Another Creative Medium for Self Expression: tutorial for dying long hair.

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Since I’ve been dying my hair for the past three years, thought I may as well blog about it.  =P

Bleach?  this is a good move if you’ve got dark hair like I do.  It makes the color show brighter and last longer.  If you try to put green dye on dark hair it will not show save for the occasional gleam in the sunlight.  I’ve tried.
I won’t talk about bleaching but I will go through the dying process!

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This is my hair faded from four months ago: it’s turned blond-fuschia from the original Special Effects Deep Purple.  Definitely needs a redo!


Tip:  how did I get the ends to fade to purple?  I re-dyed the ends darker as it faded and it made it look like a gradual change.

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Step 0: Dye and materials

What kind of dye should I use?

Special Effects is known as one of the best brands, available at costume shops and online.  Being that Hot Topic only offers Raw Color,  Color Fiend, and Punky Colour,  I would advise the Raw brand if you have to choose from these.  This is my first try with it though so we’ll see how it is in the long run.  Apparently, it depends on the individual’s hair.

What NOT to use if you want the color to last:  Manic Panic or Color Fiend.

I would also advise picking the darkest shade of your chosen color, since as it fades it will lighten and have a longer lifespan.

Other materials you need: hair ties, a big hair clip or two is useful, and a dye brush is also very useful (all pictured above).

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Step 1: Don a towel or trash bag while wearing a dyeable shirt you don’t care about.  Tie up your hair into ponytail sections with an idea of what colors will go where.  Even if you want one color only, sectioning parts will make it easier.  Having a partner also makes this easier, but I do it by myself often– since I don’t dye all the way to the scalp.  Put on disposable gloves. Cover exposed skin areas that you don’t want to be dyed with vasoline or petroleum jelly if it is important to you, particularly if you’re dying up to the scalp (see below).

What happens if you don’t coat your skin with anti-dye agent:


Skin is colored for about a day or two where the dye touched.  Comes off with hard scrubbing.

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Step 2: squeeze the dye into a plastic cup and apply to a section of hair with your gloved hands or dye brush.  Work it into the length of hair, and make sure there are no pockets of bleached hair.

Do one color at a time, switching gloves if you’d like and washing the brush– but for dark colors it won’t really matter.  If the dye is light-colored or if your hair is light, make sure to keep dyed strands apart from other strands, since any touching areas will spread the color.

Step 3: Coat all desired areas with dye and clip them up to your head so they are out of the way.  Another alternative I’ve used is tying ponytail sections up in ziploc bags to keep the color off couches and walls, and sections separate from each other.

Let the dye sit for as long as possible.  Some people can do it overnight, but I try for at least an hour or two. Longer is stronger, and if you can wait til it dries that’s even better.

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Step 4: Rinsing. This is gonna stain your sink or tub.  And your hands, a bit.  Buuut that’s okay =)

Rinse hair until the dye coming out is a lot less than it was at first.  It’ll keep on running and running if you keep rinsing it, so stop when you think the color flow is pretty consistent.  Your bleached/dyed hair will probably have a rather stringy or raw texture.  Personally I like to just dry it at this point and let it sit a day before I wash it.  Some people think they should shampoo immediately, but I think this removes more color than is necessary on the first day.  Conditioning after you rinse is also an option.

Post-dye Stains to expect:


Veteran marks from dying and rinsing, the “I did it myself yesterday”  look
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You’re definitely going to see color on your towel, which is something you should cover your pillow with if you are wary of your pillowcase on the first night or anytime your hair is wet for the next couple of weeks.  Temporary skin staining (shown below) is also possible if your hair is in contact with your back and it’s still wet or if it’s humid outside.  This also depends on how much dye you washed out on the first rinse.

Running dye when you shower/rinse is a cool part of the experience.  This can make streak marks on your skin if you used a strong dye.

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Step 5: Cleanup. If you’re responsible for getting the color stain out of the tub or sink, use a strong cleaner that contains bleach.
Soft Scrub worked well for the purple in the tub (shown below) and didn’t take very long. =)

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Results: the end effect of Raw Color

I’ve found this brand of dye to have a pronounced yellowy shimmer, like the shine you see in a sharpie.  It’ll probably go away sooner or later, especially as it fades.  This was not as noticeable when I used Special Effects dye.

Tip: washing to preserve color at the ends of your hair

Shampooing just your scalp and keeping the colored hair away from the shampoo helps a lot for prolonging the life of the color.  Then you can use conditioner on all of your hair.

I’m not an expert at shampoo brands, but gentler washes help preserve color and I can’t say for certain that getting the “for colored hair” washes are any better than the regular ones.  But I wouldn’t use any strong or cheap shampoos like Head n Shoulders or the stuff they give you at hotels.

Yay!  It looks a lot better now. =)

– FADING UPDATE –

Two months since I dyed my hair and this posting, I’ve found that this Raw Color has held together exceptionally well.

Here is a comparison of my bangs,which have significantly faded and whitened, possibly because the hair in front is more frail and/or because it’s been exposed to shampoo, while I’ve kept the rest of my hair away from shampoo which I’ve suggested as a tip. ;)

The rest of my hair color is still a beautiful dark bluish purple and  I’m impressed.

With Special Effects, the end result tends to be more like this- an ugly reddish-fuschia.

RAW COLOR IS MY PREFERRED BRAND OF DYE! =)

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Inspirational masterpieces from Deviantart:


Rainbow Hair by Chizome-Akushin

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Rainbow Hair by breaktheSTORM