Glamour hair redux! — 21st Century Housewife

So the sunny girl has wanted to experiment with coloring her hair for quite some time, but I have been somewhat resistant. Mostly it's because I think her hair is lovely already -- so why mess with perfection? But also I have to admit that I have a wide streak of "I hate change" running through me. For the sunny girl, her balky mother has been -- let's call me a frustration.

So she and I were both thrilled when we saw this description of "hair chalking." It seemed like the perfect solution: the sunny girl could experiment with some fun and funky hair colors, and I could breathe easier because the color is quite temporary.

tangent: I know, I know. Ultimately all hair coloring is "temporary," and I should just get over my bad self. Baby steps, people. I would still dress her in seersucker pinafores if she would let me.

Well, we followed the instructions (the video at the bottom of the post is excellently clear and helpful), and got some good tips from a Facebook friend (hi, Eryn!). Here's how the experiment went.

We bought a set of artist's pastel chalks from Michael's -- very cheap: five dollars for the whole collection. If you decide to try this, make sure you are getting chalk pastels and not oil pastels.

The sunny girl picked four colors, and after washing her hair, sat down in front of the computer so we could watch movies while the experiment was underway.

After putting some red in her hair, I used the purple chalk, then the blue, then the green.

Here's what it looked like after I was finished coloring the hair, but before it dried. The instructions said that we should wait for the hair to dry completely, then "set" the color with the heat of a straightening iron or a curling iron.

And here's how it looked after I curled it. Ignore my messy desk.

So -- my analysis:

1. I think it looked pretty good; if she wants to try it again, I think I will use smaller sections of hair, and a curling iron with a smaller barrel. These curls look a little bit like bossy Susan's "boing-boing" curls from Ramona the Pest.

2. Though the instructions say that you can brush your hair after the color has set, this is not true. It was clear almost immediately that brushing the hair would remove most of the color. So the sunny girl just left it alone.

3. The chalk is heavy, and makes you feel like you have stuff in your hair, probably because you do have stuff in your hair. Also, it is very drying; a good leave-in conditioner might be the way to combat this. We later found a commercial product on-line -- Hair Flairs Color Rub -- that promises to be less damaging. Maybe this is the answer? It does cost more . . . . And ultimately, a lot of the chalk ended up on the sunny girl's pillow. If you want this look for a fun night out, it would probably be best to work your hair glamour magic on the day of the event.

So -- if you are thinking about trying this, go for it! The sunny girl and I had a lot of fun, and I lost a lot of my hair color fear. When all is said and done, this is an easy, inexpensive, and sassy way to jazz up your hair!