Firstly, a warning: pink, blue, purple or green hair requires a lot of
upkeep. It’s kind of like going platinum — it’s a time and effort
investment from the very start. If you’re not prepared to maintain
your colour, you should probably not do it. Otherwise, you will just
look like a grumpy 15 year old from the mall, and I don’t think that’s
what you want. 1. Pick a colour you can wear easily.Your hair frames
your face, so think about the colours you wear that make your face
look bright & healthy, as opposed to sallow or sick. As much as I like
yellow, if I put on a yellow T-shirt, I look like I’m dying. The same
goes for pale orange. So if you can’t wear red because it makes you
look ruddy, or blue washes you out, don’t dye your hair that colour!
It will be bad times. 2. If you’re going to add color to your hair,
you need to lighten it first. I know that this is really obvious to
some people, but it’s not-so-obvious to others, which is why I’m
including it. If you have black hair & you want to add some green
streaks, for example, you can’t just throw some green on top & wait
for a miracle. You won’t even see it. You need to remove the dark
pigment — in this case, black — from your hair first. If you’re a
light brunette or a blonde, you can pretty happily do this with an
at-home lightening kit. If your hair is dark brown or black, please go
& see a hairdresser. Really. Trying to lighten dark hair is tricky to
say the least, & will often require toning. When I lighten my hair,
for example, it goes a terrible brassy colour. It then needs to be
lightened again & toned, to remove the yellow. The reason you need to
tone your hair is because if you want blue hair but it’s kinda yellow,
your hair will go green. Or if you want red hair, a yellow base colour
will turn it orange. You want to start from as close to white as
possible. All of this toning nonsense can get complicated, and
hairdressers go to school for it. Please go see one if you have dark
hair and want to lighten it!3. Use good quality hair colour. Special
Effects is the best: the colours are solid, they last 3 to 6 weeks,
aren’t tested on animals and are vegan-friendly. Manic Panic and Fudge
are okay but I would only use them if I absolutely couldn’t get my
hands on any Special Effects. You can buy it on Amazon. Simple! If you
don’t know what the colours will look like, check out these hair dye
galleries. Very helpful! Bonus for ravers (do ravers still exist?!):
Special Effects’ Atomic Pink, Nuclear Red, Cherry Bomb, Hi-Octane
Orange, Joyride, Cupcake Pink, Bright as F#@$ Yellow and Napalm Orange
glow underneath black light. 4. Don’t use conditioner before you dye
your hair. It just makes it more difficult for the colour to “attach”
itself to your hair. Shampoo it, COMPLETELY dry it off — yes, use a
hairdryer — and then go in for the colourful kill.3. Use good quality
hair colour. Special Effects is the best: the colours are solid, they
last 3 to 6 weeks, aren’t tested on animals and are vegan-friendly.
Manic Panic and Fudge are okay but I would only use them if I
absolutely couldn’t get my hands on any Special Effects. You can buy
it on Amazon. Simple! If you don’t know what the colours will look
like, check out these hair dye galleries. Very helpful! Bonus for
ravers (do ravers still exist?!): Special Effects’ Atomic Pink,
Nuclear Red, Cherry Bomb, Hi-Octane Orange, Joyride, Cupcake Pink,
Bright as F#@$ Yellow and Napalm Orange glow underneath black light.
4. Don’t use conditioner before you dye your hair. It just makes it
more difficult for the colour to “attach” itself to your hair. Shampoo
it, COMPLETELY dry it off — yes, use a hairdryer — and then go in
for the colourful kill.