disposable gloves
5. Instruction sheet

My Hair Before Coloring, can you spot uneven fading of highlights & Some Greys ?

Step 1

Open the box and FIRST read the instructions given. They are really well written and illustrated, it makes it really easy to figure what you need to do.  I find it really nice that they have the complete instructions in both Hindi as well as English.  I also read this every time, just in case there has been any change in the formulation requiring a different process.  Its best to be safe.  It takes about 5 minutes to browse through the entire process.

Step 2

Wet your hair and towel dry it – makes for easier application.  I also make sure I’m wearing an old dark nightshirt, preferably front open.  It makes it easier to remove the shirt with the colour on your hair later.

Step 3

Wear the gloves given.  Remember to remove all jewellery on your fingers, hands and neck.  This includes all rings, bangles, necklaces.  I find that my ring tears at the glove and I don’t like the colour seeping through.

Step 4

Pop open the tube of Crème Colourant with the tube lid itself.  Then take out the bottle of Developer.  Place it on a stable surface and unscrew the lid.  Place the tube of colourant on the top and slowly squeeze the contents into the developer bottle.  Make sure you have transferred all the colourant into the bottle.  Shut the bottle and shake it hard.  You will start seeing the colour change in the bottle itself.  In the instruction sheet, L’Oreal asks you to then snip off the top of the nozzle on the developer bottle.  However I prefer to open the lid again and empty the contents into the bowl.  I personally find it easier to apply this way.  I started doing this after watching this technique being used in the salons.

Step 5

Comb your hair properly and make sure there are no knots.  Then I part the hair with the separator comb.  Now pick up some colour with the application brush or squeeze the colour from the nozzle of the bottle depending on what method you have chosen.  If you opt to squeeze directly from the bottle, you will still need a brush to spread the colour over the hair.

Continue this for the rest of the hair, making small partings in the hair and making sure you cover all the roots completely.

Once the roots are done, use a normal comb to comb through the colour through the rest of the hair.  Spread colour with the brush wherever you feel you have missed out the colour.  Don’t worry there is plenty to go around.

Step 6

That’s it!  You’re almost done.  Now just tie up your hair with a clip to make sure the colour doesn’t touch the rest of your face.  There will be some colour that has touched your face or ears, use a cotton ball dipped in water or a makeup remover wipe to pick that off.  It comes off very easily.

Wait for about 20 to 25 minutes.  Don’t worry if you go over by the couple of minutes, that’s ok.

Step 7

Wash off the colour with normal water in the shower.  Then use some of the nutri shine conditioner to protect the colour.  You will need only a small part of the bottle given.  I tend to use this on my hair twice.  DO NOT use any other shampoo on that day.

The conditioner is thick and heavy, almost the consistency of a mask but it spreads with ease.  I love everything about this conditioner.  I wish L’Oreal would sell it separately, I would use only that every single day.

My Hair After The Color –

My BFF’s Hair – 

You may find that the colour bleed a little on the day of the colouring.  It may show on the towel but that washes off with no effort.  Avoid wearing white on that day.  Also colours in the red family tend to bleed more than those in the brown/black family.  So keep that in mind if you are using one of the red based shades such as Plum

It smells nice and fresh and makes my hair really silky smooth.

Lets Bust Some Myths 

Myth 1 :  Your hair will grow gray/white faster if you use hair dye

Reality:  There is absolutely no connection between coloring your hair and having more of it turn white.  Hair gets its colour from melanin that is produced  inside the hair shaft.  Hair dye simply coats the shaft of hair to make up for the lack of melanin.  There is no way that something that coats your hair from the outside is able to penetrate into a healthy hair shaft and somehow make it stop melanin production.

You will hear stories from people who claim to have started using hair colour to cover some early grays, only to find more hair turning against them over time.  Well, my answer to this is very simple, you have started graying, won’t the rest of your hair slowly start becoming white?  As a normal chronological progression?  Assuming you hadn’t started colouring your hair, do you think it would arrest the rest of the hair from going white?  Really unlikely.

Myth 2:  It will look unnatural

Reality:  Yes, this was true in the past when there were some hair colours that made your hair look really unnatural.  But that has changed so much in the past. My favorite brand,  L’Oreal Casting Crème Gloss has a wonderful range of shades that have shimmer in them.  When you pour out the hair dye, you will see that little shimmer in the colour.  That shimmer, translates beautifully on your tresses making them shiny.  The range of colours is also perfect!  You will find one that looks like your own strands if you are trying to cover gray.  Even a radically different colour won’t make you stick out like a sore thumb, in fact it will look fun.

Myth 3 :  Hair colour will Damage your hair

Reality:  Au contraire! Nothing could be further from the truth!  Each time I colour my hair, it feels thicker, shinier and softer.  The hair colour coats your hair from the outside, giving it a thicker feel and the shimmer in the dye makes it look a lot shiner.  Plus my normal go to colour, L’Oreal Casting Crème Gloss is ammonia free, so you aren’t really exposing your hair to dangerous chemicals either.  A complete win-win in my opinion.

Stay away from cheap hair colour alternatives and you’ll be fine!

Check out Sonam Kapoor’s take on L’Oreal Casting Creme Gloss HERE

Overall It was so much fun coloring my hair with my BFF. We had loads of fun and she for sure helped me to get over my apprehensions that one has while coloring hair for the first time, that too at home. I am totally loving the results, and even toned color of my hair. Hair feel smooth & shiny. I must have used the word easy about a 100 times in this piece, but what else can I say, L’Oreal Casting Crème Gloss really is one of the most user friendly hair colour I have ever used.  It covers my grays and keeps the texture soft and silky – most of all it looks completely natural.  Gotta love it!

*This post is written as part of the #NoColourNoFashion Campaign by L’Oreal Paris India