Dying hair with Kool Aid

[gogirlanime]

So I would like to dye my hair with Kool Aid like this http://www.wikihow.com/Dye-Hair-With-Kool-Aid But does anyone know, does it damage your hair like conventional hair dyes? Also, about how long does it usually last?

Got my results!!

Before
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/gogirlanime/kool_aid_before.jpg

After
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/gogirlanime/kool_aid_after.jpg

[whitestiletto]

No it doesn't damage. It's a stain that sits on top of the hair without changing the shape of the strand. Whereas chemical dyes open the hair up and go inside it to remove molecules, causing the rough texture.

[gogirlanime]

Thank you so much!

[Seharia]

I haven't tried it personally but a friend of mine did. The stain was quit vibrant (it was the red kool-aid and she had light brown hair) it stayed for a couple of months on her hair but if your hair is very porous it might stay for a lot longer.
Good luck and if you do use kool aid please post pictures. I would love to see your results:)

[sarahbrownie]

Oh, you're bringing back my high school days. My hair was way too dark for it but all my friends with light colored hair did it all the time. I can recall the blue dye doing a pretty good job. She'd also suck on her hair (gross, I know) to taste the kool aid.

[gogirlanime]

Oh, you're bringing back my high school days. My hair was way too dark for it but all my friends with light colored hair did it all the time. I can recall the blue dye doing a pretty good job. She'd also suck on her hair (gross, I know) to taste the kool aid.

haha that's funny about sucking her hair, I can't wait to smell cherry in my hair! I know my boyfriend will go nuts about that :) My hair is a dark brown but according to the article because I have previously dyed it, it should soak in much better (I guess one plus to damaged hair) I'm also using cherry which according to the article again has the strongest color out of all of the kool aids. I think it will last up to a month on my hair. I'm doing it tonight so I'll post pictures of my hair dry tomorrow night about 26 hours from now

[snakewitch]

I should have done this before I hennaed... *sucks on hair* It doesn't taste good, like kool aid would...

My friend did this with grape kool aid. She left it in so long she had to wear a wig to school, and it barely had any color in it afterwards, except her scalp. It looked silly but she made it work.

Maybe it was just the fact that it was grape though.

[DARKMARTIAN]

Wow....it never occurred to me that hair could be dyed with Kool-aid. But why not eh? I mean ive never dyed my hair with it, but ive inadvertently dyed countless other things with it. :p

[McFearless]

I dye my yarn with kool aid and it lasts a lifetime so why not hair? My blonde friend would always use fruit punch kool aid to get red bangs. They'd fade to pink within 2 days and be gone by a week. Very temporary but very cute.

[ouseljay]

I'm so tempted to try this but I've heard everything from it comes out in one wash or the rain, to it'll stay for months and months. And that it often fades to weird colors. I had brown haired friends in school who did it, but it didn't show well and I can't remember how long it stuck around.

[cheetahfast]

It doesn't hurt your hair at all. I did it once in middle school with my best friend. It lasted about two weeks for me and a month for her (she had natural platinum blonde hair). We used the red it faded really pretty and totally came out.

[gogirlanime]

I realized afterward that I didn't take a before picture, so here is one of me tryin to be cute/fashion model lol (the before picture)

Before
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/gogirlanime/kool_aid_before.jpg

After
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/gogirlanime/kool_aid_after.jpg

If you look carefully the red-est parts are where my hair is the most porous due to me using a flat-iron on it and bleaching it so much a few years back :( (so I guess there is one plus side to damaged hair, more kool aid absorbs! :shrug:) Then the more orange-red is the less-damaged or virgin hair so it didn't absorb the color as much but still made it red

I'm VERY happy with the results, I was afraid it wouldn't show up at all, my hair is quite red, but not too red, it still looks natural because I did 1/2 orange kool aid and 1/2 cherry kool aid to get a red orange color. I really like how it kinda has natural streaks to it. My roots are a brown/orange and then the middle is a orange and the tips a red.

