Green to Red

So I stripped what I could of my green out of my hair in order to go red finally. Red is my old stand by, I will always return to it. Also, Dragon*Con is coming up and I only cosplay redheaded characters. Sally, Jessica Rabbit, Kim Possible, and Sexy Lady Hunter S. Thompson. Uh, that last one is a cross play and was bald. I can do what I want with my hair for that!



So here's the laughable mess of greeny-gold hair I started with. I have it clipped all up into different sections. Top will be bold red, sides will be orange, back/underneath will be a brownish red-orange. I guess you could call that auburn. Shut up.

You have to prep your dyes before getting really into it. The below is actually a pic AFTER I had already dyed my hair. I was sure to have redundant amounts of everything just in case I needed more than anticipated. It is never fun to have to make your hair dying experience two separate jobs or having to force someone to run out and buy more hair dye for you. Always get more than you think you'll need. I cut it very close with this. I was scraping the bottle in hopes to not have to mix up more hair dye. I made it, but only just barely.

Left:
L'Oreal Excellence HiColor in Red Hot
L'Oreal Excellence HiColor Highlights in Red

Right:
L'Oreal Excellence HiColor Highlights in Copper
L'Oreal Preference Mega Reds in Dark Intense Auburn Red

Top:
L'Oreal Preference after color conditioner (came in a box color that my mom gets)

Not pictured are the vinyl gloves, processing cap, applicator bottle, Salon Care 40 Volume Creme Developer I used. Also the butterfly clamps from before, a wide tooth comb, 2 hand towels, 1 washcloth, rubbing alcohol, 1 hair chopstick & roll of toilet paper. I'm really considering getting a color key because those High Lights colors are thick as hell and very difficult to get out of the tube without uncrimping the wrong end and making a damn mess.

I  started with the copper on the sides. Clipped those up, and then did the underneath. The hair chopstick comes in handy when mixing the highlights colors. Again, they are really really thick so in order to make sure they're mixed in well, I have to use the chopstick as a whisk. They sell haircolor whisks, but I'm not quite to the point where I want to get one yet. Also considering a hair color mixing tub instead of a bottle because it might be easier to dump onto my excessively long hair.

Here it is all colored, clipped and in a processing cap:

I let this sit for about an hour after everything was done.  Back:

To rinse it out, I unclipped everything and used the tub spigot first. Be sure to keep your eyes tightly closed, this stuff is seriously harmful chemicals! I used warm water. Once I got the bulk of it out, I stood up and turned the shower on. I used the wide tooth comb to comb out some tangles first, then applied some of my usual conditioner. I used this and the water to get all the knots and tangles out. Once it was pretty combed out, most of the hair dye was rinsed out & I applied the fancy color locking conditioner. I used almost that entire tube on my hair. Its fantastic, I love it. I combed that through and let it sit in my hair for as long as I could. I used my big hair clip to clip it up wet. To pass the time in the shower, I washed the hair color off the shower walls & tub, brushed my teeth, washed my face & body and just as my hot water was running out, did a final rinse of my hair in pretty cold water. Followed that all with putting it up in a towel.

After a bit, I took the towel off, combed it again and let it air dry. A shot while it was still wet after the towel:

My hair seems to look best when air dried. Blow drying removes all the curls. And I'm mean enough to my hair as it is. Fantastic Back shot once mostly dried:

And the front:

And when it is twisted it looks super cool. This is how you can preview what it will look like when it is braided:

Hope you had fun seeing my process and have inspired you to have awesome hair too!

Going Purple

My friend Sarah wanted my assistance in dyeing her hair purple. I was of course very excited because I love colorful hair. And so we made her hair purple!

Some advance back story about Sarah's hair type: her hair is super fine, very soft, doesn't keep curl to save it's life, and her scalp is exceptionally oily. Her hair is also thick, she has a lot of it. She tells me she has to wash her hair every day, otherwise it is dripping with grease. 

Here is her before, normal brown hair. Note that her hair was previously dyed black but her roots are grown out and so just the tips of the hair have remaining dark brown/black dye on them.

To get her hair blonde, Sarah used Blond Brillance. I didn't assist with this part of the process, she had a handle on it herself.

In the process of blonding:

A re-usable shower cap! Excellent idea!

