dying a 13yo's hair a funky color,advice on how to do it

[muldey]

Dd,13yo,wants to dye her hair.I'm not against it at all,she wants to show some individuality,as our public school requires uniforms and she wants to be different in her own way.So she picked out a very bright red.A very cool color.My mom bought the kit,it comes with the bleach,peroxide,and the dye.She has dark brown hair,so we'll have to bleach it.I'm scared!I've never bleached my hair,I dye it often(stupid grey hairs at 34yo!).So I don't know what to expect.Does it burn?I figured I'd ask here since I'm sure other kids have done it.Thanks!! :)

[NiteNicole]

It will probably burn.  Bleach can hurt. 

Honestly, to go from dark brown to bright red?  I would not do that at home.  You could fry her hair.  You could actually MELT it.  Also, if you lift all that color it's going to do at least some damage and then red fades faster than any other color, especially on porous (bleached) hair.  It's going to fade and then she'll either have to grow out with bleached ends, cut it off, or keep coloring.  The texture can get really funky.

I love bright,drastic colors but that's a LONG term commitment.  Have you considered taking her some place like Aveda (or even an Aveda teaching salon, they're very good) and letting them put in bright highlights or something?

I lived in a girls' dorm in high school.  I witnessed or performed more crimes against hair color than I really care to think about.  For a change that big, go with a pro.  The general rule is that if you're going more than two shades lighter or darker, you want to get a professional anyway.

[~Alexis~]

Def. go to a salon.  And not just any salon.  Ask around at a tattoo parlor or head shop for the name of someone experienced in high lift double process coloring.

Having said that, if you're still going to do it yourself (please don't!), return the kit to Walmart or Walgreen's or wherever and go to Sally's and get real on-the-scalp bleach.  Get some real Manic Panic, too.  Have her avoid shampooing for a few days.  Let the scalp oil build up so that her skin will have some protection.  Apply Vaseline to the hairline, but don't get it in the hair or the bleach prolly won't eat through it.

Apply the bleach to the mid shaft only at first.  Save the ends for after the midshaft is mostly processed, and apply to the new growth last, as the warmth from the scalp will process it fastest and you don't want to end up with super light roots and darker hair down the shaft.

It may take 2 processes to get the hair light enough to take the color.  You may need a protein filler bc if you remove ALL the natural pigment there will be nothing for the dye to adhere to.

Apply the color the same way as the bleach: midshaft, then ends, then new growth.  After removing the color, have her avoid washing again for a few days.  Buy some red pillow cases and color enhancing shampoo.  Be ready to repeat every 3-4 weeks until she gets bored and chops it all off and asks for a spikey purple fauxhawk!  haha

And lastly, forget everything I just said and find an experienced professional to do it for you.  :)

[dsb76]

I dyed my hair all the time when I was a teenager.  Some general tips - if you are using a bright color veg based dye (like Manic Panic - though I don't know if they still make that one as it was 20 years ago) you need to bleach or strip the hair first.  That process is damaging (though I don't remember it burning too much - but a little where it touches the scalp).  If you don't the dye will only take a little and add a little tint - which may be fine for the first time and add some red omph to brown hair but probably not much more.  You may want to only do a section or a stripe in the front rather then the whole head if you are going for crazy colors - that way she can experiment for a bit and if she hates it she doesn't have a whole head of bleached out hair with dark roots to deal with.  Most of the bright colors are temporary/semiperm and begin to fade after a week or two depending on the amt of washing so also be prepared to deal with faded hair - some reds turn orangy or pink or peachy in color as they fade.  Of course the newer dyes may be different so I may be out of the loop now that I'm in my 30s.

[whatsnextmom]

Make sure it's a "natural" shade of red as many schools have policy against anything that might be considered an unnatural shade of hair. No advice on dying. Yikes about bleaching first. I would go to a professional at least the first time because that could do some real damage.

[karne]

Be sure about the red.  Some of them fade to a pretty yucky orange.  Has she thought about starting more slowly, with manic panic highlights-semi perm.?  She could live with some color, even red, for a month before it washes out, and see if it works for her, although highlights or even big chunks are different from all over color.

Some of dd's friends have done red or bright pink on either sides of their faces-it looks cool, but the fade is not attractive, so they end up re-coloring a lot.

My dd is currently working her way through a variety of colors-but the spray on and wash out kind.  She just wants to play and not commit.  However, she loves her sun streaks and wants highlights.  If we seriously go down that road, we'll be off to a good hair salon.  I have promised this, and I'll follow through.  We've seen a bunch of kids w/DIY haircolor that is just not working. I don't want dd to do her own hair.

[Linda on the move]

go to a pro

because there's a really, really good chance that if you don't, you will have to go to a pro to fix it and that's going to cost a lost more money and still not have the result she wants.

Far, far cheaper to have a pro just do it than the big bucks for a pro to attempt to fix the disaster.

[muldey]

Well we tried it,she insisted before I read all the responses.She said it didn't burn,but it did itch a little.We only left it on 20 minutes.The bleach was very weird,it was blue and kind of grainy,hard to get through all of her hair.It's actually a really cool color right now,we'll be doing the red later tonight.I didn't put it right against her scalp.She's very happy with it.Next time I will try a salon if I have the money,or we'll go to Sally's.I'm dying mine auburn right now,I wish they had the bright red in the new foam kind(which is what I'm using),that is very easy to work with.The package for hers did warn about the color staining everything,my mom gave us her old hair dryer so she can dry her hair before she puts on her shirt.I also warned her to only wear black for a while lol,I've ruined a few shirts myself.I will warn her that it probably will turn orange,but she likes that color so I don't think she'll mind.One of her friends uses the same brand and has had very good results,her hair looks really cute.The school doesn't have a policy about hair color thankfully,a lot of her friends have blue,red,purple,green,etc.Thanks so much!!

[karne]

Here's hoping the red goes well!

Your thread has me remembering the summers my sisters and friends and I sat in the blazing sun with "Sun In" frying our hair.  Talk about bad hair moves.

[ollyoxenfree]

i hope it turned out well! DS routinely dyes his mohawk - right now it's red. Earlier in the year it was blue, but that tends to fade to a dingy green. He usually has a friend help him with the bleaching stage. He re-applies the colour when it has faded. That seems to be every few weeks or once a month, I think.  

[purplerose]

I'd wait a day or so before dying after bleaching but I've only done it at home. I bleached mine and tried to dye it purple. It turned orange and I ended up dying it brown later after it relaxed a bit. I wore a hat for awhile. I have long hair so it took quite some time to grow it out! I want purple hair so badly but my hair is so dark and I hate the idea of blowing money at a salon, I never have and have taught the kids to cut their own hair. My oldest daughter has blonde hair so she has an easier time dying it crazy colors. Even kool-aid works great on her (except blue! blue+blonde=green lol) and stays in through several washings. Lucky thing. Manic Panic is a good brand for temp colors.

[Dar]

IMO Manic Panic is pretty weak. We never got really bright, vibrant colors with it, even after bleaching, and it faded quickly. I think for red especially it wouldn't look great. Use Fudge or Special Effects. This is Special Effects, IIRC, and from the roots it looks like it had been at least a couple of months since we dyed it. And yeah, it's a really old picture - I think 10 years old or so.Wasn't she cute? And I did it myself, bleached and then dyed it a day or two later.