We’re sticking with the ‘New Year, New You’ theme to keep the inspiration up and the love in motion. Our hair gets hit the hardest when it comes to our deep desire for change and transformation. Dying your locs is one great way to add some fun to your look and your life. It’s hard not to smile at yourself everyday when you look in the mirror and you have pink locs, but of course you don't have to go that far down the color spectrum.
Finding a new hairstyle might be one direction to go in, but accompanying a new hairstyle with a new color might be your biggest bang of 2018 yet. This month is not a bad time to get inspired, in fact if you’re ready, then it’s time to submerge your locs into the color wheel.
Try avoiding bleach, but if you absolutely cannot avoid it, try to keep the bleach as comfortably far away from your roots as possible. Bleach, as we know it, will weaken and dry out your hair, that’s no myth. If you keep the bleach away from your roots then you will reduce breakage at the roots. Better keep that new hair growth strong and healthy rather than colorful and tired. That’s why you may have noticed many going for a color at their tips and not at their tops.
To begin with its best to divide your locs into 4 or 6 sections. Once you have your gloves on mix the desired color and scrunch it evenly into your locs. You want to make sure the color has evenly and deeply worked its way into your locs in order to avoid an uneven dye job.
If you decide to get your color done by a loctician then you are in luck, because he or she will know exactly what will work for your locs and what won’t based on seeing them first hand. If you decide to take on the challenge yourself, better take the patient time to do it right. When we say right, we mean, keeping your color even, your bathroom floor its original color, and your towels the color you like them. With that said, assuming you are going the DIY route, make sure to have a couple of dark towels at hand and your bathroom floor protected.
Have a plastic shower cap handy, if you have long locs the plastic cap that may come with your dye might be too small and tight for your long locs, so try to have your own handy. The next object to have at hand are gloves. Avoid bleach to skin contact at all costs. It's important to keep the dye or bleach strictly over your locs and nowhere else. It's not a bad idea to line your hairline with some sort of jelly to keep the color off of your face and neck.
Locs tend to need more time with hair color than loose hair. Your best option is to keep the color in your hair for 40-50 minutes long. Having a timer handy is a good way to go. Most smart phones come with a timer, now you’ll finally have an excuse to use it.
After you’ve waited the necessary time you want to wash all of the dye out of your locs until the water runs clear. Any leftover dye will destroy your loc. This may take 2 washes or more depending on how long and thick your locs are. Once you’ve finished it's important to deeply moisturize and condition your locs. Dye is known to dry out locs and its side effect will immediately be noticed if it not taken care of correctly. Maybe it’s time to treat yourself to a hot oil treatment? If you aren’t satisfied with the color, which we hope you are then it’s best if you wait a few months to dye your locs again in order to avoid unnecessary damage, dehydrated locs and breakage.
