Lolita Charm: Pink Please!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Pink Please!

I've had a lot of requests to do a basic primer on dying your hair pink and having pink hair, so I've decided to fufill these wishes in favor of the holiday season :)

Making the Commitment

Dying your hair an unnatural color of any kind is big decision. For one, it is not a low maitenence style and needs a lot of upkeep; for another, it may attach to you a social stigma you don't want.

Like any color, your roots will eventually come in, so you'll need to be able to go to the salon for touch-ups or have the expertise and time to do the job at home, probably about once a month (twice for the daring, but I really don't recommend longer than that. Hair with roots can often look greasy or piecey, even when it's clean). If you're not able to bleach your own hair (and I don't blame you, it's not for the faint of heart) you will also have to go to a hair salon for the whole head, which can be expensive. If you are not naturally a white blond, you will need bleach anywhere you want the unnatural color. Unnatural hair dye is semi-permanent, meaning that instead of penetrating the strand, it is more sitting on top. It's also almost sheer - like cellophane, it shows up best on a white background.

You'll also need to get the dye. I buy mine locally, but this is pretty rare. You'll most likely have to order it online. I prefer Special Effects, which is $10 a bottle (two bottles covers my whole head). There are other brands as well, like Manic Panic, Fudgebox, and Directions.

So next let's talk about bleach. I get mine professionally bleached because I don't trust myself with one pair of eyes and a bottle of chemicals, but I know plenty of hair-savvy girls who do it themselves. Make sure to test your skin, as your scalp may be sensitive. There are many different opinions on bleach volume, but it's enough to say that bleach is not good for your hair. It can make it dry, brittle, easily breakable, and 'fried'. I'll talk about working with your hair quality later in this post.

To cap off, it's a big commitment. It requires a lot of extra care, time, and money, and shouldn't be something you really do on a whim.

Social Aspects

Next let's talk about being a 24/7 pinkhead. Lots of girls own pink wigs that they can wear for lolita, even myself - I like that it's pre-curled with perfect bangs. But wearing pink hair constantly isn't quite the same. The public will make assumptions about your personality, no matter what you're wearing - whether they think you are a delinquient, a raver, or a freak. I've had guys says they find my pink hair unattractive, I've been asked by stoner kids if I 'rave', and plenty of otakus assume that I'm their favorite anime character come to life. One woman today even told her daughter that I was wearing a wig!

You may also find it hard to be taken seriously with pink hair. I've often worried about getting a job, being on good terms with professors, or simply under scrutiny from family. You will stand out and get attention (though if you're a lolita, you're probably used to this!), both positive and negative. There is plenty of positive attention, too: little girls are in love, many people like the look, and it's impossible for me to be forgotten by professors or potential employers. If you have unnatural hair, it'll also be easy to meet like-minded people: those will be the people who like your look. But it's not like lolita - at the end of the day, you can't take it off. If you want to be pink only sometimes, invest in a wig.

The Process

First, you'll need to bleach your hair. As said, I prefer a salon, and I'd recommend you do that if you're not experienced with hair. It will cost you somewhere in the area of $70+ to bleach the entire head, however, so be prepared for price. Afterwards, make sure to treat the hair with a deep conditioner - either by yourself or ask your stylist. This will go a long way to repairing the damage you just did.

The dye should be applied to dry hair, from root to tip, and let sit for at least half an hour. Make sure to wear gloves, because otherwise you'll look as if you killed a Hello Kitty. If you do get any on your skin, you can remove it with alcohol. To preserve areas like your ears and hairline, swipe on Vaseline or petroleum jelly as a shield.

Afterwards, rinse with cold water until you don't see any more tint to the water. Cold water seals the hair follicle, whereas warm water opens it. After you first rinse out the dye, you may find that you shed color on your towels or clothes. Some people have reported staining constantly, others very little. I only recently started staining small things, like the backs of collars and the pearls on my necklaces. There isn't really a way to prevent this, but it does come out of clothes and other items.

Aftercare

Unnatural colors fade fairly quickly, typically within the first few washes. There are ways to prevent this, however. First, wash your hair in cool or cold water. Heat is really one of the big agents to pulling out color. The other is to switch from shampoo to baking soda, as I recommend in my previous post about cosmetics. Color-protectant shampoo is for permanent colors, and is designed to strip out colors that aren't natural - not what you want! A blonding shampoo, for example, cuts out all of the colors that aren't blond. Baking soda doesn't have harsh chemicals, is natural, and fairly inexpensive. You can read more about the benefits of baking soda here.

Make sure to condition, especially your ends especially (as they get the most damage and are most vulnerable). A glaze can also repair a lot of damage as well. Try to limit how much heat or product you use on your hair, and be kind to your ends with the curling iron if you can. I curl my hair often, but I'll often skip the spray or mousse so that it doesn't require scrubbing or washing to remove it.

Links

Pinkhair community

Dyed_hair community (great memories!)

Gala Darling's Guide to Unnatural Hair Dye

(photos of pinkheads from We ♥ It!)

