How To Dye Your Hair Hot Pink at Home

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So it’s pretty obvious that I dyed my hair hot pink, I mean… you can’t miss it. I’ve gotten a ton of questions, the main ones being, “did you do it yourself?” and “was it hard to get to that color?” and the answers are: yes, and no! Respectively. Here’s hoping I can teach YOU how to dye your hair hot pink without too many mishaps!

First off, though,I should clarify: I am not a professional, and only know how this works on hair similar to mine with yellow/red undertones. I had some leftover dark brown dye towards the end of my hair, though I am not sure how much; it has been a year (almost exactly!) since I dyed my hair, and I had it chopped between dyeing as well.

The technical things about my hair: I have thick, smooth, and slightly wavy but mostly straight hair that is 1-2 levels above black naturally, is pretty healthy, and not brittle or fine. I’ve never had issues with it breaking, falling out, or anything like that.

And, for those of you curious: the total cost of dyeing my hair at home – including all the supplies, shampoo, conditioner, dye, mixing bowl, gloves, protective cap, etc, was about $60.

So let’s get started!

I used:

Manic Panic Hot Hot Pink dye – 2 tubs, but I almost would have liked to have three, just for stray bits!
AGEbeautiful Creme 30 volume developer – 2 bottles
AGEbeautiful Creme Lightener – 3-4 boxes
Biotera Moisturizing Shampoo and Biotera Color Care Conditioner
Reusable latex gloves
Plastic Shower Cap
Mixing bowl, applicator brush, whisk (here’s a bowl + comb + applicator brush set!)

I would advise you to purchase one more of the dye tubs and the creme lightener than you think you need. I originally purchased two tubs of Manic Panic and 1 bottle of developer + 3 boxes of creme lightener, but ended up having to run back for more of the bleach as I ran out. The Manic Panic only BARELY covered the entirety of my head, and it was fine… but it would have been nice to have just a little more for a better saturated color.

The developer and lightener need to be mixed at a 1-to-1 ratio, so 1 bottle of developer is, I think, 6oz, and the lightener was 2oz each.

If you get too many, you can always return them, or use them for touch ups later!

I highly recommend you have someone help you with this, ESPECIALLY with the bleaching! You’ll see why in a minute. I started out by sectioning my hair off by gathering the top of my hair up onto my head, and leaving the underneath layer down. I then sectioned that into two bits — left and right — and got right to it!

I mixed the Age Beautiful lightener with the 30 volume developer in a 1-to-1 ratio. It’s just a tad bit grainy, so it’s a good idea to have a whisk to mix that with the developer before application.

Then, using the applicator brush, I applied the bleach from tips-to-roots. It says not to apply to your scalp but uh… I did anyway. And it wasn’t painful. Now, I tried to do it all myself the first time, and not only did I run out, I also missed a HUGE spot in the back of my head. I had to shower out the bleach, run to the store, grab more, blow dry my hair (apply conditioner if this happens to you, it won’t interfere with the second bleaching), and have my husband help me reapply bleach on all the stuff I missed. Here’s the first and second bleachings:

As you can see, the first time didn’t look so great.

Total, I think I left the bleach on for about 2-1/2 hours. You need to just watch your hair, and when it gets to be about as light as you want it, let it sit for 5-10 minutes more, then shampoo it out. I could have gone longer if I had wanted to, but I really don’t want to kill my hair so 2-1/2 hours was enough. While my hair was processing, I covered it with a plastic cap and read a book, took care of kids, watched youtube, and all the things you do on a Sunday afternoon. It really didn’t feel like it took forever!

After my hair was sufficiently yellow, I started to apply the Manic Panic!

First things first, this stuff STAINS so apply some Vaseline around your hairline and on your ears, and make sure you’re in an area that is covered with towels or plastic because even if you’re super careful, you’ll probably drip. (however, my Mrs. Meyer’s cleaning spray took that stuff off with just a little soak. I’m impressed!)