After shots of the blonde. First, indoor lighting:

Natural lighting:

Sarah did all the bleaching herself, but I did come over to apply the Manic Panic to her hair though. We went with Ultra Violet on the top layer and Purple Haze on the underside. When you want to section off different areas for different colors, I recommend  butterfly clamps. Something non-metal is best, especially when dealing with permanent colors. We didn't use clamps with Sarah, I had to make her hold the top section of her hair while I applied the color to the bottom part. She also used vaseline around her hair line, her ears and neck to make sure the color didn't get her skin. I skip this step personally because I hate the feeling of vaseline on me and I always end up with it in other parts of my hair, but it is a good way to keep from being some colorful skinned person for the next few days.

An important step is making sure the hair is fully saturated. I start around the hair line and coat that thoroughly before I start globbing on the dye by the fingertip-full. Be sure to always separate the hair and apply to the scalp in multiple areas. You have to give your scalp a nice massage and squeegee from root to tip a lot to assure good coverage. A comb is nice for very long hair. I always recommend to get a bottle or two more than you THINK you need. No one wants to be halfway through their hair and have to send someone to the store. You can always return what you don't open. Speaking of opening: prep your space accordingly. Get out towels to cover anything you don't want hair dye to get on. Get at least 1 washcloth and hand towel you don't mind destroying to wipe up messes on you and your bathroom. Open your jars (at least the ones you know you'll use, not the reserve ones) now because without gloves is certainly easier than with hairdye-covered gloves. I keep rubbing alcohol out to get spots off my skin and ceramic sink.

Here's her dye applied and hair covered with a plastic shopping bag to process:



Sarah was only willing to leave her hair dye in for a couple of hours, but I feel like the longer you can stand it, the better. You can also heat process to get a bolder color. I personally sleep on my Manic Panic dye. Its usually in my hair for about 10 hours. I put two grocery bags on, a towel on my pillow and go to bed. When you rinse, I suggest the coldest water you can bear. I can't bear much myself, so I usually kneel hands and knees in the shower and rinse my hair off using the tub filling spigot. Put your chin as close to your chest as you can and use freezing cold water. I use a wide tooth comb, but Sarah's fine hair doesn't get tangly like mine. Once you've got the majority of it out there, you can stand up and turn on the shower. Again, use the coldest you can stand. You'll have to leave your head way back with your body facing away from the shower head. Scrub like you are shampooing your hair. Once the majority of it is out (not when it "rinses clear" that's total BS), condition your hair. If you have a nice color protecting conditioner, now's the time to use it.

Once your hair is all rinsed out, you can clip it up in the shower. Turn your water to warm/hot and wash all the color off your body. Pay special attention to your face, ears, neck, back and butt crack. Those will assuredly be colorful. If you can't get anything off in the shower with your regular facewash, you can use cotton balls and rubbing alcohol once you get out of the shower. Towel drying your hair is recommended but you can blow dry it too.

Here's Sarah the day after dyeing it. Blam! It's purple!

In order to try to keep this color, Sarah used a combination of Ion Sulfate Free Shampoo, Conditioner, and hair color lock in conditioner. But all these measures, as well as waiting days to wash it for real the first time, didn't help her keep her color long. She reported to me her hair faded almost instantaneously. Here it is just 4 days later in inside lighting:

Then she went to the zoo and spent all day in the sun. She said these were taken a week after and she had washed her hair four times with the sulfate free shampoo & conditioner.

The underside was less faded:

So I think we learned some things by dyeing Sarah's hair. Wear a hat or bandanna to avoid UV fading. This goes for any hair colors but there are certain dyes Manic Panic makes that are UV reactive (glow under black light) which may be even more susceptible to fading than their other shades. Other tips to avoid fading are: washing your hair less, washing it in cold water, using sulfate free/color safe shampoos and conditioners, avoiding swimming (or getting your hair wet really, especially just after dyeing), waiting longer & washing more between bleaching and dyeing your hair (I actually recommend 1-2 weeks of being blonde before dyeing it), using a ph neutral shampoo/conditioner after bleaching, leaving your hair color in for a long time, heat processing your hair once the dye is on.

I also have a theory that perhaps Manic Panic might not work well on fine hair. When I say fine, I mean the hairs themselves are skinny and shiny. My hair is coarse, meaning the hairs themselves tend to be thick and rough. This isn't to be confused with thick or thin hair. Thick meaning there is an abundance (high number of hairs per square inch) of hair on your scalp. Thin meaning there are few hairs on your scalp. Sarah's hair, although fine, is also thick. She has plenty of hair, its just the hairs themselves aren't very fat. 

