How To Dye Your Hair And Other Stories

...other stories to follow soon...

Debbi has been dying her hair for about 4 years now; Beki has been dying her hair for about 4 months; Beki has been dying Debbi's hair for just under a year; and Debbi has been dying Beki's hair for just over a month (as from 25-11-2000, because I'm not updating this every day ;) ).
Various mothers and sisters have also taken part in the process.

Shortcuts

Dyes ; Colour ; What You Need ; Temporary Dying ; Semi-Permanent Dying ; Clean-up Process ; More Than One Colour ; Disclaimer

Dyes

These instructions are basically for use with a semi-permanent dye such as Directions, Star Gazer or Jerome Russell (ie., the three with which we've had experience). If you are using 'proper' hair dye which contains either ammonia or peroxide then follow the instructions on the box and nothing else. And just because we've had no problems with the 3 aforementioned dyes, always exercise caution.
Beki found to her cost that a permanent dye does mean permanent, and also it's very hard (OK - completely impossible) to put a different colour over the top, so permanence is advised against unless you are very sure.
And as Matt demonstrated: applying one of these semi-permanent dyes over newly-bleached hair makes it kinda permanent. In fact, so permanent he couldn't bleach it out. If you do want the vibrancy bleach gives, with the whimsical temporacy of these dye, it would be wise if you waited a few days before dying. Your hair, that is.
Henna too should probably be avoided unless you want orange hair: be warned, 'firery red' does not always mean red.

Colour

Obviously, the only way to lighten your hair is to bleach it, and that's really scary: consult a hairdresser or someone with experience. To get really bright colours, you would need to apply dye to bleached hair. Take the above warning about dye+bleach into account. If in doubt, find someone with bright purple/pink/blue/green (you get the picture) and ask them for their advice. Just make sure it's not a wig.
You can dye non-bleached hair with these colours - it just won't be as vibrant or intense, though if you have really dark hair then you are pretty stuck if you don't want to kill it with bleach. You would be able to give it a tinge of another colour by applying a red or purple (etc) over the top.
Because these dyes really are quite semi-permanent (except with the whole bleach thing), you've got plenty of margin for trial and error.

In The Beginning...

Be Prepared...

Get everything ready before you start, and have it all to hand. It may well be that you actually have to go out and buy quite a few things but it makes life easier.

You will need:
* A friend - it's really hard to do the back of your hair on your own
* Shampoo - with no conditioner in it at all. The whole point is to clean your hair so that the dye goes on your hair, rather than a load of grease. Moisturising your hair also means that the dye won't stick; if you are paranoid about killing your hair then find some leave-in conditioner that you can apply after you've finished the dying process.
* Hair Dye - see above.
* Gloves - most dyes come with some plastic gloves, and although these are pretty useless, they're better than nothing. It's best to keep them so you always have a big supply and it's better if you're using more than one colour to use a different pair of gloves for each colour. Try and get hold of some latex gloves as they're generally easier to work with.
* Old Clothes - you'll need a really large supply of these. I have about 5 old nighties which I use, as well as an old dressing gown which whoever is dying my hair (ie., Beki) will wear to protect their clothes. Towels will get covered in dye, so it's best to have a load of old ones, both to dry your hair with and to put on the floor to catch any splodges (or use newspaper for this). If you don't have loads of old shirts or whatever, buy some from a charity shop.
* A Tinting Brush - or anything similar to apply the dye with if it does not come in a tube. Combs, toothbrushes, or in my case a pastry brush shaped like a parrott (Dead the Bird), are also fine (and cheaper). Toothbrushes are handy for getting to the roots.
* Bath hats - maybe I'm just weird for using more than one of these at a time, but at least one bath or shower hat is a must, especially if you're going to leave the dye on for a while.
* Vaseline - this really does stop the dye from soaking into your skin. Apply it to your hairline and ears, but try and keep it from your hair.
* Toner - you are going to get covered in dye (unless you are really clever), and this can be quite tough to get off. Find a toner or cleanser which gets it off your skin and make sure you have an adequate quantity before you start dying or you're going to get really embarrassed. I use Boots' 'Skin Clear' Toner which gets the job done.
* Jif/Cif - or any other household cleaner to get all the splashes up, and to remove the tinge of dye from the bath, shower, shower attachment, sink, taps, walls, floor, tiles, floor tiles, door, handles...

In The Dying Fields

Temporary

A temporary effect with these types of dyes are easy: just follow the instructions. Due to their consistency, these dyes are a lot like paint, you put them on and they wash out when you next wash your hair, although some people's hair will be more porous (especially if it's bleached), and thus more susceptible to staining than others.

Preparation
* Wash your hair with shampoo and towel dry.
* Apply vaseline to your hairline and your ears, try not to get it on your hair though.
* Prepare the surfaces with a protective covering of old towels or newspaper, because it really is best to not have the panic of turning your mum's floor a dodgy colour.
* Put on some old clothes and gloves, and get your friend to do the same.

