An Apprentice Unicorn'south Guide to DIY Brightly Colored Hair

 Hello friends! You may have noticed that my pilus changes color on a pretty regular basis. I thought it was high time for me to tell you lot why and how.

Various Hair Colors I've had over the last year. The green and yellow hair was done by a professional hair stylist (Ruby Devine at the LABoratory in Alexandria, Virginia), I did all the other colors.  I do not remember what all these colors are name…

Various Hair Colors I've had over the last yr. The green and yellow hair was washed by a professional person hair stylist (Ruby Devine at the LABoratory in Alexandria, Virginia), I did all the other colors.
I do not remember what all these colors are named, but I could probably brand an educated judge if y'all reallllyyy wanted to know?

I"g kind of a restless person (Yay ADHD!) so always since I graduated loftier school and left domicile, I've been pretty audacious with my pilus. I rarely have kept the same hairstyle or pilus color for more than a twelvemonth, really. My natural hair shade is a dark blonde, of which I'k non a huge fan, then I've messed with it for years. Here's one of the last pictures of me with completely natural hair (and honestly fifty-fifty and so, I may accept had some highlights in there, I remember I had some put in like, in September 2005, and this picture is from my loftier school graduation in May 2006, so they may take still been hanging around).

I likewise really love brilliant colors and sparkly things, so I've honestly been moving toward having rainbow hair for a pretty long time now. However, my sensible side won out for many years; I didn't want to job opportunities because of my hair. And so I changed my hair up often, but I kept it all in generally "natural" colors. When I went to police school and became an attorney, I really resigned myself to never having the unicorn hair I wanted (the legal profession is generally pretty bourgeois when information technology comes to appearances). But fortunately, my electric current chore as a trademark examining attorney at the US Patent and Trademark Office doesn't care what colour my hair is! I didn't want to mess with my hair color too much before my wedding in June 2022, equally I did want my pilus to look vaguely natural for that, and so I held off for my get-go year and a one-half at the USPTO, only since then, I've really had fun letting loose and coloring my pilus all sorts of different colors.

 If you want to see a whole Pinterest board full of ALL the unlike hair cuts and colors I've had since I was eighteen, at that place's one over here.

I beloved saving money and DIY projects, and then I've basically turned my own head into an e'er changing art installation. Since June 2022, I've but had my hair professionally cut once (to add bangs) and professionally colored one time (later on a tire blowout totaled my car, I decided to care for myself). By and large, I cut, bleach, and dye my own hair (I'll practice a future web log post on how I cut my hair at some point).

I do not remember what all these colors are named, but I could probably make an educated guess if y'all reallllyyy wanted to know?

I practice not retrieve what all these colors are named, but I could probably make an educated gauge if y'all reallllyyy wanted to know?

Your average way colour do at a pilus salon can easily run y'all $200-300; you lot're paying for your stylists' experience and skill. If you want multiple colors in your hair or some sort of special effect, get to a salon. They know what they're doing and can really give you amazing results. Just if you simply want to play around with i overall color or merely a few colors applied horizontally, doing it at habitation works pretty well! I make no claims that my hair looks every bit skilful as it would if I went to a salon, but I'm happy with it and I go a lot of compliments, so it's good enough for me. In the future, when I have more coin and less debt, I would totally love to become to a salon every few months for unicorn hair, but information technology's just not in the budget right now.

Disclaimer:I am totally untrained and definitely an amateur, but I've read a LOT of advice and blog posts to ready, and have learned a few tricks myself along the way. At that place's an extent to which bleach volition always harm your hair, just as any chemical processing volition, but you can take a lot of deportment to reduce its impact and go on your hair good for you.
 My pilus is naturally a dark blonde, with fine texture, but is also adequately thick. Aside from my hair coloring habits, my hair is actually pretty like shooting fish in a barrel to maintain, as information technology is wavy and dries nicely without any oestrus styling. If you have pickier hair, you may need to adjust these suggestions to fit your needs.

