so much pretty: hair dye take 2

Is it okay to post my hair color update as a so much pretty post? Or, rather, should I spell it "colour"? See, I used Punky Colour this time, instead of Manic Panic, in Atlantic Blue.

I chose Atlantic Blue because, well, it was on clearance at Ulta. I got all excited when I saw Punky Colour at Ulta and had picked out Violet. But then I walked past the clearance shelves and saw this. It was my only option and it was $1.99. Yes way! The violet was $8.99. And, since they sell Punky Colour on Amphigory, the same place Stargirl used to get her Special Effects hair color, I figured Punky would produce better results than Manic Panic.

Speaking of Manic Panic, my Purple Haze hair dye washed out after about two weeks. A month later, there was a hint of reddish near my roots (that is where my hair lightened the most) but the rest of my hair was brown. I wasn't entirely surprised. Since I hadn't bleached my hair, I knew I wouldn't get superb results or anything.

This time, I had the foresight to take before and after shots.

The process:

I used Sun-In pretty liberally on Wednesday and Thursday, just to lighten my hair a tad more. This morning I showered and washed my hair with a Suave shampoo. I washed it three times for extra good stripping. My hair felt pretty awful after the 3rd wash which I took to be a good thing.

I pinned up my hair and started in the back. And, right about now I started missing Anne Marie. Because, golly, dying your hair is SO much easier when your friend does it for you. You can't just massage it in like store dyes. The cream is too thick for that. I started out using a tinting brush which was great for getting the roots, but then just started picking up globs to do the ends.

The instructions tell you to comb through your hair, but that was so impossible! Because all the oils were stripped out of my hair and because the thick gloopy dye was in it, coming out tangles was super difficult. I reverted to my brush.

Eventually, I got all my hair saturated and brushed through and then I popped on a shower cap and cleaned up. (100% acetone, by the way, works great for getting blue dye off hands, bathroom vanities, face, etc. I don't know if it was the best decision to put 100% acetone on my face, but it worked.)

I left the dye in from around 11am to 5pm. Much longer than the recommended 10 to 60 minutes. I really wanted it to stick.

The results:

After photos taken later in the day, so the sun wasn't as bright.

After I finished blow drying, the first thing I did was show Mike. He thinks it's cool. :)

I like it too. Dying hair is fun! Okay, no. Dying hair is NOT fun. 

Having dyed hair is fun!!

And I'm hoping the blue sticks around longer than the purple. I won't be particularly surprised if it doesn't, as my hair isn't particularly porous. And it won't be super disappointing if it doesn't, as the dye was so cheap.

Anyway, what do you all thing about the blue?