Sarah did purchase Raw in Deep Purple and is going to try to re-apply herself to see if this formula is any better. You may also find out for yourself as you experiment with temporary colors that certain brands just don't work as well as others. I've personally never used Raw. I've had luck with Manic Panic's Classic Line as well as their Amplified formulas (which do indeed seem to last longer). I've tried N'Rage with just OK results (smelled good, washed out quickly). Color Jamz washed out way too fast and wasn't as bright as I wanted it. Jazzing had a crappy applicator, doesn't come in a lot of colors, and I don't recall it being good or bad at staying in the hair. I have not yet tried Ion's colorful colors. I've had Pravana Vivid Red in my closet for at least a year and haven't used it yet. I bought it because my friend Lexie said "It's like sharpie for your hair!" I will report back once I use those last two to review.

Green Hair

 The day after dying my hair green. January 2013:

I used all Manic Panic colors. On the top I used Electric Lizard. On the sides near my ears I used Electric Banana. Underneath was Enchanted forest

Also January 2013!

















 So, how do you get ridiculously awesome green (or other un-natural colors) yourself? Well, you first need to start of with pretty light hair. If you're not naturally blonde, your color will still stick, it just won't be as brilliant. I only use permanent color that lifts my color maybe 3-4 times a year.  The rest of the year, I use hair color that only deposits color. Brands like Manic Panic, N Rage, ChromaSilk, Beyond the Zone Color Jamz, Clairol Jazzing. Those are the ones I have experience with. You will want to experiment with what works best for your hair type. I know a lot of my friends don't like Manic Panic because they found it'd just wash out in a couple washings. But my hair is very thick, very porous, and already chemically treated.

When I went green, I first had to consider that my hair was already a redish orange. To get the last of the permanent and temporary color out, I used a color stripper for the first time. I don't have a photo of it, but I used One 'n Only Colorfix. The clerk at Sally's Beauty Supply warned me that this stuff is VERY effective and can actually bleach your hair if you aren't careful. There are two sets of directions with this stuff, one for Full Color Correction and one for Slight Color Correction. I followed the instructions for Slight since all I wanted to do was basically speed up the color fading process that normal washing would have done.

 I actually also got my hair cut before using the ColorFix so I wouldn't need as much. I only used one box. To the left here is my hair before getting it cut. It was a straight across cut that had been growing for probably the last 6 mos. I only cut my hair once or twice a year.

 To the right here is what my hair looked like after cutting a couple inches off and also getting it layered. It was immediately a lot lighter and had more movement to it.

 Okay, here's me in my bathroom with the regular lighting from my vanity. It looks pretty orangey/gold. But if you compare it to the red red orange above, a lot lighter.

I was a bit worried that this gold would interact with the green. Then I realized... whatever, green has yellow in it and I'm not willing to do another round of the ColorFix. It is incredibly harsh and I didn't want to end up with straw hair that would fall out.

 ProTip:  I waited a week after using the ColorFix before going to dye it green. That allowed the chemicals from the ColorFix time to neutralize and wash out over a couple washes before attempting to put the Manic Panic green on.







I also used this excellent Neutralizing Shampoo by Silk Elements a few times after using the ColorFix and before dying the it green:

 

So before you dye your hair a weird color, you have a few things to consider. Is your hair light enough? If it is naturally, AWESOME. If not, you need to lighten it. Is your hair already colored? If it is, you'll either have to wait til its all washed out, bleach it or use a stripper. If your hair is already chemically treated, be very cautious to not stress it out more by going crazy bleaching it.

I learned my lesson the hard way about hair bleach when I was a teenager. I went and got the most lightest platinum blonde bottle color and used 50 Volume Cream Developer. My hair fell out in chunks when I combed it. Do not go overkill. If your hair is dark, a orangey color should suffice if you're just going to put another color over it. Lightening your hair to gray/silver is a whole different situation, so... I'll save that for another time.

Once you are ready to dye your hair a fun color (we're talking color only products that don't use Developer), start with DRY hair to dye. Yes, I know a lot of their instructions indicate your hair can be wet/towel dried but in my experience, that just dilutes the color. Your hair is like a sponge. If it is filled with water, it can't absorb the color. Section your hair if it is even shoulder length. I like to do either 4 or 6 sections. Top part with a left and right side. Bottom part with a left and right side. And the parts on the sides of your head, just above and behind your ears. Butterfly Clamps, Duckbill Clips, or even those standard Clips will work fine. Use plastic, not metal. 

