Lollipops&&Stilettos - Tips to dying your hair an "unnatural" color. Ooh la la!

Well, I am bored. So I'm going to share with my lil punkie bloopers, how to dye your hair an unnatural color and make it last as long as possible!

You can chalk this entry up to almost a decade of experience dying my hair nutty colors.

There are MANY brands out there with bright haired ladies and gentleman on the box. They're all basically the same..quality is hard to find in these sorts of dyes, so it's good to know what brand to look for. There are tons of drug stores and alternative shops [Hot Topic, Spencers, ect] advertising to have the longest lasting and brightest dyes...don't buy into their garbage. Most dyes are created equal, only a few really stand out

Special Effects is really my favorite. BUT it's VERY hard to find in any actual stores. In the past two years or so, I've had to order it off internet sites [ebay, for one]. Hot Topic used to sell FX [special effect] but for some reason they stopped and replaced it with, I believe, " RAW". This is the longest lasting dye I've ever used with a HUGE assortment of gorgeous colors!

Manic Panic is very easily comparable to FX dye. In my opinions, it lasts much shorter but the colors are very similar. Like Special Effects there are pastels, bright as f*!% colors, and even some that glow under black light. The negative side of Manic Panic are that it's very standard and short lasting, it'll be hard to have a unique color using a brand that's targeted to every mall punk and pre-pubescent goth kid and you'll be constantly wrist deep in a container of pillarbox red.

Raw I've only used once. Some shade of blue. It's very much a gel vs. a creamier typed dye like the above two brands [if I remember correctly!] and I really didn't like that. It was a pain in the ass to apply and was incredibly sloppy; thank god for vaseline and rubber gloves! It really didn't last too long and every time I washed my hair, there would be a puddle of bright blue water at my feet, compared to a tiny bit of dye washing out with other brands, this one washed out in little over a week...and sadly every shower I watched my blue hair's demise. ;]

Fudge, I used to use Fudge many years ago. I was absolutely IN LOVE with it! It was incredibly long lasting [I've heard it's "professional grade"] and smelled DELICIOUS. It really did smell like a sweet dessert, which just made dying even more fun. It came in a box with two parts that you mixed together, which is a good sign. That means the dye is working on a chemical reaction not just staining your hair. Basically, think of a normal box of dye; you mix two parts together, a powder and a liquid. That's a chemical reaction, while most unnatural colored dyes are already mixed in a bottle. The only down side I could imagine this brand having is that it MAY be possibly damaging to hair; this I do not know.


Dyes like Manic Panic Special Effects are vegetable based, and basically stain your hair. When you bleach your hair, the pores of the strands are opened up and very happy to absorb dyes (and conditioners). Most people are going to use the easy access brands from HT, which are veggie based so just to make my life easier, let's assume we're using one of those.

Using a 40 volume bleach will work quickest and strongest, but be careful. Depending on your hair color, you may not need that strong of a bleach (20 or 30 will work just fine for most people). And you can easily damage your hair if you bleach with out a conditioner. I personally recommend you get your hair lightened at a salon but if you're stubborn like me, you're going to do it at home as well. BE CAREFUL. Use the proper equipment if you're mixing your own bleach and not a kit. DO NOT use a metal bowl or mixer [plastic works just fine] and wear clothes and protective clothing. Be very sure to apply the bleach to your ends first and work upwards towards your roots, as they will lighten the quickest. Try not to leave the bleach on for more than 30 - 45 minutes. AND DEEP CONDITION! This is a MUST. I've spent the last few weeks helping my hair recover from my sudden urge to go from dark brown to blond and that's with many deep conditioning sessions and hair masks. [I will make another entry about home bleaching, another time. Those are the basics..and don't say I didn't warn you!]

Also, for making unnatural colored dyes last (i.e veggie based dyes), using heat while the dye is sitting really helps. Basically, take a straightener to your hair WITH the dye on it. It should wipe off your straightener easily and won't stain. If you're worried about ruining a straightener, a blow dryer works just as well. Wrap your head (or the sections of dye) in plastic wrap and use a blow dryer on full heat, med to low power and keep it on the sections for 10-45 minutes. The longer the better.

The longer you keep the dye in, the better...too. The bottle may say 20 minutes, but an hour is better. A lot of people will actually wrap their heads up in plastic/seran wrap and sleep with their dye in over night. It's perfectly safe thanks to pretty much every "unnatural" colored dye being vegetable base..(made with veggies! yum yum).

p.s!
A little tip you'll eventually learn is coating your hair line [face and neck and EARS!] with a THICK layer of vaseline will very much protect your skin from the dreaded splotches of pinks, purples, greens, ect. I always try to remember to do this as I almost always end up with a random colored ear. Hehe.

A good reference I just found from an website I used to visit religiously! ::

GalaDarling

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