I'grand also writing this blog post from the standpoint of someone who's had hair that's xc-100% bleached over the concluding year and a half and just bleaches her roots each time, and so my photos will reflect that, naturally. I'm also totally an amateur and don't claim to know anything about how these products work chemically, this is really simply a how-to guide.

Supplies:
Bleach Powder
Hair Developer (Book 10-thirty)
Fashion Hair Colour (these are generally semi-permanent. In these photos, I used Arctic Fox'due south Wrath)
White Conditioner
Tint brushes (I use two, one for bleach, one for color)
Hair Color mixing bowls (Ditto - one for bleach, one for color)
Vinyl gloves
Mirrors (I employ a bath mirror and a standing mirror behind me)
Hair clips (optional - some people swear past these, simply I've tried using them to section my hair several times and information technology merely never seems to help me at all)
A coloring cape (optional- an one-time towel or t-shirt is besides fine)
Some sort of stopwatch to proceed runway of fourth dimension (I use my phone)
Old or stained towels (preferably one for roofing any bath mats and another for wiping stray color off your face)Vaseline
Black shirt (optional, but very helpful)
Towel cap (optional, but so squeamish - really, you just need something to cover your hair while information technology's marinating. A bathcap works too!)

My roots before I bleached them. Yeah, they got super long. I don't entirely remember which brands I used for the orange, but I know Ion at Home's Sunrise Orange was the main one; I last dyed my hair orange in mid-October. I did apply Ion's garnet t…

My roots earlier I bleached them. Yeah, they got super long. I don't entirely remember which brands I used for the orange, but I know Ion at Dwelling house'southward Sunrise Orange was the main i; I last dyed my hair orangish in mid-Oct. I did apply Ion's garnet to my head as well (at the beginning of nov) but thought it came out too ruby-red-orange, so I let information technology fade before trying again with a blood-red.

1. Preparing Your Pilus: Before you touch your hair with bleach, spend around a week really pampering it; use lots of deep conditioning treatments and avoid oestrus styling to ensure that information technology'due south equally salubrious as possible before you mess with bleach. I tend to buy sulfate-complimentary shampoo to protect my color and hair, merely I've never noticed much of a difference between expensive and cheap conditioners and workout treatments, and then I tend to choice upwards whatever'due south cheapest.

Plenty of people swear by using coconut oil as a deep conditioning treatment. I've tried information technology before but information technology doesn't work very well for me. Although I accept a lot of hair, my individual stands are pretty thin and fine, so they don't seem to tolerate coconut oil too well; it ends upwardly kind of turning my head into a greasy mess and information technology's actually hard for me to wash out completely. But if your pilus isn't as fine equally mine, information technology may exist a expert idea for you!

If y'all already have other fashion color in your hair, similar I did, it's a good idea to fade it out as much as you tin can before yous add another colour. There are many different ways of doing this; a lot of people swear by using dish lather or making a concoction out of crushed up aspirin and h2o and leaving it on your hair for a while. I personally adopt to just use slightly harsher methods of washing my hair. When I'm actively trying to fade it, I wash my pilus more than often, use a clarifying shampoo, and use hot water (fashion colors fade and so fast that by and large, you'll desire to wash your pilus equally little as possible with the coldest water y'all can stand up, to make it terminal).

2. Purchasing Supplies: Buy your bleaching and hair color products. I highly suggest getting these from a professional person beauty production store like Sally's Dazzler, as you can tailor your production choices to your own hair. You lot /could/ utilise a boxed bleach kit (like Beyond the Zone Radical Bleach Kit), simply honestly, I prefer to have a little more control over my ingredients.

Bleach powder comes in either a little packet or a tub (which is cheaper, per volume); some bleach powders include ingredients that are supposed to reduce brassiness, only if y'all're non going for a pastel color from the start, I don't think that really matters (it certainly hasn't for me). I've tried bleach powders both with and without these toning ingredients and haven't actually noticed a difference.