What I did
I mixed 6 orange kool aid packets and 6 cherry kool aid packets into a splash of water (about 1 or 1 1/2 teaspoons) till I got a very thick paste then added about 3/4 to one cup of thick conditioner (I used Organix's Brazilian Keratin conditioner) this was for my hair at ii / iii thickness and 18 1/2 inches long, that was enough to cover all my hair, if you have more hair, you'll need to make more, just keep the ratio the same. Then I put petroleum jelly around my hairline and all over my ears to keep it from staining my skin. Be careful because I ruined two of my towels, make sure to cover anything light (like as in close to white) in your bathroom and wear all black clothes and dry your hair with dark towels all the time (even with every wash after the dying until the dye is completely out because I just washed my hair and ruined a light towel) I then put on some disposable gloves and applied it to my hair. I've always been messy with hair dye I just kinda goop it in and swivel and smear it around. I don't really party my hair haha. Then bun your hair well and seran / plastic wrap your whole hair and hairline covering all your hair and do it well. I then took extra precaution and put on a disposable shower cap and then a dark towel over my pillow. Sleep with it all in your hair over night. The link I figured this out from suggests that you wash your hair in the morning. I washed my hair before and didn't condition it because I knew the dye mixture would for 8 hours at night (my hair was super soft but sliiiiiiiightly sticky because of the kool aid, but nothing major, it was totally workable all day). I didn't wash mine with shampoo I just rinsed it because with every wash it fades quite a bit as I hear so I wanna make it last, I am washing my hair every 3-4 days. Lemme know if you have any questions :)

[Scarlet_Heart]

Wow! Pretty neat! I once tried to use fruit punch Crystal Light to dye my hair. It left some red streaks in my hair but they washed out in a day.

[gogirlanime]

Wow! Pretty neat! I once tried to use fruit punch Crystal Light to dye my hair. It left some red streaks in my hair but they washed out in a day.
that's too bad that it washed out in one day my guess is either because you didn't let it soak long enough or the color of crystal light, the dyes, aren't strong enough to stain your hair

[Scarlet_Heart]

that's too bad that it washed out in one day my guess is either because you didn't let it soak long enough or the color of crystal light, the dyes, aren't strong enough to stain your hair

Yea, I didn't let it sit for very long because it was making a mess. I also didn't look up any directions or anything, I just mixed it with a little water and dumped it on my head. Ahh... college.

[Anje]

Grape definitely didn't work for me when I tried it.

[Intransigentia]

My brother, until his mid-teens, had baby-fine transparent-blond hair. He dyed it with green kool-aid, and it was there until he cut it off. A kid on the playground asked him if he had a hair infection.

[Coffeebug]

Oh wow that's come out really pretty!!

[SC]

My friend had dark hair and he used some purple shaded Kool Aid and it was great, violet tint was very clear and he also told that it smelled nice. When I tried this (with many methods) I couldn't get any tint, only that smell.

[Vanilla Mint]

If you're going to do this, I'd really suggest dissolving the powder in the tiniest bit of hot water first. When I skipped this step and just added conditioner, I got messy clumps and globs that stained the heck out of my bathroom sink. As for damage? Kool-aid won't do that. It'll just stain your skin, and just about everything else!

[Vanilla Mint]

Silly me! Looks like you already did it. Your results are really impressive!!

[MagicAndMayhem]

Wow you got such a great color with that! Is it still holding up nicely?

[gogirlanime]

Wow you got such a great color with that! Is it still holding up nicely?

The non-damaged hair has lost about 1/2 of it's color but still holding up pretty well, I say I'm going to have to do this once every 10-11 days to truly keep the color. The damaged ends have the same color.

[Laurenji]

This is kind of funny, actually. Back in the day, I found LHC because I was wanting to dye my hair with Kool-aid and wanted some tips on how to do it. The threads I found here on LHC convinced me not to do it. I don't remember where the actual thread was, but a lot of people were saying that the color faded really weird, and their hair was still a different texture after dying it, even though it supposedly doesn't damage it.

EDA: I'm glad it turned out good on your hair, though!

[dmarie16]

Wow! Ironically I just posted jokingly in the henna thread that I was trying to get a dark black/plum color with henna/indigo/grape juice mix and if it didn't work I would add grape kool-aid to my next batch :idea::D:idea:!