Make sure you prepare your bathroom before you start dyeing your hair. It is a pain in the ass to try to get something out when you're hands and hair are covered in hair color. I get out: two hand towels, two washcloths, 90% Rubbing Alcohol, toilet paper, wide tooth comb, two grocery bags, and vinyl gloves. Make your trash can easily accessible. I lay out the two towels on my sink, open all the haircolor I think I'll need (plus two more, you never know when you have hair this long) and set it on top of the towels along with my wide tooth comb. Since my vanity is tiny, I also set a towel on the toilet lid with the two washcloths and the rubbing alcohol.

Put your vinyl gloves on! This stuff stains everything including your skin. I also wear a crappy tshirt designated for hair coloring. Same with towels, by the way, they'll get ruined. Some people say to line their face with petroleum jelly. I think that is nasty and ineffective and makes me break out and can get on the hair you're trying to color. I skip it, but my ears and neck DO end up colored. Start with the lightest color first. I recommend to put that on the top of your head because as it washes out, it will bleed into eachother. So if you put a light color on bottom and a dark one on top, the lighter color will get darker as you wash it.

Work each section until it is entirely saturated. If you're not sure, comb it out and then separate it at the scalp and examine the whole chunk. I do this a lot and it pays off. You don't want splotchy color, it is hard to fix. You kind of knead the color into your hair and squeegee it down the length of the hair. Once you're done with one section, re-clip it and move on to the next. Once you are done, if the color is all the same, you can unclip them all and smoosh them all together in one big clip on top of your head. Take your gloves off and throw them away. Then you get the hilarious and magical task of putting a grocery bag on your head. I do this because it is cheap and I have a million grocery bags. If you are classy like my mom, you have processing caps which are way easier to use. I tie two bags over my head to make sure I got a good seal. If you use a cap, one should do.

Now it is cleanup! I use a washcloth with rubbing alcohol on it to clean up all the spots on my skin. I also do this throughout the dyeing process so my skin isn't spotted. That's where the toilet paper comes in handy. You can just use a bit as needed. Alcohol is also quite effective getting color off the sink, bathtub, floor & mirror. Yes, I make a dang mess when I dye my hair. I fill the sink with lukewarm water to soak my comb and clips. Once I'm done getting the color off my skin, I use that wash cloth to wash my instruments. Set them on a towel to dry off. The other wash cloth I use in the shower. After the bag is on my head, I carefully take my hair dye shirt off, leave it inside out and hop in the shower. In the shower, I wash my face with my normal facewash. I use the washcloth to get along my hair line. 

Out of the shower your body should be pretty hair dye free. Now you get to let it set for as long as you can stand it! If its my day off, I dye my hair in the morning & I'll do chores wearing the bags on my head. Otherwise, I sleep with it on overnight. If you sleep on it, be sure to put a whole big bath towel down on your pillow case. You'd be surprised how much you can move around at night. When you go to wash your washcloths, towels, & hair dye clothes, be sure its with other such things, towels, sheets or whatever you are okay with possibly getting color on it.

In the morning, or after a few hours, you get to rinse it out. I start on my knees using the spigot (or if you have a fancy hand-shower, use that. I'm jealous!) and rinsing it out with my head upside down. This is just to get the bulk of the color out. Use lukewarm water. As cold as you can stand it really with out freezing.  Stand up and turn the shower part on. This is where it is nice to have a bunch of cheap hair conditioner. You're going to slather that in your hair and use a wide tooth comb to comb our your hair. Its ok if there's still a LOT of hair color coming out. Get your hair all nice and de-tangled. It will take more water/conditioner than usual washings. Once its all detangled, turn the water on pretty cold. You are going to have to lean your head way back so the water is only on your head and not your body. Use the comb and your hands to rinse out the color more from your hair. Instructions will say until it starts to run clear. That is silly. Just get most of it out. 

Clip your hair up once it is rinsed and you're still in the shower. Put the shower back on warm/hot. Wash your face and body well as you are probably whatever color your hair color is. If your face is tinged, use alcohol and a cotton ball when you get out. Make sure to really rinse your shower/tub out. It will also be colored. Use Comet or something with bleach in it to get it out. Or just get used to the idea of your bathtub being that color for awhile. Its going to get colored every time you wash. Use a junk towel to dry it off when you get out. And now you have awesome colorful hair!

My tips for prolonging your hair color are: Don't wash it a lot. I go anywhere from 5-10 days between washes. Use sulfate free shampoo if you can. Or at the very least, not something cheap or a clarifying shampoo. I use normal conditioner. I wouldn't use a conditioning mask til a few weeks in as they seem to strip color too. Don't use a bunch of product in your hair. Especially stuff with alcohol in it.

And that's it. Be awesome with your bad ass self. I get compliments all the time for my colorful hair. You can too! :)