DIY HAIR TUTORIAL #1: HOW TO GO BRIGHT.

As someone who experiments frequently with different hair colours and styles, I'm often asked questions about how I achieve certain looks. Hence, I thought I'd write a series of posts addressing some of the most common questions I encounter!

Until recently I've been sporting fire-engine red hair, and without a doubt the question that's been put to me the most is "How do you get your hair such a bright colour?", so I'll lay it out here step by step.

Step 1: Bleach your hair. 

Depending on your current hair colour and the one you're hoping to end up with, this step may need to be repeated over a few weeks to minimise the amount of damage done to your hair.

As far as supermarket bleaches go, the two pictured below are the best I've found- and I've tried a LOT of brands! L'Oréal Préférence les Blondissimes in Extreme Platinum is my favourite - it's a little more expensive than Schwartzkopf's Nordic Blonde, but I personally find it to be a little less damaging whilst achieving the same level of lightening. That said, if you don't feel that your hair requires an extensive amount of lightening, the Nordic Blonde bleach is still a decent one.

Step 2: Gather your supplies.

You'll ideally need the following:

• Newspaper or a couple of towels to protect your floor
• A pair of plastic or rubber gloves (I rinse and re-use the ones that come with my bleach)
• A plastic container for mixing your dye
• A tint brush or brushes for application (though your hands will suffice if you're not too worried about perfect precision)
• Plastic food wrap to cover your hair following application
• And last but not least, your chosen dye! La Riche Directions is my absolute favourite brand as far as bright colours go, as they have a fantastic colour range and I generally find theirs to be the longest lasting. It retails here in New Zealand for approximately $20-$25 a pottle, but I get mine for around $10 including shipping each on ebay.
  I'd suggest using 1 pottle on short hair, or 2 on long or very thick hair. It helps to have an extra pottle for touch-ups and refreshing your colour too!

           

Step 3: Mixing your colour.
If you are intending to colour your hair the exact shade of your chosen dye, then this step is as simple as emptying the contents of the pottle into your plastic container (or gloved hands, if you decide to apply it straight from the pottle).
In my case, I'm usually aiming for an in-between shade and will mix a small amount of pink to my red dye to help prevent it fading to orange.
If you're after a pastel or less intense colour, you can also achieve this by diluting your dye with conditioner in this step.

Step 4: Application.
I'd advise beginning this step on completely dry hair, as any water in your hair will dilute the colour.
Using your tint brush, start to paint dye onto your hair, using the pointed end of the brush to part and section the hair as you go. This will ensure that all of your roots are covered and you're not left with any patches of uncoloured hair. Or, if you're confident that you have plenty of dye to fully saturate your hair, you can simply slather it on using your hands.If you have a wide toothed comb this can also be helpful for making sure the dye is evenly distributed.
Following application, cover your hair with plastic food wrap to prevent your hair from dripping dye.
Unlike most conventional hair dyes, bright colours are very gentle and can therefore be left on hair pretty much indefinitely. The pottle directions will generally recommend that you leave the dye on for half an hour, but the longer you can stand to leave it on, the more vibrant and longer lasting your colour will be. I leave mine on for at least a couple of hours, but ideally overnight. It's a good idea to have a dark or old pillowcase on hand if you're intending to do this, as the dye will stain fabric!
As for maintenance, I mix a little dye into my shampoo and conditioner and re-apply dye on dry hair after every few washes.

Step 5: Rinse and style.
I usually try to rinse my dye out with cold water. It's not the most pleasant way to do it and will take a longer amount of time, but it will remove less colour from your hair than a hot rinse will.
Continue rinsing until the water runs clear, and then condition, dry and style your hair as usual.
And voila! Hair worthy of a birdie's love!