Pink Hair

[Octopus37]

I am naturally medium blonde and have recently started dying my hair pink (semi-permanent), love it but very hard to maintain. It fades quite a lot just after a few washes and I am ending up needing to dye my hair at least once every two weeks. Got talking to a fellow pink haired person the other day and she advised me to bleach my hair first, then to dye it, She told me that way I would only need to do my roots every month (presumably with bleach and pink hair dye). Question is, how long do I leave it between bleaching and puting on the pink hair dye. Assuming I cannot do the two back to back.

I used to bleach it then dry it with a towel, then put the pink on after that. I read somewhere that the hair was a bit more porous when semi-dry. I would then wrap my head up in a towel or foil or clingfilm and use a hairdryer all over (again read this on a hair dye forum I think) which was supposed to open up hair 'cuticles' and soak/seal in more of the dye, leave it on for a few hours and then wash out with lukewarm water (not hot), use a good conditioner and then blow dry it dry.

I use Special Effects Atomic Pink to dye my hair, which acts just like a permanent dye and is pretty much impossible to shift. I've been dying my hair pink off and on for almost twenty years now and have got into a vague routine of bleaching the roots and doing a retouch maybe once every 3-4 months?

I usually bleach, do a vague towel dry then slap the pink dye on straight away and that works just fine. :)

I also bleach and the put the coloured dye straight on. Which dye are you using for the pink out of interest? there may be a better option for you depending on what you're using

I do my hair with Manic Panic dyes and I bleach then bung the dye on as soon as the bleach has been rinsed off. I'm a bit of a slattern and can go for about 8 weeks without doing my roots and it doesn't look too bad

When bleaching I use coconut oil on my hair beforehand and it seems to negate a lot of the potential bleach damage. I also never straight bleach, I just bleach bath (one part powder, one part developer, two parts clarifying shampoo) which is enough for me as I'm dark blonde so don't need masses of lift. Again, it helps reduce potential damage.

What brand of semi perm are you using? The more expensive ones do tend to last longer. I've found Directions washes off the quickest, then Manic Panic and Special Effects lasts the longest. Certain SFX colours, mostly the pinks and purples, might as well be permanent. I've switched to Manic Panic as I sometimes fancy a change of colour and SFX was proving too hard to shift.

You can leave dyes like Directions/Manic Panic/SFX on as long as you want as there's nothing damaging in them. Some people leave them on, wrapped in cling film, overnight. I tend to leave mine on four or five hours and they do last better the longer I leave it.

I get my done at my (fancy London pricy) hairdressers and my colourist slaps the colour on straight after the bleach has been washed out. Word of warning, though, I have my hair very short, which is lucky as after a few months of bleaching/dying its is like candy floss!

Thanks for all this advice. I will use the dye I have got this time, and bleach it out first. Is any light blonde permanent hair colourant ok to use? Will keep an eye out for Manic Panic or Special Effects for future reference.

Have just signed up with Hair Crazy and ordered the Special Effects Atomic Pink. Thanks again.

This is a great forum for all things bright hair, really worth a read.

The forum looks great. Which bleach do you use for your hair?

I use this bleach powder and this developer (the 30vol).

I never use it neat, I always mix it with an equal amount of Pantene Clarifying shampoo.

The bleaching section of that forum is great, it's easy to fry your hair if you're not sure what you're doing (and bizarrely it seems even many salons aren't when it comes to bleaching and bright colours) but it's just as easy to do it well with minimal damage once you have all the information.