How I created a gradual pink dip-dye with Fudge Paintbox Pretty Flamingo

My pink dip-dye on my light brown hair.

For pretty much all my teenage life, I'd had long hair, and I love it. Now I don't know if it's because said teenage life is about to end with my 20th birthday this Sunday, but I've been feeling the need to do something different with my hair without chopping it off. So, I have gone WILD in a fit of crazy teenage rebellion and dip-dyed it pink. I know. I'm mad.

It's not exactly original these days, and I'm a bit late jumping on the coloured dip-dye bandwagon, but as far as I'm concerned there's nothing wrong with that. If everyone's doing something, it's obviously a fun thing to do. And as I sit here with my pink hair, I can concur that it is indeed fun. I LOVE HAVING PINK HAIR! And because my hair is so long it makes me feel a bit like a mermaid. Come on... Don't tell me you've never secretly (or in my case pretty openly) wanted to be a mermaid.

gradual pink dip-dye

However, the one common dip-dye look I really wanted to avoid was that of the straight line dip-dye (I believe that's its technical name.) What I mean is where the ends of your hair are one colour, then there's pretty much a straight line where the colour ends and meets the colour of the rest of your hair. It's a frequent occurrence in the dip-dye world, and not a great one, à mon avis. So I'm pretty pleased with the way mine has turned out.

After a lot of research, I chose Fudge Paintbox semi-permanent hair-dye in the shade Pretty Flamingo. There's a huge range of colours available, and they cost between £6-8 depending on where you buy. Depending on your hair type, Fudge Paintbox is apparently meant to last for between three and thirty washes. I find this a rather huge difference, so we shall have to wait and see. Although to be honest, my hair is so thin and by just doing the ends I won't need much dye, so even if I have to top it up frequently the tube should last me a while. Post dip-dye, I realised that I somehow made the colour more intense on one section of my hair, but to be honest, I don't think it matters that much with the gradual look.

So, in an impulsive mindset on a casual Sunday afternoon, locked in my bathroom, here's how I created my gradual dip-dye:

1. I wet the ends of my hair and towel-dried, then brushed it through and split the hair into two sections - one over each shoulder. I was wearing a towel to protect any of my clothes being pinkified (not that that would've been a bad thing really. Most of my clothes are pink already.)

2. I squirted a little bit of dye on to a plastic plate (you don't need much) and smeared some on to the tips of my hair using my hands, like I would with conditioner. You're meant to do this wearing gloves, but I didn't have any, and my fingers weren't stained pink for long afterwards frankly.

3. To make a colour gradation, I then added a little conditioner ton the pink dye on the plate and mixed it around with my fingers before smearing it on to my hair a little up from the tips.

4. I then repeated the last step a couple of times, adding more conditioner to dilute the dye as I went up my hair.

5. It's easy to get carried away and end up with more dip-dye than your natural hair colour, but when you've done as much as you want, STOP ADDING MORE! I then smoothed my fingers over the dip-dyed hair to ensure a well-blended colour.

6. To help the colour develop, I brought the hair together under my chin and scooped it up into a shower cap secured with a hair bobble. I then sat nervously like this for about 25 minutes. It was a great look. I repeat, this is why you lock the bathroom door.

7. After an anxious wait ("What are you doing you mental, girl!?" I asked myself), I rinsed my hair with warm water until the water ran clear. Then there's that awful moment when you can't tell how well your hair dying has gone until you dry it.

8. So dry your hair, brush it smooth and wear your dip-dye with pride!

feeling like a mermaid!

None of my family seems to like it (the madre wants me to chop it off so she doesn't have to look at it - charming eh? Back to uni I go...), but my friends do, and to be honest, the only opinion that matters is mine, and I LOVE it. And if you can't dye your hair pink when you're a student when can you?