My hair hasn’t been its natural colour since I was about 13. No joke. I couldn’t even tell you what my natural shade is. From what I remember it’s a dull, kind of muddy shade of brown. I’ve probably tried every brand of hair colour going at one time or another. I’ve been blonde, I’ve been (and always seem to go back to) ginger, I’ve been black, and I’ve even been pink. I miss my pink hair but that’s another story for another day.
Despite what you might think, my hair is in bloody good condition considering it’s been dyed every few months for the best part of 20 years (eek!). Hair dyes are getting better and better all the time and usually give your hair a bit of nourishment at the same time (unless you’re straight up bleaching your hair, expect straw in that case).
So given my lifelong relationship with hair dye I jumped at the chance of trying L’orèal Paris Casting Crème Gloss. I was quite disappointed in the range of shades, if I’m honest, because I’m leaning towards proper gingery shades right now. I picked out the most gingery looking one I could find, Chilli Chocolate, and eagerly awaited its arrival. My hair needed done anyway as I had a wedding to go to so timing was rather fortuitous.
Here are some incredibly unflattering “before” photos to show you what my hair looked like before I started.
The dye goes on wet hair, something I’m never keen on as I find it harder to ensure you cover all of your hair and, especially with longer hair, there is a tendency for the hair to tangle when it’s wet but hasn’t been conditioned. That being said, there was more than enough in the bottle to cover all of my hair (I usually buy 2 packs as I have fairly long hair) and I was pleasantly surprised at how easily the dye was to apply. The gloves provided are obviously meant for someone with much smaller hands than mine though, I found them quite hard to get on which, in turn, made the application a bit more tricky as I didn’t have full range of movement in my fingers.
The instructions, however, were not so simple. Lots of text made it quite difficult to track down the instructions for the specific stage of application that you’re at, even the time that the dye was to be left on for was hidden away. I think this had a lot to do with the instructions being in multiple languages.
The dye has a pleasant smell, it’s not chemically and doesn’t go for your eyes, and there were no drips while the colour was developing which was handy because I was giving H&C their dinner and didn’t fancy dying either of them in the process!!
A lot of dyes these days give you enough conditioner for a few applications however there was only enough for the one application with Loreal Casting Crème Gloss and the bottle is an awkward shape so doesn’t stand up by itself and can be a slippery little bugger to get it all out. I prefer the toothpaste style tubes that other brands give however that’s a personal preference because I’m a skinflint and like to make sure I’ve got every. Last. drop.
The colour washed out well, didn’t leave any residue on my towel (always a bonus) and was remarkably close to the colour on the box. My hair felt lovely and soft after and had a gorgeous shine to it for the wedding. I especially love how all the different tones show up when I wear curls.
Although it’s a bit darker than I would usually go I’m loving the colour and 3 weeks down the line it hasn’t faded at all. My hair is still shiny, still silky smooth and still getting me loads of compliments!
* I’m a BzzAgent and was sent this pack of L’orèal Paris Casting Crème Gloss free of charge to try however this was not dependant on a favourable review and all words and opinions are my own *
Potterings and Ramblings 