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A few people have asked for more details, re. my 'HAIR-DYE DIY' post yesterday, so here you go:


Ok, a big disclaimer first: I seriously am not a trained chemist expert lady, nor a trained stylist, so while I can tell you what I did and make conjectures, please know that I can't promise fabulous results for all! That said however, i have dyed and bleached my hair probably close to 100 times with various products, so i feel like i've got a fair deal of experience in terms of commercial dyes. But if i've got anything wrong or it sounds like i'm making shit up, please call me on it! I don't want to be held responsible for anyones hair disasters. My theory has always been that the worse that can happen is that I have to shave my head. Having been there 5 or 6 times, not a big deal to me - I really like short hair. But if experimenting with your hair is scary to you, maybe you don't want to do this? I donno... Your call. You're the expert now. Ok? ok. Let's continue then.
Like any commercial dye, of course you're going to get superior (ie. BRIGHTER! and more colour-true) results if you bleach your hair first. This is a no brainer. On natural hair your results are going to vary in brightness depending on the lightness of your hair. Lighter=more colour true (that is, closer to the colour/flavour that you pick), Darker=less colour true, or sort of a subtle, colour-enhanced shade of your natural colour. I imagine that on dark brown or black hair that koolaid ain't going to do nothin' unless you bleach it first. Sorry honeys. As i posted yesterday, my own hair was an appalling mix of four previous dye jobs, bleached tips, and i had substantial grown out roots. My hair is a medium brown naturally. Now the koolaid took well to each part of my hair, but not surprisingly, the colour is more exciting on the tips (which were bleached, under all those other layers of dye residue), and where the hair had been dyed with commercial dye. I think that this is probably because those parts of my hair were uber-damaged, and therefore probably more absorbent, or something. Wow, I am just full of hypotheses, aren't I? My 'roots' also took orange very well, but they are more of a brown-orange, like something you'd get out of a box. Now, i am still pretty impressed, even with that, because if you're just looking for a playful pep-up to enhance your natural colour, not something really extreme, this has got to be the cheapest way to do it.
I started with freshly washed hair, but that was only because i had tons of styling product in it, and I know from previous experience that that can really interfere with colouring. I'd recommend for others that you wash the day before dyeing, so that there is some minor oil protecting your scalp from the dye. My scalp ended up a bit coloured too - but if you've ever dyed with punky colour or manic panic, then you are familiar with this already. It would also be a good idea to protect your hairline and around you ears with vaseline, cause that pink/orange/blue/whatever smear on your forehead is not really that attractive. I didn't, cause i'm an 'old hand' at dyeing, but if you don't have practice dyeing your own hair, maybe get a friend to help you. Cause by the time you discover that drip of purple on your neck, it's probably too late.
In terms of ratio, I used three packages of orange koolaid to about 30ml of 'white magic' 40-volume creme colour developer. I mixed it thoroughly in a clean glass jar with my hairdressers colour brush (about $1 at the drugstore) and let it rest for about 5 minutes, to insure that the crystals had all dissolved. (At the time I also was worried that there might be some crazy foaming or horrible interaction, and i really didn't want to spread it on my scalp if that was the case, so i monitored the mix for a few minutes before proceeding with the dyeing... But since nothing sinister happend, i don't know how crucial this resting step was.) I should add too that my hair is quite short, maybe 3 inches long. So if you have longer hair, obviously you're going to need to double or triple this recipe! :)
After this, i carefully brushed on the mixture - it was a bit runnier than regular dye - and left it on for about 35mins. It stayed put pretty well, wasn't drippy, but in retrospect it would have been a good idea to tie/wrap a plastic bag around my head to keep it warm. I know that in the past when bleaching/dyeing my hair with commercial products I've gotten much better/extreme results with the application of heat. It makes sense that the same would hold true for koolaid - since when using koolaid to dye other protein fibers (ie. wool, silk, alpaca...) heat is necessary to make the colour permanent. After 35mins i rinsed my hair out until the water ran clear, and didn't shampoo until the next day. This is a good idea too, waiting until the next day gives the colour more of a chance to set. Also, don't use conditioner! This is going to make your hair fade faster. Oh yeah, and wear gloves when you rinse your hair out, cause otherwise you will have fruity coloured and fruity smelling hands for the next day or so, like i did! I thought it was kind of cute, but you might not think so. :)
In closing, I highly recommend that anyone interested in this method do that damn test swatch thing that no one ever bothers with even though they know they should, because my success with this method could have been just some amazing fluke! I suspect that results are going to vary significantly with the condition and colour of your hair, and the flavour that you choose. My experience with dyeing wool has been that cherry, grape, and lime koolaid have the most intense dye-per-package, orange, and strawberry less so, and lemon least of all. But experiment! That is what is so fun about this, I think.
So... I think that's about all i can tell you. If anyone has any other questions, please let me know. I'm happy to share all of my dubious knowledge... I'm really sorry that i don't have a digital camera or webcam to provide pictures, but I hope that this has been clear enough to help out! Happy dyeing!