The Best Hair Dye For Crazy Hair Colors

I love crazy hair colors! In the last 6 months, my hair has been pink, blue, purple, green and red. I look at hair like I look at tattoos. Both are a way for me to express myself. My favorite way to express myself is with bright pink highlights. But sometimes when I'm feeling especially freaky, I'll grab some colorful hair dye and give myself some fun rainbow hair streaks.

Because I like to use bright rainbow hair dyes, I'm limited to only using semi-permanent dye that's supposed to wash out after 8 or 9 shampoos. But when I use it to dye my hair, I always end up with bright vibrant color that lasts for 3 or 4 weeks before it begins to fade. I think my results are a combination of using the right hair dye, and using the right hair products afterwards.

The first time I ever used this hair dye, I knew I found a winner. With this kit, I can skip the crucial hair lightening step because this dye is designed to both lighten my hair and color it at the same time. I always use this dye to add pink highlights and most of the time, that uses up most of it. So it would probably take 2 or 3 boxes for a whole head of hair. It comes with everything you need, even a little bowl to mix the color and activator in. You're supposed to use the little brush to apply the dye on your hair, but I just scoop it up with my fingers. 25 minutes, a rinse and a shampoo later, I'm ready to show off my new hot pink highlights.

After 3 weeks, the bright color starts to fade to a lighter bubblegum pink. But it takes months to wash out completely.

This would be my absolute favorite if I didn't have to take the extra step to lighten my hair first. This is my first choice when looking for rainbow hair dye because it gives me 8 color choices. I love how easy it is to apply and unlike other hair dyes, it has a pleasant smell.

It comes out of the tube really thick and that makes it easy to apply it exactly where I want color (which is important when I'm trying for rainbow hair streaks). One tube isn't enough to do a full head of hair, but I don't mind because I use multiple colors at one time. Rinsing is slightly messy but nothing I can't handle. It tends to dye the bathtub during the rinsing and for the first couple shampoos but a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser takes it right off.

When it's all said and done, the resulting color is always bright, bold and vibrant. The color comes out a little with each wash, but with a little care, it can last 3 or more weeks.

I HAVE TO WHAT?

N Rage hair dye only works with heat so I have to wrap my highlights in foil and hit them with a blow dryer every few minutes. I don't know about you, but I'm not liking the sound of this!

Have you ever felt hot tin foil on your skin? It doesn't feel very good. You see that one in the front on the right? It's resting on my eyebrow. And the one behind it was resting right on my ear. There was another one in the back that was laying on my neck. And that one on the left kept swinging and hitting my cheek. I dreaded every time I had to turn the blow dryer on. I pretty much spent the entire 25 minutes in agony.

This is bringing back such bad memories. I remember this moment. The foil was so hot, I thought it was going to melt through my skin. I tried leaning my head this way and that way but no matter what, the hot foil was always on me. I wanted take the foil off early but even more, I wanted those bright pink highlights. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, I couldn't help but scream in despair. Shortly after this photo was taken, the pain became too much and I passed out.

Ooooh! Did I have you fooled? Bad Cat! Bad bad Cat!

Sorry about that! Don't worry! It's all good! In reality, using the N Rage hair dye is an easy and enjoyable experience. Although I feel the hot foil brush against my skin every once in a while, it annoys me more than it hurts. I leave it on for 25 fun-filled minutes in order to get that bright hot pink color I love so much. Speaking of, I think it's time to take the foil off.

Look at that vivid color! I can't believe I can get a crazy hair color this bright without pre-lightening my hair first! Actually, it's almost too bright, even for me! Hopefully, rinsing it will take it down just a notch.

So, what do you think? I think it's perfect!

Although I'm sure someone out there sells a rainbow hair dye kit, I prefer to choose my own colors. I normally use Ion Color Brilliance Brights hair dye to give myself rainbow hair streaks, but this time I mixed and matched. The red is N Rage dye, and the blue and purple are both Ion Color Brilliance Brights. The process is basically the same as giving myself the pink highlights. Working with one color at a time, I coat small chunks of hair and wrap them in foil. I try to vary the amount of hair I use for each highlight and I make a point of not dying just the top of my hair. Although Ion Color Brilliance doesn't need heat to work, adding heat gives you a more intense color. So I hit all the foil highlights with the blow dryer. 25 fun-filled minutes later (I'll spare you the pictures this time), I have rainbow hair streaks.

As you can see, I recently cut my hair. And to celebrate, I thought some bubblegum pink hair would be awesome. This time I used Manic Panic because I liked the color and it looked super easy to do. I just spread the goop around my hair until it was a little foamy and then put on a shower cap. Because Manic Panic doesn't work like normal hair dye, I left it on a bit longer, quite a bit longer. The above picture was taken 3 hours after I applied it (and just before I rinsed it out). As you can see, it turned my lighter roots pink, but it didn't do much for my darker ends. It's supposed to wash out in a week or so (and then I'll move on to a different color).

So as you can see, I chose purple this time. Because the manic panic didn't work so well, I decided to go back to my old favorite, N'Rage. And since my hair is so short, I was able to get every last bit of hair (except the bits I accidentally missed) with just one box.

I've done this so many times, I know the directions by heart. But I still read them again and followed them exactly. So I was more than a little surprised by the results.

I know what you're thinking. WTF??? Yeah, I went through that too. But hey, at least I finally got the pink I was looking for last week. And to be honest, I kinda like it..... no, I totally freakin love it! Too bad it was a fluke because I'd love to keep this color (I would love it and pet it and squeeze it and name it George).

I wanted something different this time so I decided to go with that bright stop sign red from 'N Rage Intense Red. Once again, I read and followed the directions exactly. So imagine my surprise when it came out this awesome pink! I have to say, this is my favorite color to date!

Everyone has their own brands and products they like and I'm no different. These products are what I use every time I dye my hair. These are the hair care products I trust and quite honestly, they're the only ones I can personally recommend.

Colored hair, especially hair that's been lightened, needs to be treated with kids gloves. Normal hair products will wash away your color, strip your hair of the moisture it has left and leave it looking worse than ever. Your hair needs products that are made for color treated hair. These are gentler, safer and generally leave your hair looking and feeling healthy.

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