Things they don't tell you about coloring your hair

[asterroc]

• If you have black hair, don't believe the color on any commercial hair dye packages, you can't do more than change the shade a smidge. Do at least the full time listed on the box.


• If your hair is black and you want inhuman colors, you'll have to bleach first in the pattern you want the colors to be. Then add color to the whole thing; it won't show on the black. If you've got light hair, you'll have to somehow mask the parts you don't want colored, or only apply the dye to the parts you do want colored - tin foil might do the trick, but see below.


• No, you can't do nice highlights on your own.


• Apply Vaseline liberally around your hairline - forehead, ears, nape of the neck. This prevents your face from turning colors as much.


• Make sure you have a hand mirror you don't mind getting dyed so you can check the back and sides.


• A comb or brush (again, one you don't mind getting colored) will help you spread the dye evenly.


• You may want spare plastic gloves - the ones that come in the package will get water in them and are a pain to put back on. If you're doing inhuman colors, the dye might not come with gloves at all. If you have a latex allergy, the gloves that come in kits are sometimes vinyl, and sometimes latex, so either open the kit first to check, or just buy the ones that work for you preventatively.


• Some kits require a plastic bowl for mixing; it should be disposeable, and cups will do as well.


• You will get dye on your shirt. Wear an old one, and cover your shoulders with an old rag on top of that. Use a clothespin to keep it on. Or go naked - it does come off your skin with some scrubbing.


• You're going to get dye everywhere else too. Move priceless items away from the bathroom. It comes right off of metal (such as faucets), but will stain porcelain and plastic sinks and tubs for a couple weeks (but it does wear off eventually).


• Don't worry about getting the dye on your scalp, you really can't help it, it doesn't hurt, and you can't see it.


• If you're bleaching, make sure you've got conditioner and shine product for daily use. These will help your hair feel less like Barbie's.


• Especially when using inhuman colors, use an old or dark-colored towel for your hair after showering for a few weeks. Also put an old/dark hand towel or a rag over your pillow at night so you don't turn it colors as well.


• Also for inhuman colors, use a swim cap when going into a pool. The color running is really obvious, and the chlorine can make the color turn nasty. It probably doesn't hurt to use a swim cap if you're dying human colors too.

By the time people are reading this, I may be purple my attempt at covering orange w/ purple (no bleach) has turned into stripes of maroon, purple, and black. And now I pack.

Comments

[sammka.livejournal.com]

What good timing! I'm about to dye my hair blue.

Do you know how to cover up hair coloring when I'm done with it? Do I have to bleach it out or can I just re-dye it a slightly darker color?

[rubicat.livejournal.com]

You will get dye on your shirt. Wear an old one, and cover your shoulders with an old rag on top of that.

Or do what I do: just hang out nekkid for an hour. :)

Also what I do: when I finish applying the colour, I'll take a long doubled-up length of toilet paper, fold in half (long) and then wrap around the base of my hair. Then I'll put a shower cap on. That way, my dye-heavy hair won't flop onto my skin for the 30 minutes or so I'm hanging out waiting for it to seep.

Also - buy a pack of gloves from a beauty supply store. Putting the gloves from the box BACK on when it's time to rinse out is just a joke.

:)

[l0stmyrel1g10n.livejournal.com]

if it's been bleached before, you don't need to bleach it again and probably shouldn't. even a slightly lighter color over semi-permanent dye should cover it--i had purple hair and i dyed it light brown and you couldn't tell it had ever been purple.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I would've said the same thing before today. Mine was orange and today I added purple with bizarre results: my hair is now quite variegated, from maroon/burgundy, through blue/purple, to midnight black. It's all darkish though, so it blends into my black roots (since I didn't bleach again).

I suspect that human colors will do better than inhuman ones, though I may go with midnight black for Fall just to be on the safe side.

[l0stmyrel1g10n.livejournal.com]

yeah, i used a permanent dye over a semipermanent dye, that may have had something to do with it.

05.2, Beans used red over blue--half-faded blue, with the result that her hair varied from bronze to turquoise, kind of like a Japanese beetle except way cooler.

i totally just typed "beatle" instead of "beetle" the first time around...

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I stuck a couple of those up there b/c I forgot to do so before. :) My hair's too short to worry about the flopping, but it grows pretty far down the nape of my neck, so I may try the TP trick next time so I don't get my shirt/towel. Or go nekkid. :-P

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Huh, is this your first time doing colors? I'm surprised. Considering you picked blue, yeah you definitely will want to cover it up later. Blue fades out into a nasty green, I'm told.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

I'm not planning on bleaching it, I think. My hair is reasonably light so it doesn't really need to be.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

I only once before did "different" colors on myself, and then I didn't have to worry about covering over it, so I just let it fade and grow out. This time though I have to dye over it in the Fall.