Carry on Beautiful!

I’ve been dying my hair various bright and fun colours for around 3 years now and though I absolutely adore it, there are some ups and downs to doing it. I was super nervous the first few times I bleached and dyed it, so I thought I’d put together a little list of the pros and cons for anyone considering a fun colour for the first time! Lets start with the best things.

Pro: It looks cool!

Obviously this is personal opinion, but if you’re considering dying your hair any colour at all its probably for this reason. I’ve had blue hair for a while now and I just love how it looks, I feel like even the most simple of outfits look a bit more fun because having my hair blue is almost like an extra accessory that I don’t have to remember to put on.

Pro: Its fun!

Whether you’re doing it alone or with friends, dying your hair is a super fun, though nerve wracking, experience. If you go to a salon it’ll be a completely different experience than doing it at home like I do but its still super fun I’m sure. You have this idea in your head of how its going to look and after washing and dying and waiting and washing and drying you finally get to see it and (hopefully!) love it. I’ve not yet had a bad experience so theres nothing I love more than looking in the mirror after drying it and seeing that its come out perfectly.

Pro: The Compliments!

I’ve had so many compliments on my hair since dying it, even when it hasn’t turned out the way I wanted it to. I’ve always gotten compliments on my hair because it used to be so long but I get so much more with having it coloured. Everyone from kids to pensioners have told me they love it or wish they had the guts to do it, to which I always tell them they should just do it!

Pro: Its not as expensive as people think!

I very rarely have money spare, but luckily enough dying your hair doesn’t have to be pricey. Going to the salon might be, but for me I bleach my hair maybe once a year leaving plenty of roots because I like that look and it means I don’t have to bleach it often which costs less than £10. I then dye it blue using Superdrugs own brand of dye which is £5 for a huge bottle. I only re-dye every month or so and if I mix in conditioner to it one bottle can last for two dyes. It really doesn’t have to cost the earth!

Con: It gets everywhere.

I use semi-permanent dye so its not as bad for me as those who use permanent since it does eventually wash off but boy does it take its time. For a good week after I dye it my bath, hands, neck, forehead, towels, pillowcases and boyfriend all also get dyed blue. The ends of my nails are permanently blue from playing with my hair while its damp or wet. If I’m out and get rained on, the back of whatever I’m wearing gets blue. Its a bit of a nightmare honestly, one that I find fully worth it but a nightmare all the same.

Con: People think it means they can talk to you.

I get this with my tattoos too, those who aren’t a fan seem to think its a sign saying “Please, come and tell me your opinion!”. Its not an invitation, you’re making me anxious, don’t do this. Like, I’m not going to change it because 47 year old Jerry from Old Swan doesn’t like it, leave me alone.

Con: It can end up looking can of gross.

Even permanent dyes fade at some point and it can look a bit weird and icky right before its dyed again. I end up with streaks of dark and light blue and green when I need to dye it soon and though its not awful, I definitely don’t love it.

Con: You will probably need to bleach your hair.

Unless you have fairly light blonde hair, you will most probably need to bleach it so that the dye shows up and we all know that can really damage your hair. I’m lucky enough to have hair thats light enough to bleach once to take it to almost white, but if you have darker hair especially you may need to bleach more than once and its definitely something you should really think about before doing since it is permanent and can cause long term damage.

Let me know your thoughts on coloured hair in the comments! Do you have it or want it? Do you have any more pros or cons?

-Dana