Y'all'll need to add programmer to the bleach pulverization. Developer comes in a few dissimilar volume levels: 10, 20, xxx, and 40. I personally utilise Volume 20 on my nighttime blonde hair to lighten it up to a pale yellowish. If you have darker hair and then mind, Book 30 would probably be the way to get; everything I've read online indicates that y'all really shouldn't utilise Book 40 at home unless yous're a trained professional, as y'all could give your skin or your pilus a chemic burn.

Some of the various products I used for the coloring in these photos.

Some of the diverse products I used for the coloring in these photos.

Yous'll also need a hair color! I've had good experiences with Ion at Home (although sentinel out for their blues, they NEVER wash out), Punky Colour, and Arctic Fox. Manic Panic colors tend to look really proficient but fade super apace and bleed a lot. I likewise sometimes option up Beyond the Zone Colour Jams because they're cheap, but I haven't been terribly impressed with them (some of their color descriptions are just weird? Their plum-ilicious looks more like a magenta to me); I tend to use them more than to refresh hair color than equally an initial dye.

I should notation that I haven't done pastel colors in the by and am leery of trying them in the time to come, for a few reasons. First, y'all're going to take to use a higher volume developer to become the really white hair you need for pastel colors to really popular. Second, mode colors are generally semi-permanent and launder out pretty easily and rapidly. Pastel colors are going to wash out and then quickly that I personally don't think it'southward worth it unless you get in knowing you take plenty money and/or fourth dimension to touch upward your pilus regularly and/or use a pastel color depositing conditioner like Overtone (which is slap-up, just not inexpensive).

You definitely need some sort of white conditioner. I mix this in with my hair color and likewise use information technology after the whole procedure is washed to help my hair recover.

I suggest having at least 1 hair color mixing bowl if you can afford information technology; they practise tend to be pretty cheap, and although yous could totally simply utilise a plastic bowl instead, mixing bowls take a nice handle and teeth on the edge to remove excess color from your tint brush. I personally use i mixing basin for bleaching and some other for coloring. That way, you don't accept to worry about leftover bleach sticking around in a bowl and messing up your shade.

A tint brush is pretty necessary; I guess you could theoretically color your hair entirely with your easily, simply it would be really piece of cake to miss spots. Again, I use i for bleaching and and then another for coloring.

Finally, you actually need gloves of some blazon, or your easily are going to be blue/green/orange/whatever for a few days (Learn from my mistakes, you). I have a pair of reusable dish gloves somewhere that I've used before, just those are pretty loose, so at present I tend to use tight vinyl gloves; I purchased a large box of them at Dwelling house Depot. I practice try to reuse these as much as possible though, to reduce waste material.

There's a bath mat under this old towel that I've already marked with bleach once.

There's a bath mat under this old towel that I've already marked with bleach once.

three. Prepping the Room and Your Body:Cull the room yous'll exist working in. You definitely want to exist somewhere with a sink, a shower, and mirrors in front of and behind you, then a bathroom is probably best. I suggest bleach and color proofing your room before you lot beginning! I cover up my bath mat with an old towel and move whatever new or prissy towels, linens, or clothes into another room.

Next, prep your body! I am a messy and clumsy plenty person that I don't trust myself to be wearing any clothes I care about while bleaching or dying my hair. I either wear really old/already stained clothes or I become nude (hey, it worked for Adam and Eve). I wear a pilus cape at this point, equally it catches a lot of the mess, but you can as well use an old towel or a t-shirt if you lot adopt.

I prefer to set out all the products and supplies I'thou using before hand. This both puts everything exactly where I demand it and serves as a checklist to make sure I actually take everything. It would be pretty terrible to be halfway through the procedure and merely then realize you're missing some specific item!

You really demand a mirror in front of you and backside you to attain good results. I use a bathroom mirror and place a standing mirror behind me at a slight angle, so I can expect in the standing mirror and run across the back of my caput in the bath mirror. It's a skillful idea to fix this upward so you can move the standing mirror to a unlike bending as you become to make sure y'all cover the entire area; and then either get a mirror that won't exist affected by you touching it with gloves that might have bleach on them (plastic, for example), or have two towels set to become so you tin can wrap your hand before yous move it.

