Mermaid Hair Tutorial – DIY Dyed Hair Extensions
You guys… I dyed my hair TEAL! Just kidding! A lot of you guys have been asking about my recent hair “makeover” and I thought I’d reveal… it’s not real! So who’s ready for a little mermaid hair tutorial? As you know, I love a good weave. I’ve been wearing different types of extensions for about a decade and have no shame in talking about it. They’re awesome for giving that long, luxurious mermaid hair you see all over Instagram.
Recently I started thinking about mixing things up and adding a little color to my hair. But, as a super anxious over-analyzer, I wasn’t ready to commit. So I decided to do a little trial run & dye a set of my hair extensions! I stumbled uponΒ L’Oreal Paris Colorista Semi-Permanent Hair Color for Brunette HairΒ – which is basically hair color that lasts about4-5 shampoos and slowly fades out. They make colors for both blondes & brunettes which is really cool because there’s no bleaching involved. SO… if you were going to do it on your real hair, it’s super gentle and basically just washes out without trashing your hair. I also really liked that there’s no ammonia or peroxide & vegan!Β
Oddly enough, I had a set of Irresistible Me extensions sitting in my closet just waiting to be used. I got the 18″ and trimmed them to be just a little bit longer than my normal hair. I’ve been trimming my own extensions for the past few years and have it down pretty well, let me know if you guys want me to post a second tutorial (maybe video) of how to blend your extensions at home. I have some extensions that I leave long, but because I was adding color to them, I wanted to be able to blend them into my current hair cut so it looked natural.
The Color
1 Package ofΒ L’Oreal Paris Colorista Semi-Permanent Hair ColorΒ (you can get it for about $10 on Amazon or buy in store at Target). I bought #TEAL10 but there are tons of colors for brunettes & blondes.
Hair Extensions
There are tons of options, I used 18″ Irresistible Me Clip In Light Brown #6. Depending on your budget, here are a few other hair extension brands I recommend:
BellamyΒ (expensive – I wouldn’t recommend dying them but amazing quality)
Luxy HairΒ (high quality – under $200)
BHF Hair (mid grade – under $50)
Generic Brand (lower quality – under $25)
Honestly, I don’t think it’s a huge deal if you use cheaper extensions for this. Since you’re dying them, just make sure you’re using real human hair and not synthetic. Synthetic extensions don’t blend with your hair as well (the texture is different) and I don’t think the dye will react the same way to “non human” hair. I recommend trying to find extensions that’s as close to your natural hair color as possible. The good thing is that since you’re dying them, they don’t have to be perfect.
Set up your at Home Hair Salon
I used a baking sheet and wrapped it in tin foil. Just to keep my mess contained. I set it up in the kitchen and made sure to have a towel and some paper towels nearby (just in case). I recommend just following the directions on the box. First things first, be sure to put the gloves on so you don’t end up with green hands.
I squeezed the dye into a small bowl & then placed individual wefts of the hair extension on the baking sheet. One by one, I painted the dye on with the brush they give you. Once they were covered, I played them out on another piece of tin foil. After they were all covered, I let mine sit for about 20 minutes. I wanted to make sure the color was really rich. Then rinsed them in the kitchen sink (with my gloves on) in cold water. After that, I just let them dry on a towel.
That’s it! Literally, SO EASY! And because I did it at home, I saved a ton of money! I only wash my extensions as needed, which not only extends the use of them, the color will stay a lot longer. I think it’s a really fun way to change up your look without the commitment. I’m totally thinking about making another set in another color soon too!
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