Cupcake Pink

March 17, 2009 2:04 PM

How do I keep hot pink hair (dyed with Special Effects Cupcake Pink) from staining very light blonde hair?

I'm planning on dying the lower layers and tips of my professionally lightened and toned bangs bright pink. I'd like to keep the pink bits pink, and the blonde parts blonde, without the whole thing washing out to a pastel pink.

I've dyed my hair every color of the rainbow before (seriously, I had the actual ROYGBIV rainbow dyed into my hair), so I don't need the very basic advice that goes along with dying your hair unnatural colors like "use gloves" and "put vaseline on your forehead" and "don't use your heirloom snow white pillowcases." I've never maintained blonde hair at the same time, however, so I'd like some tips on how to keep the pink from bleeding and staining the blonde.

If you've ever used Manic Panic, Punky Color, Fudge, or Special Effects dye, you know that when you wash your hair, the water runs out pink/purple/blue/green/etc, and will stain towels and pillowcases and shirts, and will continue to do so until all the color has washed out and it's completely faded. I don't want it to stain my blonde hair, which is very porous and susceptible to dye as it's been bleached within an inch of it's life. I've thought of a few preventative measures, but I'd like more:

+Never use shampoo on my bangs. Wash the rest of my hair, and then condition my whole head.

+Cover the blonde bits with Vaseline or conditioner while I'm doing the dye job to protect them from accidentally dribbled dye. I'll be using clips to separate sections and foil to cover the pink bits as well.

Here is a link to the dye I shall be using.

Here is a gallery of photos of people who used this dye.

Here is a terribly Myspace-esque self-portrait of my hair as it currently stands, undyed.

posted by Juliet Banana to clothing, beauty, & fashion (12 comments total)

In high school (quite a while ago) I dyed parts my bleached blonde hair blue with manic panic dye. I never had a problem with the color bleeding onto the blonde. I don't think the dye is potent enough to stain your hair while you have the shower water running over it. If you rinse it well and dry it right away, I think you'll be more than fine.
posted by deadcrow at 2:32 PM on March 17

I have a blond streak in the front and found that there were certain dyes that would run into the blond and turn it pink when I was, um, enhancing the color of the rest of my hair.

What I did to prevent it from running was to make a little bun with my blond streak, wrap it up tight with a rubber band (the ones without the metal) and dye the rest of my hair, then rinse out the dye and wash the blond part separately (if at all). Maybe you could wrap up your bangs except for the part that you're dying pink?

Good luck - it's going to look really cool!
posted by suki at 2:59 PM on March 17

I've used this Cupcake Pink before. Despite that it is Special Effects dye (and thus, worth a good goddamn, unlike Manic Panic), it is not my experience that this particular color lasts very long. You probably know this.

When I used this dye, I had bleached out a huge portion of my normally dark hair (about one side of my head), and colored some pink streaks, some green streaks, some cherry streaks, some turquoise streaks, and some dark blue streaks -- all right next to one another. There was no noticeable bleeding of colors, even though they were right next to one another, and contrasted greatly. I did use shampoo, but not very often, and not very much.

With that said, I've usually done what suki has just mentioned.
posted by Coatlicue at 3:05 PM on March 17

Rinse your hair thoroughly when washing, there should be no issues with bleeding of colours. Staining requires sustained contact, a bit of colour running through your hair when you wash it wont cause your blonde to go pink, it would only stain if pink water was left in your hair, if you rinse until the water runs clear, you'll be fine.
posted by missmagenta at 3:23 PM on March 17

Staining requires sustained contact, a bit of colour running through your hair when you wash it wont cause your blonde to go pink, it would only stain if pink water was left in your hair, if you rinse until the water runs clear, you'll be fine. -MissMagenta


In my experience, it takes weeks of showering and washing hair for the water to run clear, and by then you have to redye anyway.
posted by Juliet Banana at 4:04 PM on March 17

Do you mean like Jes Rickleff's hair?

I've used Special Effects before (for red streaks) - and it washed clear the first time. The color probably lasted about 3 weeks, then it was a dull copper. Like you said, though, since yours is so porous, that might be the reason you always see some color washing out. I think you're doing everything right - maybe if you used a dry shampoo on the bangs, and protected them while in the shower?
posted by HopperFan at 4:43 PM on March 17

When I did two-tone hair (and three-tone and etc.) I would take the part I did not want dyed and wrap it up in a cheap plastic conditioning cap sealed off with those small hair rubber bands. Pretty much what Suki said.
posted by JoanArkham at 5:29 PM on March 17

Elumen professional color uses electrostatic charge to get the pigments into the cortex of the hair shaft, after two shampoos a fixing fluid locks the pigments in the hair. The pink in particular is very durable and lasts for months, words cannot convey the intensity of this shade.
posted by hortense at 6:02 PM on March 17

I had hot hot hot pink and dyed blonde hair once. And red and blonde.

It wasn't either of these two brands (I cannot remember what it was though) and I honestly didn't have a problem while shampooing. While doing the dye, sure, take all preventative measures, and maybe for the first wash. But none of my blonde bits were tainted with pink just from regular washing. Don't twist your hair into a towel and leave it too long -- maybe just scrunch and air/blow dry instead.
posted by barnone at 8:31 PM on March 17

Just a thought, but what if you used Atomic Pink instead, followed by a clarifying shampoo? Atomic Pink is much much more concentrated and is known for NEVER fading completely, even after the water runs clear. So using that color and then artificially fading it with clarifying shampoo might give you the effect you want.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:44 PM on March 17

Cover the blonde bits with Vaseline

Don't! I covered all my hair with vaseline when I was little, as a kind of science experiment. It took my mother (a chemistry professor) a week to find something that would get the vaseline out. We finally had to resort to paint thinner, which would, I imagine, not go so well with the dye. A little vaseline on the roots when you protect your forehead is probably not such a big deal, but covering an entire layer of hair with vaseline will not go well.
posted by hatsforbats at 6:45 PM on March 18 [1 favorite]

Miss Magenta, I apologize for contradicting you, and you were marked best answer because you were right. I must have been thinking of another brand of dye. You're correct; unlike Manic Panic et al, Special Effects dye does not bleed, which made this whole process a lot easier.

Suki, you got best answer as well because the little blonde bun worked out just fine. I left the hair elastic in until the pink was washed out, then took it down and conditioned the whole shebang, and it worked like a trick.

Photographic proof it all turned out peachy is available here. Thank y'all for your help; now everytime I look in the mirror I want neapolitan ice cream.
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:03 AM on March 31