I know this has been done a million times by others, but I have not seen someone with dry, curly hair do this. I am plain when it comes to my hair, and that is usually because of the texture. It is very dry, coarse, thick, frizzy, curly and unruly. Luckily, I have more or less learned how to tame the beast that is my hair. The craziest thing I have done to it, up to this point that is, is blonde highlights in 9th grade, which was 8 years ago. I figured that I might as well do something a little different and somewhat more wild (at least for me) while I am still young enough to get away with it. I have loved the look of colored tips since Lauren Conrad first did it. I dyed my hair a really dark brown, almost black, a little over a year ago, so I really could not do it. Now that my hair is back in its natural state, I thought "why not?" So I did a little research and headed to my local Michael's. I went with Artist's Loft soft pastels and got the 24 pack since it had the pretty, vibrant colors. It was $20, but I have been meaning to get more artistic. Plus you may be able to find a pack that has more colors for $6. A girl on Youtube did, but she must have gotten lucky. I got home and chose a pretty, bright blue. After washing my hair, my mom helped me apply the chalk on tips around my head. It took about 30 minutes and was a pretty messy process. Luckily, the soft pastels clean up very easily. The color will last for a couple of days, but starts to fade quickly. At first, I thought it was going to be a failure of epic proportions because my hair is so dry (I don't even use styling tools) and once styling product is in my hair, it freaks out when water touches it. And wet hair is crucial for the pigment to show up if you have dark hair. The color looked great, but the style did not. My mom ended up bringing out the curling iron, and that made a world of difference. My hair looked a million times better.What you will need and tips:
1.) Spray Bottle: wet hair makes the pigment show up and stick better, if you have blonde hair, this may not be necessary.
2.)Towel or cape: this is very messy. While the color wipes right up, this will just make clean up easier.
3.) Gloves to prevent you from having hands that are an unnatural color. Again, the pastels should come off your hands pretty easily.
4.) Curling Iron or Flat Iron. Besides making your hair look better, the heat helps set the color.
5.) Do not use oil pastels; they will be next to impossible to get out. And regular chalk just will not work.
5.) Apply in a downward motion. My mom and I learned this the hard way. Not only is this more gentle on hair strands, the color appears more smooth and bright.
6.) When you are ready to remove the color, brush out your hair first to remove most of the pigment. The rest should wash out and use a clarifying shampoo.
7.) After shampooing, use a deep conditioner or mask. The chalk will suck moisture out of your hair.
8.) Do not use any styling products soon after application, this will cause the color to fade faster. I did apply a bit of finishing cream hairspray the next morning, but it did not seem to hurt anything.
9.) Because it does take moisture out of your, and I can't imaging chalk being good for your hair, don't do this very often.
10.) Have fun :) This is a simple and commitment free way to add some color to your hair. Try different colors and designs.
I did get mixed reactions out of this. My mom, best friend and a few people at the mall really liked it. I liked it, too. My step-dad pretty much refused to look at me, talk to me and could not understand why I did it( he is a great guy, but everyone has their bad moments). My grandparents took the high road and ignored it, but did not treat me any differently. Or it is possible that they did not notice, lol. I posted the pics on Facebook, and nothing. Which I take to mean that people think I'm nuts. But then again, the only way to get the people I am friends with to notice anything is to be pregnant, get engaged or play one of the games. And none of the above are me, lol. Of course I know that this is not everyone's cup of tea, but I think ignoring someone is a bit harsh.
If anyone has tried this, I would like to hear about your results. Did you like it? What color(s) did you use? Would you do it again? Or if you have not tried it, is it something you are interested in or not?
