I have always been a huge hair dye fanatic. This is a fascination that started a long time ago and was once reserved for a specific group of people (some call them punks, scenesters, emo kids, crazy kids, alternatives, whatever) but recently hair dying has gone mainstream. I've had
pink,
purple,
blue and
green hair streaks at various times during my 23 years on earth. The problem most often run into for me, as someone who has naturally dark hair, is that in order to use an unnatural color in my hair, I have to bleach it which ultimately severely damages the hair, and then adding the semi-permanent dye on top of it damages it even further. It is also difficult to find hair dyes that are temporary that aren't gross and sticky, like the spray ones in a bottle or that weird gel that makes your hair spikey. And if it isn't temporary and sticky, it's semi-permanent which is a big commitment to make when you're dying your hair blue or green. So, naturally, I was enthused when I discovered hair chalking, and even more so when I found out it worked on all hair colors and types as well! So last week I went to Michael's and purchased a small pack of soft pastels, just to experiment with. Ultimately I'd like to use brighter colors like teals, pinks, like purple and aqua green, but the basic primary colors worked for my experiment at least. So for the basics, I'll run through the steps to effectively chalking your hair.
Step 1:
Purchase soft pastel chalk from an art supply store, or for more unique colors you can find some on etsy. It is important not to mistakenly buy oil pastels because those are very messy and will last much longer than you would probably like.
Step 2:
Select a small strand of hair that you want to chalk, and wet it. I did mine right after I got out of the shower but I have read that people use a little misty bottle of water to wet the hair also. I am not a blonde, but perhaps if you are a blonde reading this, I have also seen that blondes should refrain from wetting their hair first UNLESS they wan't it to last longer than one shampoo.
Step 3:
Wet the chalk also, and then rub it in one downward motion on your hair. It's important to go in one direction because it will get super tangled if you don't. You can also first use white chalk, with the color on top if you have dark hair so that it will stand out more.
Step 4:
Use a hair straightener or curling iron to seal the color in. You can also use hairspray.
~Voila~
That's really all there is too it. And now for the pro's and con's:
Pros:- It is only temporary so if you have a job that has a strict dress code, you can still chalk your hair on days that you aren't working without fear of losing your job!
- You can change the colors as often as you want without having to commit to one single color for 3 - 4 months. This is a particularly good point for us indecisive Libras
- There is minimal damage done to your hair from chalking. It will dry your hair out but if you use a moisturizing conditioner and take breaks between chalking you're good to go.
- No bleaching required! All hair colors and types can chalk.
- Much wider variety of colors and styles are achievable with the use of chalk.
Cons:
- Even though it isn't bleach, this stuff is really messy. I didn't use gloves and it washes right off of your hands with soap, but it ended up on my face and would probably get on your clothes too if you weren't careful. It does wash right away with water but someone with long hair doesn't want to get chalk everywhere by the end of the day.
- The texture of the chalk in your hair feels icky. It's just dry and blegh and doesn't feel nice and smooth like your normal hair. This is just a sensory thing but for me it was not pleasant because I love playing with my hair.
Those are really all of the con's I can think of. There aren't many and it is definitely an upgrade from bleaching and semi-permanently dying your hair! I'm going to experiment a few more times with my hair straight and with different colors! Happy Chalking!