Your hair is your crowning glory, so the popular expression goes. Indeed, the way you style your hair can be as bold a statement as your fashion choices. This is perhaps the biggest reason people choose to dye their hairs with unnatural, bright hues like pink, purple or green: as a way to express themselves and let their unique personalities shine through.
It’s a daring move, especially if you’ve never tried it before, but dyeing your hair an unusual color is also a really fun way of changing your looks. If you’ve ever thought of experimenting with different hair colors, here are some things you should remember.
Try Temporary Colors First
Sure you’ve tried to lighten your dark brown hair before, but going the route of blue or orange is way different. If you’re a bit nervous, you can try temporary hair colors first.
Temporary hair dyes are a good way of testing if you truly like the color for your hair. If you think blue makes you look a bit too pale, for example, you can wait for the dye to fade then try a different one, say pink this time, until you find your perfect match.
Have a Professional Bleach Your Hair
Unless you’re a natural platinum blonde, you’ll have to bleach your hair for the colors to really seep in and stand out. DIY pros may not need to go to the salon for this, but if you’re a first-timer, it’s best to go to a professional to have your hair bleached. Remember that bleaching your hair involves the use of chemicals: if you use too little, you may not get the result you want; if you use too much, you may end up damaging your hair so badly that it breaks even with the gentlest stroke of a comb. A professional hairdresser will know the right amount of bleach to make sure your hair is light enough to make the colors pop.
Start in the Red or Orange Family
Dyeing your hair in unnatural colors blue, purple, green, and pink may seem like a scary prospect, especially if you’ve always had black or brown hair. If you want to test the waters first, you can try bright colors in a more natural-looking color family, like red or orange. Once you’ve gotten used to it, you can go for adventurous color choices like maroon, ashy pink, and sunset orange. From there, you’ll surely build up your confidence to try shades like turquoise, sea foam green, or even electric pink!
Invest in Products Specially Made for Colored Hair
Color-treated hair needs extra care to basically heal it and restore its health. Look for low-PH products that contain Moroccan oil, vitamin E, and keratin to lock in moisture and prevent the color from fading too soon. Other ingredients to look for are coconut oil, vitamin C, obliphica oil, and galangal root.
On the other hand, products to avoid are sulfates, like ammonium laureth sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate, which are common ingredients in regular shampoos, parabens, formaldehyde, and polyethylene glycol.
Get Used to Cold Showers
Hot showers and baths may feel incredibly good for your body, but it’s bad for your color-treated hair. As the hot water relaxes your hair, it also makes your hair more porous, making it easier for the color molecules to escape. Wait for a couple of days before wetting and washing your hair so that the color can settle, and then use cold (or at least tepid) water and a color-safe formula of shampoo.
Touch It Up Every So Often
No matter the brand of dye you use, your hair color will fade after a while. If you want to keep that perfect shade or blue or green or purple, you should be prepared for some maintenance dyeing every other week or so, depending on how fast the color fades. However, there are some colors that fade into interesting shades — purple dyes usually fade into an interesting pink or lavender ombre — which you may want to already keep. Otherwise, you should regularly touch up your hair to maintain the exact color you want.
Remember: it’s your hair and you can do whatever you want with it — cut it short, curl it tight, or dye it blue, it’s your choice! Have fun and rock whatever hairstyle and color you like.