ThriftScore: Things no one tells you...Alternative Haircolors

I have had a few hair colors. I mostly stick to brown and reddish. But my favorite color was when I dyed my hair blue.

I loved it so much. LOVED it. I did eventually have to get rid of it, but not because I didn't still love it.

Because there are a few things no one tells you about alternative hair colors.

1. You don't get the color you really want without bleaching first. And bleaching on your own is not something you want to do. You don't get the best results and can really damage your hair. And the damage will last longer than your new hair color, because of this:

2. Alternative colors are semi-permanent. This is great, since you never know how much you're going to like it. And this is horrible, because if you're dyeing your hair these colors, you probably already know you like them! I have never found a brand of color that doesn't fade out within the month. Someone told me that Sally Beauty Supply has their own brand of other colors that is permanent. She had aqua, and it was pretty, but she had just done it and I haven't seen her since and I can't find it on their website. Semi-permanent and demi-permanent really mean, may really only last 3 days, but could last 2 months. The problem is that these colors really just don't take. And I can't find anyone who knows why. If you do, please let me know. Or what I really want to know is how we can fix this problem.

3. If you have a plastic tub surround or shower floor, pick up a very large container of bleach, and not for your hair. If you have ever dyed your hair any color, you know when you wash it out, some color runs at first. When you dye your hair an alternative color, because they are semi-permanent and not permanents, they run every time. Every single damn time you shower. I have this cranberry foam re-staining my shower every single time. I carry a small towel in my car in case of rain. Or sweating. And I never, ever, wear white.

4. The reason I had to get rid of my hair color the last time was that people kept touching me. Since it has become so much more popular and, um, mainstream, it probably doesn't happen as much. But it really creeped me out when random people came up to me on the street and grabbed a hank of my hair.

5. The pastel trend. To get the best pastel colors, you have to mix the bright colors with conditioner. This means that the color lasts for even less time than regular alterna-colors. My hairdresser, who had punky-pink at the time, said to keep the pastels looking really beautiful, you would have to re-dye every two to five days.

A way to try out some colors before really going all out is hair chalking. This is a good tutorial for that.

Good Luck Everyone!