Pink Hair

So, over the weekend, after recovering from my nasty fluey bug thing I decided that I was going to dye my hair pink.


My hair, to start with was black. 


Here is my photo diary/tutorial of how to get black hair pink... 


Start with black black hair. Like this.

You will like your black hair, but you'll get bored of it. Or I will. I got bored of it. I needed a change. So I wrapped my head in clingfilm, for a look that says 'come and get me fella's... Oh wait. No it doesn't.

Now then, this is stage one. Using Colour B4 from boots, this was the first attempt to lift some of the black dye out of my hair. My hair is naturally a mousy brown colour (with a hint of ginger and damn proud of it) but I've been dyeing my hair since about age 11 - starting with wash in/wash out colours, moving on to semi permanents, bleach, highlights... then on top of that bleach, dark red, purple and black dye. Basically my hair no longer has a 'natural' colour as such. Colour B4 aims to remove only dye pigment from your hair, not touching the actual hair pigment itself. It contains no bleach and no ammonia so is quite nice and gentle.


Now, the first time I used Colour B4 was to go from dark brown. It took me to a VERY bright blonde/ginger (previously bleached colour) and was pretty easy to dye. This time... Not so much. It just took me to this...

That would be dark ginger, and still very dark red at the ends. Hmmm. 


So, the next course of action was to use Jerome Russell B Blonde. Which meant I looked like this..

... For a bit longer. Lovely I think you'll agree.


So, after Colour B4 AND 60 entire minutes of bleaching, my hair looked like... This.

That's pretty ginge to be honest. Patchy ginge no less.
But still not light enough to put pink dye over... Damnit. At this point, I had to send my LOVELY fiancee to Boots for some more bleach. Seriously. 

I only left the bleach on for half an hour, and it was really just to get rid of the very dark patches. I was VERY VERY careful not to COMPLETELY fuck my hair. My fiancee, bless him, is/was a hairdresser, so I was being closely monitored. Be careful with bleach girls. Shelley can tell you, hair like chewing gum is NOT FUN! 


SO. After an hour of Colour B4, 90 minutes of bleaching (in stages) I was ready to put the colour on. I chose a Crazy Colour dye, in Cyclamen. And now I look like this...

Tips:

• When using Colour B4, make sure you rinse for at LEAST 5-10 minutes. You WILL get bored, but the more you rinse, the more colour pigment will be removed and the happier a chappy you will be.
• As you can see, at every 'stage' of this process, I covered my hair in clingfilm or a cap. This helps trap the heat which increases the efficiency of the colourant/bleach you are using. 
• When you're dyeing your hair with a Crazy Colour, be as OCD as you can about NOT GETTING IT ON YOUR FRICKING SKIN. I have pink fingernails, and that is just from the rinsing out! It stains everything - clothes, the bath, your forehead. VASELINE all over your face and neck, and if you value your white shower/bathtub, you may want to give that a coat of the stuff too. 
• Attempt to not wash your hair very often. Minging... Dry shampoo is the way forward here though, to help stop it fading.

I'm pretty pleased with my pink hair... I am NOT so pleased with the fact that in not one of these photo's am I wearing make-up. You've seen me at my worst. Shit.