Tips, Tricks And Hacks For Do-It-Yourself Funky Colored Hair

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please read our disclosure policy here

Over a year ago now I decided to just…change my hair color. I’ve never been scared to play with it, but it’s usually been for periods of time. As of today I’ve been some shade of pink for over twelve months and I have zero plans to go brown again. But the crazy hair colors are a bit of a way of life. Here are some Tips, Tricks and Hacks For Funky Colored Hair because it really does take work to live a technicolored life.

technicolor hair

Tips, Tricks and Hacks For Funky Colored Hair

Alternates to permanent or even semi-permanent:

As of last year there are a dozen or more products on the market that are in no shape, way or form permanent hair color. From clip in crazy streaks to chalk that really works, if all your looking for is a little pizzazz to spice up your Friday look, there’s options for you! I’d recommend starting with L’Oreal’s liquid chalk if you’re just wanting to play around a little, but definitely not ready to make that big commitment! One tip, follow the directions. Whatever you’re thinking might work better–believe me when I say–I did that. It does not work better. Follow the directions. Somewhere in Austin there’s a hotel with pink and purple hair chalk on the ceiling because I decided following the directions was silly.

Picking a semi/permanent color:

Not all dyes are created equal. If you’re wanting to pick one – read reviews. Talk to people who are using the stuff now. My favorite brand and color changed their formula on me twice and I can no longer recommend it to other people. So I’ve switched to One n’ Only’s Argon Oil Perfectly Intensity Hair Color in Hot Pink. And you know how some dyes leave your hair feeling like hay? Not this one. It leaves my hair intensely soft and smelling great.

Consider how a color will fade. It takes work to keep those locks the right shade and some weeks they’re not going to be dye-fresh. Make sure you like the faded or fading colors enough to put up with it until you can redye. For instance, if you’re wanting a gorgeous emerald green, you have to keep in mind that at some point you’re probably going to end up with lime green. That’s just the way fade works. So make sure you’re okay with all the shades before you pick a certain color.

A couple I can recommend from personal use include:

Happy National #Selfie Day!! I’m celebrating with my staple car selfie, lol.

A photo posted by Sidney Bristol (@sidneybristol) on

Multi-crazy-colored hair:

This is a note for people who want the rainbow do. Any time you want to mix multiple colors, be aware of the varying strengths of the pigments.

When I first went pink I had the very top part of my hair purple. It was just the hair one either side of my part. And it added some crazy cool, very Twilight Sparkle-like styling to my hair. But over time I started to notice the purple pigment bleeding onto the next layers of very pink hair until I have a weird, unwanted ombre thing going on that did not look all that great.

What I failed to realize was that the purple pigment was hella strong and bled onto the lighter pink. In a minute I’ll talk about water temperature and showering to help, but know that if you’re going to do multi-crazy colors, you will probably have to do some very special showering to keep those colors from blending and bleeding together. This can be done by using shower caps, clips and saturating hair with conditioner while you wash the next layer of color. Personally, I gave up and went totally pink. It crossed my high maintenance threshold.

Hair care: 

There’s a lot of ways to care for your hair with vibrant colors. Here’s a few of my top suggestions:

  1. Put a coconut oil and honey mask mix on your hair every six weeks for 12 hours. If your hair is all natural, still do it. Your hair will thank me. If your hair is really damaged, go for once a month, but not more frequent. The added protein will make your hair brittle and more prone to breakage.
  2. Use a sulfate free shampoo and conditioner. Sulfates will fade your hair faster. My personal regimen is to use their shampoo, deep conditioning mask, silk leave in conditioner and silk smoothing balm all in one go. I skip the conditioner in favor of using the mask.
  3. Have a clarifying shampoo to remove product build-up. I use it once a month, usually when I notice my hair isn’t getting clean enough. One wash with it, then my usual conditioning and product routine and I’m good for another month!
  4. Spend a little more to get some great products. Deep conditioning masks, heat protectors and UV protection are all key components to prolonging the life of your bright new do.
  5. Super hair hack! Mix some of your color into your deep conditioner and if you use a spray mask for the days you just put your hair up. Adding the dye to your product will help apply more pigment between dye jobs.
  6. Dry shampoo is your FRIEND! Invest in some dry shampoo and a hair cap for those days where you want a hot shower, but don’t want to lose the color. The shampoo sprays in like hairspray, brushes out, and keeps you from looking greasy enough fry eggs on your head. Plus, most of them smell damn fantastic. Ion has a great, affordable option that I have found works wonders for me. Just a note though, dry shampoos are not an alternative to showering. Make sure to read the labels and test the product on a patch of hair before applying to your whole head. There’s been several reports of nightmare experiences with dry shampoo use. Better safe than sorry!

Avoid Heat Sources:

Blow dryers. Curling irons. Straighteners. These are not your hair’s friends. Seriously. Not even a little bit. Unless you want to blow dry, which I get. And do. Still.

thrive and live

Showers:

Just don’t take them.

Kidding! Sort of…

I do suggest washing your brightly colored hair less often, and in cold water. Yes, I said cold. I take cold showers and man, it sucks, but there’s a reason my hair is just about always a bright pink. My secret is cold showers.

A quick note, typically your bright colors will continue to bleed whenever they get wet. You very well may want to avoid situations where you get your hair wet outside the shower. Often these pigments will stain clothing and other things around you.

Also, swimming pools are the devil. The chlorine will make your hair bleed like a villain in a wild west movie. If you’re a swimmer, just get a hair cap and you’re good to go.

Living the bright hair life:

People look at you different when your hair isn’t normal. Some will frown and shake their heads. Others will smile. And a lot of people will want to talk to you about it. A lot. A quick grocery store trip is no longer quite so quick for me, but I’m okay with that. For most people, my hair brightens their day. And kids love it. Some of my favorite experiences have included being asked to join a child’s My Little Pony themed birthday because I looked like Twilight Sparkle and having random people ask if they can take a picture with me because I made their day. It’s very rare that someone approaches me to say something negative about my hair, but it happens. But you know what? I don’t live my life for them, and for every person who doesn’t like my hair, there’s easily a dozen others who smiled because of it.

It’s not all rainbows and butterflies, though. Be aware that your bright hair will continue to rub off on clothing, pillow cases, towels, shower curtains, the back of your neck. No one warned me and I nearly had a heart attack one morning when I realized my gray pillow case was now pink. As a result, whenever I travel I usually try to bring shower curtains, towels, sheets and a blanket with me in addition to my pillow. Just in case. I chose the pink life, but not everyone else did.

Life is too short to have boring hair!! Seriously, you gotta live a technicolored life!

Bound for adventure! Headed off into the great unknown for the weeeknd.

A photo posted by Sidney Bristol (@sidneybristol) on

Similar Posts

2 Comments

  1. Hey, your hair is beautiful! I went for a solid colour, too, red at the moment, but I’m transitioning through magenta to purple soon. Just for a change, and because I’ve got new glasses I want to match up!
    I use “professional” colours, the ones in tubes that you mix with developer, and I get much better results than with box dye. Currently I’m using Tigi, which works fine, but I’ve also used L’Oreal’s Majirouge and Wella’s Kolesten which also work well. A lot depends on how you do it. You’re perfectly right, you’ve got to take care. My hair’s a bit straw like right now, so it’s time for a trim and a mask!
    It’s a good idea to strip the hair every so often, not with a bleach, but with the special dye removers. Then you can start all over again!
    DH decided to get rid of the dark blue towels in our bathroom and replace them with white ones. Oops!

  2. Great tips! I don’t plan on dying my hair but I have some friends who could use this!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *