Braid Dying

It was time to dye my hair pink again and I wanted to try something different.

I found this method of braiding your hair and then dying the braids.  Seemed like a fun idea and a much easier way to dye long hair (which you can see, I have).


*I'm wearing glasses just because I always feel awkward taking pictures of myself.  That's also why I usually don't smile in these pictures.  And I look cool.

** Thanks to my husband for helping me with dying my hair and photographing it at 1 in the morning.

Here are some things that will make this easier.

• Hair Dye of choice (since directions will vary, go with your directions over what I say to do) *My Hair Dye
• Rubber Gloves (Dye kits come with these, but it is nice to have extra)
• Little Hair Binders
• Comb
• Dying Towel (as you can see mine has seen multiple dyes)
• Wash Cloth
• Vaseline  (not pictured)

Be careful where you dye your hair.  I usually do it in the bathroom, but I wanted to try to get some nicer pictures of doing this so I did it in the living room.  I put an old towel down on the floor and wasn't concerned about the chair I was using.  If you are not familiar with hair dye, it WILL stain everything (well, not everything, but most things).

*A little about the dye I used.

This is a dye I have used before, so I know I will not have an allergic reaction to it.  This dye is one that will show up on dark hair which is why I like it.  In the end results you can see it is brighter on top of my head.  I believe that is because back in January I dyed all of my hair a bright red and I think the dye stuck the best to new hair that had grown out since then.

To start out, part your hair as you normally would.  Comb it out and braid it.  I wasn't sure what I wanted or what would happen, so I did braids of varying sizes.  After having done it, I think I would have done more smaller braids than bigger ones.

I ended up with 10 braids total.

If you have a friend to help, it will make this step go much faster.

( Kind of looks like my head is bleeding. )

Wrap your dying towel around your shoulders.  Also, wear clothes that can be taken off with a zipper or buttons.  It will not be good if you have to pull a shirt over your head once all the dye is in your hair.  I usually don't get any dye on my clothes because of the towel, but I always wear clothes that I don't care if they were to get dyed.

Start at the top of the braids and dye a section or two from each braid.  (I had extra dye and ended up adding more in after dying the braids).  Don't neglect around your hairline!  I made sure to have dye put there so if I wore my hair up, you would still see pink around it.

Now, using your gloved hands, dye all of the braids, front and back.  Saturate them the best you can.  If you have a more liquidy dye, carefully spray it on the braids while cupping your hand under it and rub it in.

Let the dye sit as long as directed.

Wash out the dye as directed.

From the front on the left of the photo, you can see where I had the smallest braid and it resulted in the most pink showing.  From the back, where I had the thicker braids, you can see much more of my normal hair color coming through. 

You get odd results, but I think I would try this again with lots of small braids.