I’ve wanted to try rainbow hair for a while but had been intimidated to go for it. When a friend independently suggested it for my next hair project I was like, yes! I’m in! I really like looks of either the underneath of hair or the tips such that from the front I just look like my natural (well, highlighted) blonde. I achieved this look such that the top of my hair remained blond and the underneath was a vibrant rainbow. To achieve this look I first separated the blond hair I didn’t want dyed by pulling it into a bun on the top of my head. Next I separated each of the six sections for my rainbow by using hair elastics to make six mini ponytails. Since I was doing this solo, this is the best way I could think of to separate the colors so they didn’t get mixed/muddied. Since I was doing the underneath of my hair I wasn’t too concerned about missing the root section when the hair elastics were sitting since that area wouldn’t be very visible anyway.
From trial and error in the past, I’ve learned that my level of blond is not blond enough for pastels. Rather than bleaching it first, I mixed pastels with more vibrant colors for a semi-pastel (and slightly longer lasting look). The overtone colors I used for my rainbow were: pink (pastel pink mixed with a touch of vibrant magenta), peach (ginger mixed with rosegold), yellow (my natural blond), green (pastel green deep treatment), blue (pastel blue mixed with vibrant teal), and purple (pastel purple mixed with vibrant purple). To summarize, I used a bunch of the sample sizes of vibrant colors mixed with their corresponding pastels.
As you can see in the above video, my strategy was to saturate each ponytail strand with it’s respective color after mixing those custom colors. I used gloves to avoid staining my hands and a shirt I didn’t mind staining. The overtone process is very easy. Simply saturate with each coloring conditioner, wait for 15 minutes, and then rinse with warm water. And voila! Vibrant color. I love how the rainbow looks on my hair straight, curled, or braided. A fun and unexpected pop of color from every angle.
I love how my hair turned out! But be aware that anything pastel or semi-pastel will lose some of it’s vibrance after one or two hair washes and be almost completely gone not long after that. To make your look last longer, wash you hair less often and only was with cold water. To fresh look, repeat coloring conditioner process. These products are considered semi-permanent but without refreshing the color regularly I find the color lasts a few weeks at most for me if not just a week or so with washing. Darker/more vibrant or staining colors tend to last longer but I just love the beauty of lighter/pastel colors. And I don’t mind stunning but fleeting beauty, so rainbow hair was a fabulous look for me if only for a little while.
Also, if you liked my Empathy is Sexy shirt, it was created by a very talented friend from college who started her own fashion line: Dash of Pep. I’m not sponsored or affiliated in any way but I love her products. I think they are whimsical, humorous, and exactly the kind of self-love we all need after surviving a pandemic.
Millennial's Delight 
2 thoughts on “Rainbow Hair”