Finally, before I actually starting time mixing, I pull on a pair of gloves and apply Vaseline to my face, ears, and neck along the hairline. This volition aid prevent a lot of colour staining. It's a /little/ less important when you're applying bleach, every bit I'm pretty sure it won't bleach your skin, but information technology can exist drying and irritating, so you might also keep information technology as contained as possible.

4. Bleaching: While wearing your gloves, put your bleach pulverization and developer into a mixing bowl and mix it with your tint brush. I don't bother with measuring it out exactly; my goal is to stop up with a sort of thick gravy like texture for the mixture, as I don't want information technology to be and then runny that it will go everywhere.

Bleach Powder and Developer: Ready for their close-ups.

Bleach Powder and Developer: Ready for their close-ups.

The amount you need to mix together depends entirely on how much hair yous have. I have a fair amount, so I try to mix upwards a lot. Inevitably, it isn't quite plenty and I have to mix up more than. Merely honestly, information technology's easy plenty to add more bleach powder and developer and mix information technology up, that information technology isn't a huge deal (so relax, you don't take to get things perfect on the first time, promise!).

Right before you start applying bleach, check to come across how long your bleach and/or programmer bottles say to take the product sit down on your head. My bleach said 30-40 minutes. The goal is to get your roots/all of your hair pale xanthous; if you reach that color on all the sections y'all've applied the bleach to before you hit the time on the bottle, it's okay to become wash it off then. I see the 30-twoscore minutes as more of a ceiling rather than a starting point. Of form, make sure to start a stop lookout man or timer so you can continue track of how long it's been on your head.

Now information technology's time to utilize the bleach to your caput.

I wasn't able to get photographs of this process, but I'll do my best to explain this in as much particular as possible so information technology all makes sense.

As you lot can meet in these photos, my roots are pretty long and divers here. I've bleached my entire caput exactly once and at present, I just bleach my roots, which reduces the damage to my hair. My goal is to cover all of that nighttime blonde with the bleach. I start by covering the visible roots in my part and around my face, paying detail attention to the petty strands of hair that tend to fall underneath my spectacles and in front end of my ears (information technology's really easy to miss them, and then at present I try to do them pretty quickly). I and so use the tip of my tinting brush to grab a straight line of my hair back (parallel to my function), flip that over, and and then cover the roots there. I repeat until all the pilus visible from the front is covered with bleach. After that, I plow around and confront my continuing mirror (which call back, is set at an bending to the bathroom mirror and so that i can see the back of my caput). I do the same affair to the back of my head, just sectioning horizontally instead of vertically.

If yous're bleaching your entire head of hair and don't accept divers roots to work with similar I practice, only try to comprehend all of your natural color. Definitely encompass the hair near your scalp earlier you motion on to the rest of your hair though; bleach makes hair dry out and more difficult to motility, work with, or detangle, and so it's better to go in sections.

(Spectacles wearer note: Bleach doesn't seem to touch on my glasses at all, just mine are likewise all plastic. I have no idea what this could do to metal frames. If you take metallic frames and are concerned, it might be ameliorate to habiliment contacts if you lot have that as an option.)

Bleaching your roots results in just super attractive photos, yeah? The timer shows how long it took for me to apply all the bleach + a few minutes to make sure it all processed enough.

Bleaching your roots results in but super attractive photos, yeah? The timer shows how long information technology took for me to use all the bleach + a few minutes to brand sure information technology all candy enough.

Lots of people and nearly professionals swear by sectioning your hair with hair clips while you lot bleach and dye information technology, with the thought that it helps keep it out of the manner while you're working and makes the whole process easier. I can definitely see the benefits of doing this if you're putting in unlike colors, merely for one color all over, I but oasis't found this necessary or helpful.

