Give your curls a summer makeover with these two easy ways to color your curls. Don’t fret, they’re only temporary so the color washes right out. Add some hot pink to your curls over the weekend, and you can still look professional come Monday.
How to Use Eyeshadow
Evelyn colored her coils using cream eyeshadow, after seeing Nikki sporting blue coils on CurlyNikki and sweet purple highlights on Fro Envy. She used Maybelline’s Color Tattoo 24 Hr Cream Gel Shadow in Tenacious Teal.
For a subtle pop of color you can highlight strands throughout your hair, or for more in-your-face vibrant color, you can apply this to a whole section (as pictured”>. You don’t need to layer the eyeshadow, the color was vibrant with just one application!
- Step 1. Select the section of hair you’d like to color. Evelyn recommends starting with dry hair. You may want to clip the rest of the hair back that you are not coloring.
- Step 2. Using your fingertips, emulsify the cream eyeshadow between your fingers, this will ensure the product is smooth and easier to apply (without chunks”>.
- Step 3. Apply cream eyeshadow to the section of hair with your fingertips, smooth it through your hair like you would a styling product.
- Step 4. Be sure to work the eyeshadow into your roots as well.
- Step 5. When you’re ready to wash the color out, use your normal method to wash your hair (whether that’s conditioner or shampoo, it washes right out”>.
How to Use Hair Chalk
For this method it is important that you use artist’s soft pastels, not actual chalk or oil pastels. Double check that you have soft pastels before you get started.
Cristina had ombre’d hair before she began, so the ends of her hair were already lighter than her roots. This made the color show up more vividly than if she had dark brown hair from roots to ends. If you have very dark hair, the color will be less noticeable. If you’re looking for in-your-face color, we suggest the cream eyeshadow option above.
- Step 1. Wet the hair that you would like to color, we recommend a spray bottle with water in it (to minimize the mess”>.
- Step 2. Color your hair with the soft pastel. To add subtle color to your strands, twist the section first and color the twisted section (as shown in the video”>.
- Step 3. You can use a variety of colors, we stuck to the same color palette of reds, pinks and orange (we also love the look of blues, greens and purple”>.
- Step 4. Some tutorials suggest flat ironing the hair to seal the color in, we left this step out in the interest of protecting our hair from heat damage!
A few notes on soft pastels:
The color does bleed, (whether you flat iron or not”> so you will find that the color shows up on whatever shirt you are wearing (and your pillow”>. It DOES wash out of clothing, so this is not permanent – but you should be aware that your shoulders may take on a pink hue!
The color is temporary, but it took about two washes for water to run completely clear in the shower. The eyeshadow washes out more easily than soft pastels did.
Is It Drying?
Evelyn and Cristina both noticed that when the color was in their hair, that section felt drier than the rest. However, once the color was washed out their moisture returned to normal.
