The Dainty Squid hair master post

Punky Colour in Spring Green + Alpine Green.

For eleven solid years I’ve been dying my hair bright, unnatural colors. Over this time I’ve written numerous posts about hair. I thought it might be beneficial to finally create a master post of sorts where I can link to all the important posts involving hair that I’ve published. I plan on keeping this post updated with links to any future hair posts I write as well.

FAQ about my hair

What is your natural hair color? Dirty blonde.
How often do you wash your hair? Every other day.
Do you bleach your hair every time you change colors? Nope. I rarely ever apply bleach to the entire length of my hair. I normally only apply it to my roots.
How often do you bleach your hair? I bleach my hair only when my roots are bad. With some colors my roots don’t really bother me so much and I can go long periods without touching them up. I’d say average is a little less than once a month.
How do you change colors so easily? Since I don’t bleach my hair completely when changing colors I rely on letting it fade. Extra conditioning treatments, soaking in the tub, and the like so the current color is as light as possible. I just deal with the faded hair as long as possible. A lot of smoothly transitioning colors is knowing how colors work with each other. Underlying pigments effect what color your hair will end up so there are certain shades I’m not able to go to easily from some colors since I don’t strip my hair completely each time. You can read more about switching hair colors in this post.

Manic Panic in Sunshine, Hot Hot Pink, Pillarbox Red, and Pretty Flamingo. Color Jamz in Yellin Yellow. Punky Colour in Fuego, and Purple.

FAQ about products

What bleach do you use? I swear by the Beyond the Zone Radical Bleach Kit. I’ve been using it since I started bleaching my hair. I do not follow the timing instructions though. After about seven minutes my hair is normally light enough to rinse. I definitely recommend keeping a close eye on how quickly it’s processing your hair. You can read more about my bleaching process here.
What brand of hair dye do you use? The majority of my dye jobs are done with Punky Colours, which I either purchase at Ulta or on Amazon. I’m also a fan of Special Effects dyes. If I’m in a hurry, or can’t find the color I’m looking at the store I’ll pick up Manic Panic but in general, it’s not my first choice. I’ve had the worst luck with Ion Color Brilliance and probably wouldn’t recommend them at all. That’s not to say I haven’t seen some gorgeous dye jobs with that dye. Everyone’s hair is different so your experiences with brands might not be the same as mine.
My hair color bleeds on everything / it’s all over my hands. How do you deal with this? I don’t. My hair color does not bleed. I don’t leave stains on anything other than my hands when my hair is wet and that’s only for the first day or so. If you’re dealing with a lot of staining it could be one of two things (possibly both): You didn’t rinse well enough or you’re not using a high quality color. As mentioned above, I recommend Punky Colours.