(Very) Temporary Hair Colouring

[CAMRAMan]

Little Ms AWL wants to colour her hair orange for a one-day charity event. Her hair is darkish blonde.

Her mother would have kittens if it was anything longer than a day, so are there any products out there that would do the trick without damaging her hair?

TIA

[tiermat]

Yes, and it is quite effective.

Pop along to Boots and find the "Party Hair" or some such name, it's a spray.

I used two colours, relatively effectively to achieve this:



Note, I have dark hair, so needed to spray it yellow first then green.  The photo doesn't show it very well as it was taken just after it was done, it develops as time goes on.

Here is an Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/125ml-Temporary-Washable-Colour-Spray/dp/B004VLYU8M/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1361281633&sr=8-13

[LindaG]

Food colouring? Test a little bit somewhere inconspicuous just in case it stains.

And don't let her out in the rain.

[Cudzoziemiec]

We've used the spray stuff for some kids' event. It works well and washes out easily.

[Biggsy]

Wouldn't an orange wig be more effective?


(Not me)

[arabella]

I think someone at school (thus 1980s) used ordinary (powder) poster paint.  Fortunately it didn't rain.  She ha a lot of fun washing it out afterwards

[nicknack]

The party hair stuff is fine. My hair went blue for my 60th the other week. Washed out ok the next day. Pillow was a bit blue and I wouldn't advise wearing anything pale if you sweat a lot but good for a laff.

[rr]

Food colouring? Test a little bit somewhere inconspicuous just in case it stains.

And don't let her out in the rain.

Bad idea, I dyed my hair with food colour for a Sousie and the Banshees gig in 81, ended up with a blue and green bathroom, clothes and face and -- blond hair.

[Valiant]

Im guessing there's not a chance in hell of anything working on black hair?

[clarion]

See Tiermat's photo above.  His hair isn't quite as black as yours, but it is very dark.

[CAMRAMan]

Right, thanks for the tips. She tried to buy a semi-permanent dye yesterday. How long does that last? Sounds fairly long-term to me.

[Valiant]

Semi perm should last a few weeks.

[TimO]

eBay, as ever, is your friend:

Orange Hairspray Fancy Dress, Fun, Halloween Temporary Hair Colour

Alternatively, from a slightly more reputable source, but also more expensive, and not a spray:

Color Bug Orange

... and there's also stuff like this:

Crazy Color Orange

but that's semi-permanent, which from their blurb "can last aprox 4-8 washes".

I used some blue spray in my hair some years back for fancy dress.  I've got moderately dark brown hair, and blue worked fine, but I'd imagine for lighter colours it may have less of an impact, experimentation is probably required! Do not use your best white towels, some of the colouring will almost certainly not be washed out (unless you're incredibly careful), in which case the towel may gain various degrees of colouration.  I've still got a towel with some large dark brown patches from ex-wife's hair dying, although that was a permanent dye.

[L CC]

Right, thanks for the tips. She tried to buy a semi-permanent dye yesterday. How long does that last? Sounds fairly long-term to me.

Depends on your hair. On mine- not until it grows out.
Wash-in ones which purport to last 2-3 washes would last months.

Spray on is your Mrs AWL's friend.

[TimO]

As I recall the blue spray dye I used came out entirely immediately afterwards with a fairly good wash, but I can't comment on my hairs dye-fastness, that's the only time I've ever been anything other than naturally coloured (which these days is getting progressively more grey!)