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Saturday, February 18, 2012

Dip Dyed Hair

Apparently color-tipped hair is all the rage right now, but of course I'm just now catching on.  You know, like this:
source
and this:
source
I hadn't seen it in person yet and wasn't quite sure what I thought of it.  I don't like my hair to be overly trendy because I have commitment problems when it comes to hair changes. But this one caught my attention.  I once tried to dye my hair a reddish-brown when I was much younger and I turned out with bright orange hair.  Like bozo the clown style. (I was about to include a picture of bozo for reference, but the pictures of that ole clown were too frightening. So I decided against that.  You're welcome.) My Mom took me straight to have it dyed dark again, and ever since that day I have stuck with my natural color, afraid to change it.  I also just enjoy it being dark, but sometimes curiosity gets the best of me. I saw on Pinterest a DIY temporary hair dip method using soft pastels.  Most of the pictures were one people with blonde hair, which makes sense because it would obviously show up better but I had to know if it would show up on dark hair. So Henry and I hunted down some soft pastels today and I gave it a shot.  I loved the idea of being able to color it and then wash it out the same day.  I picked a purple and a red, but today I just stuck to the purple.  I followed a different set of instructions from the link I included above, but I think next time I will do it this way. 
The tutorial said to wet sections of my hair and twist them, then stroke the color on. It also didn't mention wearing gloves, or I speedily read over that part and wish I hadn't.  But it worked.  The color was fairly subtle, but pretty.  Here are a few thoughts on the process:


+Wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty, absolutely. 
+Prepare to have your entire bathroom  colored. I'm going to have to scrub the entire vanity like mad to get all the purple off. 
+Look for color in places you might not expect.  I had streaks on the side of my face that I almost didn't catch that looked like I had been scratched in the face by a cat. Also found color in my ears. On my arms. On my chest. 
+The tutorial in the link above doesn't mention twisting the damp hair to stroke color on like the one I followed did.  I think not twisting the hair is a much better idea.  Mine turned into quite a snarly mess that thankfully I was able to brush out, but not without ripping out a zillion hairs. I also think it would have been less fluffy if I hadn't twisted the sections.  It was a little bit like a lion's mane.
+I liked how the hair looked when it was down, but it makes it feel very straw like so up might be better. This also helps to avoid getting it on clothes and skin. 
+Plan to shampoo with clarifying shampoo.  I don't have any, but I think next time I'd like to have it on hand.  I shampooed three times tonight, which worked just fine. 
+CONDITION afterwards.  The end. 


I realize reading that, that I didn't make it sound all that wonderful.  Yes my hair felt kind of course and sticky, but up in a bun, I couldn't tell and it was really fun.  I'm sure I'll get better at it with a little practice, and I'm excited to try again with another color! Part of me would just like to actually have my hair dyed in some fun way, but I think I'm too chicken.  I'll be sticking to crayons for now I guess!
Have any of you ever tried this?



1 comment:

  1. Awesome! I've been wanting to try, too. Thanks for the words of wisdom; I'm sure I would have ended up walking around with chalk all over my face...

    ReplyDelete

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