One time all your roots/all your hair is covered with bleach, yous await until it all turns a pale yellow. If y'all have a lot of hair similar I exercise, your roots and hairline (the first area you applied bleach to) will plow yellow a LOT faster than the rest of your hair. This is okay, just keep track of the time and so you don't over-procedure any one department of your hair (equally you can see, it took me around 34 minutes to utilize all the bleach to my hair, and and so I waited for a few minutes to brand certain it candy completely, then the pieces exposed the longest were under the 40 minutes decreed on the bottle). If yous accept a few minutes to spare, this is a adept fourth dimension to launder your gloves, mixing bowl, and tint castor (hint, if you're having trouble removing production from either the teeth of your mixing basin or the bristles of your tint brush, rubbing the castor against the teeth fixes both problems).

When all the sections of your pilus you applied bleach to have turned stake yellow, leap in the shower and wash it all out with water (I've used both cold and hot water for this part and never noticed whatsoever difference, then I use hot because information technology'due south so much more comfortable). I wear gloves for this to avert touching the bleach as much as possible. Once my head feels mostly make clean, I'll have off my gloves and then I tin check for whatever remaining product. Finally, I'll actually utilise shampoo to launder out whatever remaining $.25 of bleach. And then I jump out of the shower and dry my hair off as much as I tin can with a towel (I use a microfiber towel, which is healthier for the pilus).

Your hair is going to feel dry out as heck at this indicate and will tangle actually easily, merely don't worry, we'll gear up that with the next stride.

5. Coloring Time: I similar to change into an old shirt or a black shirt which color won't bear witness upward on before I color (trying to put a shirt on over hair color covered hair is a pretty adept way to go color...everywhere).

And then I throw my cape and gloves dorsum on and with my 2d mixing bowl and brush, I mix together pilus colour and white conditioner. I probably put in about a three:1 ratio of color:conditioner. That much conditioner is plenty to moisturize my hair but too isn't then much that it's going to dilute the color significantly. I then employ the aforementioned method to ensure I color all of my pilus that I utilize for the bleaching part, merely this fourth dimension, I'grand roofing ALL OF THE Pilus, starting with the hairline and the roots. Remember, apply the tip of the brush  to section off and color all of your pilus visible from the front, than plow around and use the mirror to color the back, sectioning off hair with the castor horizontally down. Coloring tends to go a lot quicker than bleaching, as y'all're calculation moisture to your hair instead of taking information technology out, and your hair is just significantly easier to piece of work with (as you can see in my photo below, it took me a little less than 22 minutes to apply it all).

Arctic Fox's Wrath + conditioner in a mixing bowl. I don't remember where I got the towel cap at this point; it was probably like the dollar store or target or something? My rainbow glasses are from Zenni. :) The timer shows how long it took me to a…

Arctic Pull a fast one on's Wrath + conditioner in a mixing basin. I don't remember where I got the towel cap at this point; it was probably like the dollar store or target or something? My rainbow glasses are from Zenni. :) The timer shows how long it took me to use all the colour to my pilus.

You lot really want to saturate your hair with the color/conditioner mix. Equally you're doing all this, brand sure to become out whatsoever tangles in your hair with your fingers; it'll be easier once you get a little moisture dorsum into it.

And so, I pile all my hair upwards on my head and put on my towel cap, making sure to cover all of the colored hair in the front, dorsum, and sides. This allows me to walk around and work in the house without smearing color on all the chairs or piece of furniture.

About pilus color bottles say to exit it on for 30-xl minutes, but I e'er leave it on a lot longer, at least two to thee hours, sometimes all day if I have the time. Every bit I mentioned earlier, fashion colour fades quickly, and then you lot might too help it equally much every bit you tin by laying it on thick in the beginning. For these photos, the color mix was on my hair for about 2.v hours.

After I'm done marinating, I take a shower (putting the gloves dorsum on once again to avoid smurf/bloody/cheeto hands) and use hot water to rinse out as much color as I tin can. The water likely isn't going to run totally clear with semi-permanent fashion colors, but one time there's a significant drop of the /amount of color/, I color in the water, I apply shampoo to wash my hair again, and and then condition for a lilliputian while longer only for added measure.