I was much more careful to section off my hair and apply, and I’ll tell you a little trick: use your hands. I mean, I started out using the brush, but the further I got the more I was spreading my hair strands apart to make sure it was all saturated, and I ended up just using my (gloved) fingers to apply dye to my hair. It made it easier to really saturate every strand, and feel to make sure nothing was dry. I barely had to have my husband help me check for missed spots!

P.S. I have Snapchat, that I forget to use. Follow me, as with basically everywhere, @eccentricowl.

Again, once I was done applying the dye, I wrapped it all up in a bun on top of my head, and left it for about 1-1/2 hours while I wandered around the house feeling like an alien with a plastic cap on my head. You can leave it longer — I had read a comment on Amazon advising people to leave the dye for 3 or 4 hours, but… I am not patient.

And then, the moment of truth came. I rinsed it out (no shampoo!) VERY carefully (trying not to get it on my face) in the tub, directly under the faucet. The water was so magically pink, but man I was nervous. I’ve never bleached my hair at home, and the last time I tried to dye my hair pink it… didn’t… do anything. Then again, I didn’t bleach my hair that time.

But I was NOT disappointed because… well… you know.

This picture is 100% how bright it was the next day.

I cannot believe how easy it is to dye your hair a crazy color at home. But, here are a few tips for dyeing and maintenance:

Remember that the color will take on your undertones. So when you bleach your hair, if it’s still fairly yellow like mine was, your hair will either end up a bit more yellow/orange, OR it will FADE a bit more yellow/orange. I think if you try blue, go for a much lighter color than mine, as your blue might turn green over yellow hair.
Buy sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner to keep from breaking down your color!
The dye will stain your skin, your tub, your sink, your floor… etc. Unless you get it off RIGHT away, it will stain the crap out of all the things.
Be prepared to wash your hair with cold or cool water for as long as you want to maintain a bright color. Mine hasn’t faded too much, but I wash my hair with cold water, and I also have a little dye in my conditioner to help brighten the color.
You might have colorful fingernails every time you wash your hair, if you use the dye-in-conditioner trick. My nails are always slightly tinged pink for a day after I wash my hair.

A week after dyeing and having washed it for the first time; you can see I missed rinsing a spot of bleach in the front, but it looks pretty cool, right?

It’s recommended you don’t shampoo your hair for a week after dyeing it, so be ready for that!
HAVE SOMEONE HELP YOU. I cannot stress that enough! I never would have gotten an even bleach job if it weren’t for my husband.
Your pillowcase will turn the color you dye it. So, be prepared to wreck a pillowcase, buy white ones you can bleach, or get pillowcases the color of your hair.
Your hair will bleed a bit of color every time it’s washed, no matter what. This doesn’t stain anything, it’s just… you know, something you should be aware of.
If your hair grows fast or is dark, you’ll probably see roots after about 1-1/2 weeks or so. My roots are pretty apparent because my hair grows fast and I have dark hair. It’s been a little over 2 weeks, and I’m already thinking about touchup — but I probably won’t do that for another 2 weeks.
If you want eyebrows the same color as your hair, use makeup! I have used shadow and lipliner and eyeliner to match my brows to my hair, and people ALWAYS think that I dyed them. (but please don’t try dyeing your eyebrows unless you know what you’re doing, because… danger.)

Just a few days ago, 2 weeks after dyeing, having washed it twice. It hasn’t faded much. If anything, the ends where it was darker are just turning a more orange-pink color.

I think that’s it!

I cannot stress how AMAZING I feel with pink hair. The moment I saw that it had dyed the exact color the dye looked on my head, I actually danced and squealed. I felt like a superhero. It was a literal high seeing myself with this colorful hair! If you have been wanting a certain color for ages but haven’t done it for whatever reason, take it from me: JUST DO IT. You will feel like a million bucks.

Granted, be ready for some stares, but the response to this colorful hair has been overwhelmingly (and surprisingly) positive. Like, I go to a fairly conservative church and the amount of people who come up and tell me they love it is really surprising to me. Plus, little girls always stare and wave, which is great.

Got any questions? Ask away!

And, happy hair-dyeing!

How To Dye Your Hair Hot Pink at Home | Tutorial