[CrisDee]

The daughter of a friend of mine dyed her hair with Kool-Aid years ago - red - and it did NOT come out. Her natural color was a light brown, I was really surprised that it lasted as long as it did.

[ilovelonghair]

A kid on the playground asked him if he had a hair infection.

:D:D:D a hair infection!!!! LOL

Is it always greens, reds or blues? Or can you also turn hair another color of you mix different cool-aids? I am looking for something to temporarily turn my hennaed hair brown (to see if I like it) without damage.

[October]

I really want to do some Kool Aid highlights on the underside. I don't think it'd work in my dark hair, though. I guess I could always give it a shot though, I do have tons of Kool Aid in my house since my 4 year old loves the stuff (they go through a whole 2 quart in 24 hours).

[gogirlanime]

An update, I have to dye my hair every week in order to keep my roots red. My damaged ends never fade because they are porous and damaged from conventional hair dye. My hair does not feel any different, I do not think it is damaging my hair at all. My tip, the link I posted suggests not putting it directly on your scalp for a reason. I did that once and it made my scalp itch like CRAZY, I think when you concentrate a lot of kool aid together it causes a skin reaction. So now I am careful to get only the roots as much as possible. Either way, using cheap dollar store conditioner and kool aid once a week is still cheaper, a cooler color, and healthier for my hair each month over a boxed hair dye like Revlon :mad: YUCK! Never again!!

[Laurenji]

Oooo, can you post some pictures of what it looks like? I'm really curious.

[Khiwanean]

:D:D:D a hair infection!!!! LOL

Is it always greens, reds or blues? Or can you also turn hair another color of you mix different cool-aids? I am looking for something to temporarily turn my hennaed hair brown (to see if I like it) without damage.
I'm thinking green over the henna red would get you some sort of brown, but definitely strand test first.

[dainaleeo2]

I'm thinking green over the henna red would get you some sort of brown, but definitely strand test first.

I'm wondering about this as well. More to get an ashy color, since mine is a bit brassy right now. Maybe putting blue or purple would negate this? Though, if it doesn't...I'd have to wonder if I want to graduate college with blue hair XD
Weirder things have happened, though, I'm sure.

[Khiwanean]

I'm wondering about this as well. More to get an ashy color, since mine is a bit brassy right now. Maybe putting blue or purple would negate this? Though, if it doesn't...I'd have to wonder if I want to graduate college with blue hair XD
Weirder things have happened, though, I'm sure.I imagine that should work. Purple if the brassiness is oranger or blue if it's more yellow. You'd probably want to make it fairly dilute though to avoid ending up going too blue/purple. I haven't tried though, so you have to take that suggestion with a grain of salt. :shrug:

[dainaleeo2]

I imagine that should work. Purple if the brassiness is oranger or blue if it's more yellow. You'd probably want to make it fairly dilute though to avoid ending up going too blue/purple. I haven't tried though, so you have to take that suggestion with a grain of salt. :shrug:

Purple it is then, since my hair has taken on more of a gold tone that is entirely not flattering to my yellow-cool skin tone.
I don't know if adding it to my shampoo would do anything, though. I have 2 different purple based shampoos & they haven't done anything. That seems to be the most common way people all over the internet have used it. So I think I would need to do a more direct version.

I wonder if this would interfere with coloring though...hm. I plan on lightening, as to slowly return back to my blonde color, so if this is going to hinder that or produce any strange results, I may hold off. I don't know if I'm brave enough to attempt haha.

[gogirlanime]

I made this for you in photoshop, I overlaid Kool-Aid colors so you could see

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/gogirlanime/brassy_kool_aid.jpg

[catamonica]

Who would have ever thought to use Kool Aid. The color is beautiful.

[barely.there]

This thread makes me want kool-aid. its a little hot today!!

[earthnut]

I dye yarn with kool aid (and other food coloring) all the time. Artificial food colorings are acid dyes. With heat and acid, food colorings are permanent on protein fibers (like hair and wool). Kool aid already contains acid in the powder. If you don't add heat to kool aid, it's temporary on protein fibers. If you use hot water, your dyeing will be more permanent.

