how to paint your hair rainbow

when i was hired on as an art teacher, there was a clause in my contract that said i was not allowed to dye my rainbow (it literally said: "rainbow hair prohibited. ie: pink, blue, green, etc")

immediately, i made up my mind to dye my hair toxic colors the moment i left the school.

three years later, i hit a salon in LA and asked the colorist for ombre pink hair.

right away, she refused to bleach my hair (as it was already damaged) and said pink dye would only last one week. she talked me into a bright magenta.

almost three hours in a chair, $150 later... i had bright magenta tips.

it lasted about two weeks.

after pinning rainbow hair and youtubing DIY hair tutorials... decided just to go for it.
here's some things i learned along the way:

1) if you have dark / black / asian hair-- get ready to bleach the tar out of your locks: i used three separate bleach kits and my hair is pretty damaged (meaning spilt end/breakage city). but whatever. i was on a mission!

2) MANIC PANIC is WEAK. it's vegan. it doubles as a hair conditioner. it dyed my bleached hair back to black and washed out in a few washes. skip that if you are serious about color.

3) SPLAT works like magic!

4) some color-junkies told me to mix conditioner into the dye to turn it into a pastel version or to mix some dye into shampoo to easily re-dye.

5) while dying: cover your ears / jawline / forehead with vaseline to avoid dying your skin. because rainbow hair is cool. rainbow skin is gross.

6) after dying: use color-safe shampoo and cold water to get the color to last longer.


after using manic panic's purple haze and getting no where... i ended up using splat's lavender. it started out a bright purple and eventually faded into a pastel pink. lasted a month and going. a kit at walmart goes for $8.

never visiting the salon for color ever again.

ready, set, start

almost two years ago, i met up with one of my professors from art school (shortly after graduation)-- totally and completely lost. i was at a job i was unsure about... along with lots of hazy ideas.

she asked me what my interests were and what i'd like to grow in-- and i just handed her a laundry list: graphic design, teaching, photography, painting, on and on and on.

immediately, she gave me advice that stayed with me for the past two years:

as a creative person, it's a good thing to have lots of interests. BUT, there is a difference between profession and hobby. you should have lots of hobbies. but those need to support or come secondary to your main objective / professional goal. what do you want to do with your life? your work?

at the time, i really had no idea.

since then, i attempted to get back into school as a means to find my artistic direction (but got rejected twice. that's a whole other story) and instead furiously tried and traveled looking for what i should be doing.

hoping that this can be a place where i can share what i've found out so far...for selfish documenting reasons and to also for anyone else out there in the universe who is equally creatively lost.

let's make something. :)