When I hop out of the shower, I'll dry my pilus off as much every bit I can and put on a black shirt or erstwhile shirt underneath, as sometimes the hair color will bleed when it's withal moisture and you don't want to risk staining.

Warning: Your pilus color will definitely expect way darker when information technology'due south wet than when information technology's dry, then let it fully dry before you lot decide whether yous like or hate it.

Want more than one colour?If you want to take a more complex color scheme, with more than one color, I propose sticking to just painting those colors horizontally beyond your hair instead of vertically, that way you have a clear line to work with (like on your roots). As you can see in my hair photos at the height, I've washed this a few times earlier with having different colour roots or tips. That'south pretty manageable. I personally don't experience comfy messing virtually with different colors /downwards my pilus/ on different strands; to do it correctly, you lot take to go into using foils and such to ensure the colors don't mix and turn dark-brown and that'southward just...too much piece of work and skill for me. If I desire to do something like that, I go to a professional person at a salon.

And that'due south pretty much it! Hither are a few tips for upkeep though, just real quick (this post is already insanely long).

Upkeep Tips:

This color is Arctic Fox's Wrath with wet hair, dry hair, and in two different types of light.

This color is Chill Fox's Wrath with wet pilus, dry hair, and in ii unlike types of lite.

Don't launder your pilus every day; I usually wash mine every other day or every two days if I'thou non working out as much that week. I'll often apply dry out shampoo or cornstarch to absorb oils in my hair and then I tin get longer between washes (cornstarch tin can be used as a DIY dry shampoo that doesn't require droplets spray, which can injure the environs. I put that on my scalp before sleep; as i toss and plough at night, information technology rubs in and makes my hair await crawly!
Another selection is to only wash your pilus with h2o and conditioner; this removes some of the sweat and oil buildup without needing shampoo.

A sulfate-complimentary shampoo is pretty much necessary when yous have way color. I've used OGX in the by but have started switching now to solid shampoo bars to reduce my environmental impact (yes, I know dying my pilus ends up requiring a lot of plastic bottles and plastic products. I'one thousand currently working on researching brand alternatives that are more environmentally friendly).

Endeavour to only wash your hair with common cold water if you lot tin stand up it, or lukewarm at least. I hate the cold and usually apply lukewarm and my pilus color still manages to last a pretty long time!

You can refresh your hair with a mixture of hair color and conditioner every few days. There are a few brands of conditioner with hair color already included, like Overtone. In my experience, these piece of work actually well but are likewise pretty expensive (like $18 a canteen versus $7-10 for a tube or jar of hair colour + an additional few bucks for some white conditioner, which again, you can just buy at the dollar store, the cheaper stuff seems to piece of work perfectly fine). They do brand life easier, so if you lot accept the money for information technology and desire the convenience, go for it, simply I only think you really need them if y'all're specifically trying to maintain a specific pastel color from the start (which you lot could mix together with colour and conditioner besides, but it would probably be difficult to keep it the exact same color throughout). Brighter colors similar I prefer are touched up perfectly well with domicile-mixed color and conditioner. My hair changes shades over  time with different touch on ups, and I'm fine with that.

I also propose avoiding heat styling as much as possible to keep your hair healthy. I only use a hair dryer or a curling iron on my hair perhaps once every 2 months or so, for special occasions only.

Credits:

When I do become my hair done professionally, I get to Ruby Devine at the LABoratory in Alexandria, Virginia.

I learned a LOT about hair bleaching and coloring from the Prissy Squid's master hair posts on the subject, although I've added a few things and adjusted others to fit my specific needs.

For your entertainment: guest cat Martok is a total hair goblin and loves burying his face in it no matter what color it is. 🙂

For your entertainment: guest cat Martok is a total pilus goblin and loves burying his face in it no matter what colour it is. 🙂