On cotton and other fibers, it is temporary, it will wash out and fade over time. Something alkaline like baking soda will help strip off the color.

On wool, I use equal parts Orange and Grape to get a nice warm brown, equal parts Lemon Lime and Grape to get an ashy brown, and equal parts Lemon Lime, Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, and Grape to get a neutral gray.

I have dark brown hair with a few silver hairs, and I've been thinking of dyeing my silver with a teal green kool aid concoction for a while. I may just do a lock to try it out. :D

[dainaleeo2]

@gogirlanime: nice! I love the overlay pictures! It gives a nice idea, at least on that color of hair. My hair color is a bit like that but a tad lighter, so that was really helpful. I'm totally using that as a reference now haha.

@earthnut: the grey/silver sounds very cool! I love that blonde that is almost grey, a la Lady Gaga in some of her wigs. It's beautiful! I may use your concoction to attempt to get that grey. I wonder if using it over slightly warmer, light gold brown/dark blonde would result in a very ashy color. I adore ash shades, & grey, but not so much anything green haha. So no green tint for me. I may do it though just to see! :)

[gogirlanime]

@gogirlanime: nice! I love the overlay pictures! It gives a nice idea, at least on that color of hair. My hair color is a bit like that but a tad lighter, so that was really helpful. I'm totally using that as a reference now haha.


Thank you girl!! Yeah, just be careful the lighter your hair the more it's going to turn out like the actual color of the Kool-Aid I made another post about it with pictures for blondes here: Want to Trial / Test a new Hair Color For 7 Days? Try Kool-Aid! (PIC HEAVY) (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=93128)

[dainaleeo2]

Thanks!
Well, it's not that light of a blonde at all. I would call it a mix between a dark blonde & very light brown, with gold undertones. It's not light enough to show the color intensely as it would on a lighter blonde, like a platinum. My hair is about a level 6-7. So I think I'll be ok :)

I went out & got 4 packets, since I couldn't remember which colors. I have grape, lemon lime, & ice blue raspberry. I'm nervous but excited! :)

[dainaleeo2]

I mixed up the purple, blue raspberry, & lemon lime...the result is a dark teal-ish color, so I'm semi nervous. But I think I'm still going to try it. At the very least I can just wash it out if it turns out to green X3

Oh, when you were rinsing it out (to those that have done this method), is it almost like dye where you just rinse with water & not shampoo? I don't want to strip too much color too soon. I just don't want it to be that sticky either. I bought the unsweetened version but still.

[edit]
Oh geeze. Should have worn gloves!! My hands are greeeeen. It's like I'm turning into the Hulk XD I would suggest wearing gloves or something to protect the hands! Bah! But the mixture turned out pretty green...I'm not going to leave it in too long, since I don't want it to tint my hair that color too much. I should have just used blue or purple.

[earthnut]

I've never had a problem rinsing unsweetened kool aid with just water.

Too bad it turned out too green! The gray dye does look green-gray when in liquid form. When it bonds to a protein fiber it's gray though IME. When a kool aid mix looks gray in liquid form, it's a purple-gray on the fiber. Gray is a tricky color because if it's just a little off the eye picks it up.

Baking soda will help remove the kool aid from your hands and hair.

[gogirlanime]

Two things

Cheap Kool-Aid
Now is the perfect time to try out Kool-Aid there are some coupons floating around buy 10 get 5 free (you can buy some on Ebay (click) (http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4012.m570.l1313&_nkw=kool-aid+coupon&_sacat=See-All-Categories)) I bought mine at Winco they sell them 10/$1 and my Walmart sells them for 6/$1 check prices I'm sure you can find places where they sell Kool-Aid cheap. I just bought 20 coupons so I can get 300 packets for $20 that's the cheapest hair dye eva!!

Ascorbic Acid in Kool-Aid
I totally forgot that Kool-Aid has ascorbic acid in it which is great for removing hard water build up. So not only does it dye your hair it helps to clarify it too!

[Messyhair]

Wow, when I used to dye my hair with Kool-aid in high school, the colour would wash out next time I shampooed. I didn't read up on how you're doing it, but it must be a different method!

[gogirlanime]

How did you used to do it?