I’ve always liked crazy-colored hair. Back in the day I was obsessed with Gwen Stefani’s pink hair when she rocked steady in No Doubt. I adored Rachel McAdams’ pink streaks. And of course Lady Gaga has been an influence, with her many colorful hair transformations.

Well this week, I decided to finally take the semi-permanent plunge and dye some of my hair purple. Below, I’ll show you how I did it, and how you can try this look yourself!

Related reading: Blonde vs Brunette vs Redhead: My Hair Color Experience Trying All Three Shades

Table of Contents

Placement and Tools

My friend Erika works with special effects makeup and has tried her hand at working with colorful hair dyes on herself and friends. Luckily, Erika was there to show me how it’s done.

What You’ll Need:

1. A plastic bowl (I have this one that’s made for hair dye)
2. Rubber or protective gloves
3. 2 tint brushes
4. Hair bleach/bleaching kit (such as Manic Panic’s bleaching kit)
5. A comb
6. A hairdryer
7. Bobby pins/hair ties
8. Manic Panic semi permanent hair dye in the color of your choice

I should preface this entire experiment with a few points:

• If you have darker hair, you’ll have to bleach the hair you want to color. I have relatively light brown/dark blonde hair, but I still needed to bleach it to a slightly lighter shade. Bleaching first is essential if you aren’t naturally light blonde – otherwise, the color won’t show up!
• Yes, bleach does damage your hair. There is no way to avoid this.
• It’s helpful to do a test strip first to see if you have any allergic reactions to the dye. Avoid diving right in and dying your whole head first!
• All colors fade with time and hair washings. If you go red, you might have pink hair after a while. Mine will fade to a light periwinkle color.

My test strand and color placement