Labels: cosmetics, tutorial

17 Comments:

At December 18, 2009 at 8:37 PM , Anonymous said...: Fab post - I admire your pink locks, especially since I just can't make the commitment myself
At December 18, 2009 at 9:39 PM , AngelShinigami said...: Oh my goodness! It's Jem and the Holograms! You win so hard.
At December 18, 2009 at 10:49 PM , BLANK said...: I have pink hair too - I use an organic, no chemicals shampoo as the parabens in ordinary shampoo can often strip out dye. I use SFX Atomic Pink, but I dilute it with conditioner to make the bottle go further. I also add some to my conditioner to freshen up my hair each time I dye it. Yay pink hair :)
At December 18, 2009 at 11:29 PM , Anonymous said...: Thank you so much for this post! I was one of the girls who asked you to make it ♥ However, there's still something you didn't talk about and I'd like to know: how hard is it to touch up your roots? Do you have to re-dye the entire hair with pink after you bleach the roots because of the fading? Also, doesn't the bleach "bleed" to the pink parts and make them look weird? That sort of stuff ^^
At December 19, 2009 at 12:01 AM , Luzmaría Alam said...: nice hair! someday XDDD
i love jen *__* and thanks for your tips and webs

take care
At December 19, 2009 at 12:13 AM , Ally said...: Your hair looks lovely and your eye makeup is absolutely gorgeous!
At December 19, 2009 at 12:56 AM , Melody said...: Hey Lolitahime: You have to bleach just your roots, and then apply more pink dye to your entire head. After 3 weeks, your color will fade to baby pink, and when you apply fresh color to your roots, you will need to re-do the ends.

But you only need to bleach your roots. Seriously recomend finding a stylist for at least the initial bleaching. Some beauty schools can be a good option, as well.
At December 19, 2009 at 6:18 AM , Saffron Sugar said...: I recently dyed my hair pink and had the crappy luck of being recommended a colourstay shampoo which pretty much ate my hair colour.

I just ordered some Special Effects dye in, so I'll try that out... and use baking soda, like you do. I will never trust shampoo again!
At December 19, 2009 at 10:10 AM , Hello Naka said...: i love the photos

I've just dyed my fringe blue, becuase my hair is naturally thick and black I don't want to bleach it all by myself and leave it patchy

great advice though especially the social aspects
At December 19, 2009 at 10:25 AM , Anonymous said...: Thanks Melody!! I already have bleached blonde hair, and I dye my roots at home, so from what you said, I guess it won't be much different from what I usually do when I begin dying my hair pink right? Thanks again :D
At December 19, 2009 at 1:09 PM , Corvida said...: Poppy, I did a quick search of PubMed after reading your comment and I can't find any evidence parabens strip color from hair. Since the internet hates parabens right now, I think that may just be a rumor. Granted, not every stuy is in PubMed, so if you know of one that shows otherwise, please let me know.

I usually have purple hair (lilac in spring and summer, amethyst right now) and I've found that hair dye's worst enemy is water*. I try to only wash my hair in the shower once or twice a week. The rest of the time I wear a showercap. Yes, I may look like a toadstool, but at least I'm a toadstool with great hair! In between washings I usually use a dry shampoo to soak up accumulated oil and give me back some volume. My favorite is by Ojon, but it's a tad pricey. I've been experimenting lately with corn starch, too, but so far it's been kinda messy and leaves a whitish cast near the roots; I think I need to adjust my technique. I want to try the sodium bicarb method, but since I don't wash my hair as often as most people, I'm afraid it wouldn't be cleansing enough. Right now I just use Pantene.

P.S. Here are two books that back up my claim that water messes up dye. They're also great reads for anyone that really wants to understand hair and not be taken in by marketing hype anymore! "The Science of Hair Care" (eds. Bouillon & Wilkinson), "Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair" (Robbins).
At December 19, 2009 at 3:04 PM , Miakoda said...: Awesome post <3 I love your pink hair. And yay, Jem picture is awesome!

What always annoyed me the most was when people thought the pink hair was a wig. I guess because it's such a huge commitment, I didn't want people to think it was fake. I was proud of it!! But little kids absolutely loved it. Negative reactions (if any) were wiped away by their "Is she a princess, mom!?" comments.

This makes me want to switch from purple back to pink ^_^

--Miakoda
At December 19, 2009 at 4:18 PM , Miss Freya said...: I tried to make the commitment a while ago but the dye I bought wouldn't stay in my hair after washing it off. So now I'm back to a cherry red colour with pink wigs for whenever I fancy having princessy locks again.
@Keynotecraze: I know exactly what you mean! When I wear my cat ears or lolita stuff in public, I always get rude and negative remarks. But the comments from little children perk me up right away!
At December 19, 2009 at 8:21 PM , Melody said...: lolitahime: You should be fine, then. I personally always use a 20 volume mix up when I bleach out my roots. I find that 40v will make the roots too white.

Other than that, just got for it! If your hair is dry, get extra bottles and just slather it on and leave it for an hour or two under a processing cap. Using a hair dryer intermittently while processing the pink will help the hair hold onto the product longer, too.
At December 24, 2009 at 9:42 AM , Kura said...: it cost around 30 bucks to bleach long hair fully if you have a sally's beauty supply around. 3-4 packets of the dry black at 3.50 each, and a bottle of 30[strength] cream developer. 40[strength] if you have course dark hair.
At December 27, 2009 at 12:53 AM , J.F. said...: This comment has been removed by the author.
At October 8, 2010 at 5:30 AM , SceneSeannn said...: i've noticed a lot of people commenting about how they wash their hair. i'm not entirely sure how well it would work on the pink hair dye, as the only colour i've ever had that required bleaching of my hair was bright red, but i wash my hair with garnier fructis colour last (the green and red bottle / double action) and i've found that my semi dyes have lasted for literally ever. it's fantastic! that, and the shampoo/conditioner strengthen and make your hair more healthy, and has a nice sweet/fruity scent :) of course, not trying to sell it to you, but just thought i'd let people know that it's been fantastic for me and i definitely recommend it. hope i've helped!!

This Page

Lolita Charm

Friday, December 18, 2009

Pink Please!

17 Comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

Previous Posts