Part 2 in my 4 part hair series! Remember I’m not a professional but I’ve managed to make my hair pretty funny colors for a while now! Follow my direction at your own risk.
So now that your hair is bleached to a platinum white, now it’s time to dye your hair! Technically dying is a 1 step process that lifts old color out and puts new color in, and staining is just depositing color. Even though we are staining we are still going to call it dying but now you are armed with knowledge and we all know what that means. Trouble.
How to Dye Your Hair, the basics:
Supplies
- Dye-Special Effects, Jerome Russel Punk Colors, Pravana, Manic Panic,Splat, etc….I’ll be leaving reviews on each brand later. This list is in order of my preference just FYI
- Gloves
- A bowl to put your dye into
- A tint brush
- Vaseline
- Plastic Wrap
- If there is anything you definitely don’t want dye on, make sure it’s covered. Change into clothing that isn’t sentimental, put vaseline on your hairline so your skin doesn’t get stained, lay down a drop cloth–whatever you need to do! Personally I’m just careful + I’m usually doing this in places with bathrooms that aren’t super fancy. I have done my hair in all white bathrooms before and a combination of being really careful + bleach pens works wonderfully.
- Dump some dye into your bowl. Using your tint brush and working methodically through your hair paint dye onto hair. I like to start on my part and work my way down each side of my head, 1/2 an inch sections at a time, then do the other side and work my way down the back.
- Wrap head in plastic wrap and wait 30 min + for hair dye to take. Some people swear to leave it on overnight but I haven’t found that to be necessary with super saturated dyes like Special Effects and Punky Colors.
- Rinse head under faucet to remove as much color as possible, then shampoo, condition and style as normal. You can wait and wait forever for the water to run clean but it’s not going to happen, eventually give up and move on with your day! I don’t like to let my wet hair touch light clothing, and you will get hair on your bed clothes. This is a risk of having cool hair!
Maintaining Color
Now that your hair is all pretty and colorful you want it to stay that way, right? My suggestion is two-fold. 1. Wash your hair as infrequently as possible. You can train your hair to be washed less frequently, believe me! I used to be an every other day girl and now I’m a once a week or so girl, usually washing after I’ve made my hair into some big crazy bouffant for an event and it’s a matted nest of butterflies and hairspray. 2. If your hair is 1 color mix in some of your hair dye into your conditioner and use it every time you wash your hair! This will extend your dye job.
I’ve found since I switched from doing super saturated colors and to doing pastels I don’t have to worry about fading as much, more on that later! I mean now….
How to Make Your Hair Pastel
Bold parrot colors aren’t for everyone, perhaps you want something a little less intense (but no less noticeable). If you wait long enough your bright colors will fade, but maybe you don’t want dark roots to go with your pastel baby chick locks. The solution is very simple…dilute your dye with conditioner! For my super pastel turquoise hair I’m rocking lately I diluted things about 6 parts conditioner, 1 part dye. With some experimenting you’ll figure out the right dilution for you.
Overdying
So what happens if you don’t bleach all of your hair? Your natural color will get a bit of a rinse effect. Sadly this doesn’t last very long (because you aren’t burning holes in your hair and then filling them up with yummy color) but it looks pretty rad!
How to Color Block
Not content with just 1 color of hair? Why not have all the colors! Keep in mind that the more colors you have the more of a pain in the butt the procedure + maintenance will be, but you are a brave soul and you are prepared to accept the consequences of your fashion choices. I like to section my hair out first using bobby pins, hair elastics or clips. If your hair is very short you can get creative: use vaseline, make a stencil, use a paint brush for greater detail etc. However you want to section it out, do it! Different stacks of color will have different effect. The picture underneath the top half of my hair pink and the bottom half divided into 2 purple and blue.
Once my hair is sectioned out and pulled back I undo one section at a time and paint that the color I want and put it back up. You can do this on a piece of tin foil as well and wrap your hair up in the tinfoil which helps maintain the sectioning + protects the other hairs!
Advanced Dying Techniques
Instead of thinking in color blocks, think down the length of your hair. You can start with one color and fade to another, or just do the tips. Basically you want to plan it out, where are you starting and where do you want to finish…and what are the steps along the way? If you are fading white to pink, mix a few small quantities different dilutions of pink/conditioner and paint them in order of darkness down your hair. If you are fading from one color to another do the same thing but with as many iterations of the color as your need to transition smoothly.
Just for reference I have about 7 different combinations of pink, purple and blue in my hair here!
The Internet is For…
Research! Browse around these great sites to see what other folks have done and to get inspire. Many even have resources + comments along with pictures so you can know exactly what people have done.
Hair Color Ideas
Flickr
FYDH
FYHairColors
We Love Pastel Hair
We Love Bright Hair
Pink Hair Livejournal Community
I Want Your Hair
That’s all, folks!
This could really go on forever, the creativity you can explore with your hair is nearly endless. Hopefully this gets your imagination spinning. As usual feel free to leave comment with any questions you have and I’ll do my best to answer!
<3 Tess Aquarium
