Food Colouring As Hair Dye

[Dragon]

Has any one tried it? How did it turn out and how long did it last?

[christine1989]

I've never tried it but I immagine it would only work on blonde hair and would likely fade pretty quickly. My fear woyld be that it would not come out 100%.

[Juneii]

probably as effective as KoolAid dye. It will wash out fairly quickly and stain everything and not exactly go away. You also need light colored hair - obviously, as dark hair doesn't show any color you put on it.

[Dragon]

Thanks for all your replies. I guess it doesn’t sound like a good idea.

[silversnow]

I've tried it. I wouldn't recommend it at all, since the color runs whenever wet...from rain, sweat, etc.

[monsterna]

I know someone who's done that and... it doesn't look very good at all. I wouldn't recommend that.

[LaurieKeren]

I use kool aid/food coloring to dye yarn all the time, so I know it dyes protein fibers very effectively.

Transferring that effect to human hair has a couple of problems. First, (and this has already been pointed out) you need light blond or bleached hair for it to show up at all. Second, it needs to be heat set if you want the colors to be vibrant and permanent. When I dye yarn, I keep the temperature round 170 degrees F until all the dye is absorbed. When the hair is still attached to the head, that is way too hot (obviously, lol!).

[Nae]

Oh my, when I was in high school one of my girlfriends tried it. She had bleached the heck out of her dark blonde hair so that she was a platinum blonde. It was short, in a asymetrical bob so the damage wasn't too bad.

She decided that she wanted to have blue hair so she got out the food color. On her blonde hair it came out a bit weird to be honest. She seemed to focus it on her ends so it was mainly blue there but she didn't get enough on her roots so it kinda faded into a weird green color with platinum roots (untill the dark blonde started to grow back in.) It was a sight I will never forget.

Blue fading into green fading into pale yellow, her mother nearly died. That and she seemed to drip color whenever it got wet outside. So I am going to say that it probably isn't the greatest idea.

[Dragon]

Thanks for all your replies :) I defiantly wont try that now.

[CharleaMurphy]

It works better the lighter your hair, and rinses out almost immediately

However, if you mix it with vinegar and heat it up it works permanently, or so I saw on a youtube video
She did it with just water and it was a light pink, but when she used vinegar it was a vivid red