Application
* The idea is to apply as much dye as evenly as possible, covering all the hair that you want dyed. Use your brush or comb to apply the dye to the body of your hair, and the toothbrush for the roots. Try to avoid your scalp, but it's quite inevitable you'll get covered in the stuff (which is why you need a load of toner).
* Leave the dye on for the maximum time specified (usually between 15 and 30 minutes).

Rinsing
* Follow the instructions on the box. Some makes say to rinse your hair with water and then to shampoo it too, but you may want to leave the shampooey bit out.

Aftermath
* The clean up process is described below, but I thought I'd better point out that you will probably want to wear dark clothing, as the dye will rub off onto collars and such, but it does usually wash out (not always though, so be careful).
* You should probably now have hair a different colour from when you started, though the colour may well not be as vibrant. The colour will probably not stay in as long as it says on the packet, but if you only want a temporary look, or you're nervous about wrecking your hair, then you should be fine :)

Semi-Permanent

Preparation
* This is the same as for Temporary dying, except you should leave yourself a lot more time.

Application
* Again, follow the instructions for Temporary dying as far as applying the stuff goes.
* As for leaving the stuff on: prepare to get bored as we're talking hours here!
Pile your hair on your head, and cover it with the bath hat. It's best to try and keep your hair damp and warm, so wrapping a towel (an old towel which you don't mind getting dyed!) around the hat wouldn't go amiss.

Rinsing
* What I do here is only wash the dye out vaguely, because I'm so paranoid of washing it all out. This does mean that I have pretty sticky hair, and the dye rubs onto my clothes quite a bit... But I think that this does make the colour more vibrant.

Aftermath
* See Below:

The Aftermath

How To Not Look Like A Serial Killer

Well, if you're not dying your hair red then you'd look like a pretty weird serial killer, but you know what I mean. This stage in the clean- up operation concerns you and whoever else has become covered in dye. It's always best to get the dye off your skin as soon as you see it, but in a lot of cases it's not always possible to do this, especially around your hairline and ears.
If you've used vaseline effectively then you should be able to just wipe it off. If not you need to use your industrial strength toner (note: don't get it in your eyes, that's really daft and it stings).
On your face just scrub at any marks with cotton wool. Be careful around your hairline: don't rub the dye off your hair! You will need to utilise your friend to check the back of your neck and your ears.
Use a cotton bud to get any dye off your scalp. Sometimes the only way to get to your roots is to cover your head with the stuff, and this can be embarrassing, especially if you have a parting.
If you've been caught red handed (ho ho ho) then a good trick is to soak a cotton wool ball with toner and roll it between your hands.

How To Use Jif Effectively

The main problem I find is that after being really careful during the actual dying process, it's when I wash the dye out that it completely stains my bath pink. And initially you panic because it really doesn't seem to want to come off. Dye likes to stain painted walls, linoleum floors and grout. Be careful with some sorts of tiles too.
However, it's pretty easy to get it off enamel (if you have a plastic bath then be warned: dye can stain, and bleach certainly will, right Beki :P ), it just takes a load of Jif and time and elbow grease.
First mop up any large spillages. Squirt Jif all over the stains. I put some on the stain, and then some above it so that it can drip down over it. Leave this for some while (try to keep any panicking parents away).
After at least half an hour (unless, of course, the Jif says 'wipe off immediately' or something), come back and rub at the marks with an old cloth, before washing away the Jif.
Your bathroom should be back to normal. It's always best to try and grab a stain before it has time to sink in and become permanent though.

More Than One Colour

Using more than one colour just means being really careful not to mix the two. You may want to dye one colour one day and the next colour the next.

However, if you are lazy and impatient like me...
* Make sure you separate the sections before you wash your hair because it's easier to see what you're doing.
* Do all of one colour, before doing all of the next.
* When I had black and blue stripes in my hair, we'd do the stripes first and then roll them into little buns and put plastic food bags over them to keep them separate from the red.
* When washing the dye out I always worry about one colour running into the other, but I don't think this is really a problem. You can get your friend to wash one bit, and then the next if you're really bothered.

Disclaimer

We dye our hair using this method, but just because it works for us doesn't mean that it's suitable for everyone. If you feel that anything isn't right for you then don't do it. If you're nervous or a hair dye virgin then follow the instructions on the packet. You may not get the colour you want, but you shouldn't go bald!
Basically, only use these instructions for the hair dyes we have mentioned, don't leave bleach on your hair, or ammonia. I don't know what that does, but anything that smells like old nappies is not good.
If you wreck your bathroom it's also not our fault!!!

But you really shouldn't be worried: we just can't afford a lawyer so we're being cautious. At the end of the day, follow the instructions given by the hair dye makers and if it all goes wrong then sue them ;)