“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission…”
That’s right, I changed my hair! There’s no Photoshop trickery at play and I’m not wearing a wig, I REALLY dyed my hair blue!
So why the departure from my signature pink? Well, I’ve been a full time pinky since 2008, so I was ready for a change! It was a big and scary step though, and as Gala slapped the blue dye on my head last night a quiet wave of panic crept over me. “Am I crazy to leave the pink behind? What if blue doesn’t suit me? But pink hair is my trademark…!”
With the emotional support of my friends, I finally felt brave enough to do it and I am so happy that have. I feel like a new person! Oh and I am more than a little bit thrilled about how it’s going to open up my wardrobe. I can finally wear a hot pink dresses without looking like a crazy flamingo person!
Oh and because I know you’ll want to know, we used a mix of Special Effects Blue Mayhem, Manic Panic Mystic Heather
I always get a lot of questions via social media and in person about dying hair unnatural colours. People want to know what products I use, how I maintain my colour and keep it so bright. It honestly isn’t that difficult, and if you follow these few simple tips you’ll be well on your way to the rainbow tresses of your dreams too!
Get bleached by a professional
Having healthy hair is vital for long lasting colour. If your hair is really damaged, the colour just won’t hold. Unless you are blessed with naturally white blonde hair you will need to strip your natural colour with bleach first. Without a light base, the colour will look muddy and will wash out really quickly.
Make sure you always get the bleach process done by a professional (the colour itself doesn’t damage the hair, it’s the bleach you have to be cautious with) and follow my tips for treating damaged hair. I would never recommend that anyone should attempt at home bleaching. Believe me, I speak from experience about how much damage it can do!
The more saturated you want your colour you look, the lighter you hair will need to be. It can be tricky to get very dark, dark hair, white enough to dye it a bright colour on the first try too. Everybody’s hair is different though so speak to your colourist. Ask their advice when it comes to how light you can realistically get your hair without damaging it too much.
Please listen to them! If they tell you they can’t do it in one session, they’re not just being mean! It’s most likely because they know that rushing the process and bleaching the bejeezus out of it will really damage your hair. It may take a few gentler bleaching sessions over a series of months to get to your desired base colour.
“Woohoo” headband from my bridesmaid collection with Crown and Glory!
Avoid heat
For most of us, blow drying and styling our hair is unavoidable. Yet whenever possible, you should leave your hair to dry naturally and avoid using straighteners. Heat strips colour faster than anything else AND is like kryptonite to delicate bleached hair.
Also, if you live somewhere particularly hot, invest in some hats. Seriously! When I was in Austin last August my hair faded to blonde in a week because the sun was SO STRONG! The sun is just as damaging to hair as it is to the skin.
Don’t wash your hair!
All unnaturally coloured hair dyes (blue, pink, purple, green etc) are semi-permanent, so your hair will fade no matter what you do. If you look at my selfies on Instagram, you’ll notice my hair changing in colour a bit, depending on how recently I’ve dyed it. Fading is inevitable, but you should avoid getting your hair wet as much as possible. That means washing it as infrequently as you can bear!
I try to wash my hair no more than once or twice a week. In between, I use dry shampoo to keep it looking passable. Batiste is the best brand out there and it’s also super cheap!
Rinse with cold water
Just like with heat styling, hot water strips colour by opening up the hair cuticle and allowing the colour to escape. I’m not saying you have to bathe in an ice bucket (brrr!), but when you do your final rinse, turn the temperature of the shower as down as low as you can bear for a minute. Doing this closes the cuticles, locks in colour and makes your hair extra shiny!
Dye it regularly
Sounds pretty obvious huh? If you’ve followed all the previous steps, you shouldn’t need to re-dye your hair more than every 3 or 4 weeks. However in between dye jobs, you can mix your colour in with some conditioner to keep it fresh. This works best on the more intense colours, as the lighter pastel ones aren’t really strong enough to stick when just washed through.
Experiment with different brands
Not all dyes will work one everyone’s hair so if you don’t have any luck with the first one you try, all is not lost! In my experience Crazy Colour
I also usually leave the dye on for longer than recommended, often closer to an hour rather than the suggested 15-20 minutes. Leaving it on for longer will just mean the colour is initially brighter or darker than you might expect, but then it takes longer to fade which is an added bonus!
So there you have it! It’s all pretty simple really, just look after your lovely locks with regular treatments, dye your hair frequently and leave the bleach to the professionals.
Will I go back to pink at some point? Maybe so, but right now I’m loving having new hair. I feel very Katy Perry which, in my eyes, can never be a bad thing!
For more haircare advice check out How I Rescued My Bleach Ravaged Hair and Solve These Three Common Bleach Damaged Hair Problems Fast!