Is it the products or the technique? My gray coverage changed big time over 3 months

I swear my gray coverage went from lasting 2 weeks to holding strong for a full month. I switched from a standard 20 volume developer to a 10 volume demi-permanent formula. Now I'm trying to figure out if it was the lower volume that did it or the fact that I started doing a 10 minute pre-softening step before applying color. Has anyone else noticed a big shift when changing up their gray blending routine?

3 comments

3 Comments

dianal941d ago

@john_cooper nailed it but nobody's talking about how hard water can mess with gray coverage too.

john_cooper1d ago

Pre-softening is doing the heavy lifting there.

chen.casey1d ago

Pre-softening is the hero we all needed but didn't deserve, right? I mean, my gray coverage used to look like a confident decision for two days then slowly turn into a sad apology for the next two weeks. Switched to a quick 8 minute pre-soft with 10 volume and now my grays don't even try to peek through for like three and a half weeks. It's almost embarrassing how easy that fix was, like finding out you've been trying to open a push door by pulling for three months. Maybe the developer change helped a little too, but that pre-soft step feels like cheating at this point.