The whites are not going away.

[BlackfootHair]

I'm trying to grow out my natural color and just dye it close to that to cover the whites. I use Colorance by Goldwell. When I was using the blue black, I never had any issues whatsoever with coverage. Now that I'm using something lighter, it only tones my whites, and eventually fades off. Yesterday I left the color on for an hour. And I can still find my whites with some decent searching.

I'm using DevaCurl, so maybe because my hair isn't stripped of moisture it rejects dye more. :( Before when dying my hair I used regular s&C. After yesterday's dye my line of demarcation is less. So that is nice.

I'm just so annoyed.

I don't know if I want to go with permanent color. I liked Colorance because it was a demi with good lasting properties before. I know they have a stronger developer to use with white hair, but that means stronger peroxide. Not what I was aiming for. I looked over the katam thread and it seems that katam isn't permanent like henna. I know cassia dyes white hair yellow, which I wouldn't mind, but I'm wondering how long it lasts. I don't want to have to worry about it fading too. If that's the case I'll stick to permanent color.

I don't want to henna because it killed my curls. :( I hope cassia doesn't do that.

I know people have used Elumen. I should look into that as well. With Goldwell I am using 6SB Or Silver brown. No red tones to speak of. Ugh. I am at a loss. I'm trying to not hate my hair too much. It's getting longer and longer and is so shiny I always get compliments on the shine when I go into the supply store. I love DevaCurl. That's for sure. :)

My hair is SOCLOSE to where it was when I had the bleaching fiasco. So once I hit that point, I'll be growing longer than it's been forever! :D I just don't want any whites. I'm 25 and have a hard enough time facing that. I don't need whites to tell me 50 is around the corner. (my mom died when she was just 56 so age has new meaning to me.) The older I get the more I realize just how young she really was. And how much of her life was robbed from her from pancreatic cancer.....

Anyway..sorry for the tangent. What's good for coloring whites?? I don't want henna because it killed my curl. It's probably the only thing I'll find to cling to the whites like a magnet though. ugh.

[Tap Dancer]

Nothing is going to cover the whites for very long. Trust me, I know. I used permanent dye for years and some of the whites stayed white and the others only held onto the dye for a couple of weeks.

[Unofficial_Rose]

I can't help, I'm afraid, because I'm in a similar position. I always end up too dark with henna + indigo, however careful I am. Basically if it's dark enough to cover/mute the grey, the natural colour ends up darker than I would like.

Much as I love the condition, henna + indigo don't give you the chance to go a little lighter without a great deal of bother. So I'm considering going back to chemicals. But anything with peroxide in it ends up lightening my hair to a brassy dark blonde. :rolleyes:

It would be difficult to let it go grey as I'm job-hunting in a finicky and ageist job market. I'll be watching this thread with interest!

Has anybody tried Clairol Loving care?

[wintersun99]

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[GlassEyes]

Deposit only dyes, like Elumen, are a good bet. They may not stay very long, but you shouldn't need to use a peroxide-based dye to cover gray since ti's, you know, gray, and will take whatever color. Since it has no melanin for the peroxide dye to stick to, it's better to just go with deposit only. It'll just color and though it may fade, it doesn't need anything to help stick.

[Roseate]

Cassia doesn't kill curl at all (in fact seems to encourage mine), but the color doesn't last very long, and some people find it barely sticks to whites at all. I do it once a month, and it is definitely faded by the time I do it again.

[Unofficial_Rose]

Having once managed to get blonde on my whites using cassia, I have tried several times since, and I have to admit I haven't had much luck. Some packets of cassia have lots of colour in them, others don't, even when freshly opened. Wintersun, where do you buy your cassia from?

Maybe a synthetic "henna" like Surya cream is the best solution, simply because they do a Golden Brown colour that covers grey but doesn't go that cherry-dark colour. I'm not so keen on the petro-chemicals, but I can't fault the condition and the results.

[heidihug]

I cover my grays using permanent color. I find I get the best coverage when my hair has been fully clarified beforehand. I shampoo twice with Suave Clarifying before I color, without putting in any conditioner at all. Then I allow my hair to air dry. Then I color, and heavily condition from the ears down after rinsing out, even though I only put the color on my roots. It's an all-day endeavor, which is why I only do it every two or three months. Anyway, that's the best way I have found to assure full coverage on me.

BTW, I have naturally dull dark ash brown hair, and I color to a medium dark auburn.

[Xandergrammy]

Nothing is going to cover the whites for very long. Trust me, I know. I used permanent dye for years and some of the whites stayed white and the others only held onto the dye for a couple of weeks.



I had the same experience as Tap Dancer. Those whites just don't want to stay covered! We have a nifty little thread called The Salt & Pepper thread if you want to check it out and see how pretty the whites can look if you leave them alone. We have a young lady over there with hair near to your color and her whites look amazing.

[wintersun99]

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[Nevermore]

Could you try just hennaing the white hairs? Like using foil to separate those from the rest of your hair? That shouldn't really screw up your curls.

[Demetrue]

Get a plastic bowl and hair dye application brush and only brush the dye onto the white hairs - keep it away from the rest of your hair. Peroxide needs to be 20% to get the dye to cover the white hairs. You could also try those root-only application kits and once again, only apply to the noticeable white hairs, keep the dye away from your dark hair. Then there's always a mascara wand to temporarily cover the white.

[BlackfootHair]

I have quite a few whites, so singling them out for color really wouldn't work, plus I'm too lazy to do that.

I still have neutral henna from Hennalucent and remember using it a long time ago. It made my very damaged over-dyed hair look lighter because it imparted gold tones. So I'm betting it's cassia. http://www.peninsulabeauty.com/ardell_hennalucent_neutral_2oz_c603_p23919.htm

I might try this sometime soon. My last dye went slightly darker than I wanted. Although at least it reduced the line from demarcation.