Temporary hair dye(lightening darker hair)

[Bizarro Lois]

I've used temporary hair dye to darken my hair or change the shade, but is there a product I can use to go from brunette to dirty blonde, without using bleach, etc? It would be especially helpful if someone can recommend something I can apply and leave the roots dark.
My husband also will need to get his hair very light, like a platinum blonde, almost white. I'd really like for both of us to be able to wash the color out, without having to dye our hair back to our natural shade.

 

[Laffo]

Nope. You will not get platinum white without stripping the hair.
You can use a spray or a brush in. Sprays are dull, look fake, flake and shed, and if wet - run everywhere - and you'll use a lot going from dark to light. It will be a dull off, grayish white.
It's like a hair spray with makeup suspended in it so it'll be like a helmet too.
Do a search online there are literally 1000's of products. They are of differing quality too. From teenager products to professional makeup products.
Ben Nye makes Snow White as a spray and brush in. Messy and meh.
You'll have to do the research from there.

You'd be better served with wigs.
Laffo.

 

[Bizarro Lois]

I wonder if I could just brush makeup in for my husband's hair. He's going to wear almost a pompadour, so stiff hair wouldn't be that bad.

 

[Laffo]

It's not going to be platinum blonde. It's crappy white makeup in hairspray or suspended in alcohol. It's like you rubbed tempra paint in your hair. It gets on your skin. It is messy.
You can't style it once it's in because it brushes out.

Get some and try it. You don't have to buy gallons of the stuff.
Don't like it, ditch it.
I don't know what you're standards are - but it doesn't cut muster with me.

I'm a Santa so I suffer through stripping the color out of my beard and hair every year. When I was doing small stuff years ago I tried everything but bleaching it.

They all have their degrees of being lousy.

I have red hair which is really tough to get white with bleach, dark hair is not. Dark hair is hard to paint and make white.

Laffo.

 

[Bizarro Lois]

Well, at least thanks for being upfront and not giving me false hopes. So I guess the only way to platinum hair is strip it, then dye...Or a wig. I'll probably be more ok with lightening and dying my hair than the hubby will.
By the way, love the Santa pic.

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

I've bleached my hair before. What a pain in the butt process...and it killed my hair(When I had it.)

 

[trooper1m]

Also you'l find that semi-permanent hair colour isn't really all that temporary depending on how much darker than your natural colour you've gone. You CANNOT lift coloured hair using other colour, you can only use bleach and lifting a dark colour out is a nightmare. All dark hair and coloured dark hair is made up of lots of warm tones which and as you strip the colour out your hair will go brown-red-orange-yellow-white as it lifts. Now as a hairdresser of 22 years i'm loathed to suggest you do it yourself but if you really wanna try then The hair brand Matrix makes professional bleach called v-light that is about as good as you'll get for lifting hair, couple of scoops of V-light mixed with 6% peroxide to a yoghurt consistency will be your best stab at it, left on for no more than 50mins.

 

[Bizarro Lois]

I'll let the hubby decide what he wants to do. There are men's wigs available in various pompadour looks. I still might dye mine, because I haven't found any yet that still have dark roots and would look good in a ponytail with curls at the end.

 

[Sakara]

You can get theatrical hair colour sprays....depends what the pompadour is for. If its for a dandy look, then powdered hair is authentic...but if you want a natural look then yep..bleach is the only way to get naturally dark hair blonde ( permenently dyed dark hair can be lightened somewhat with a deoxidising dye remover, then bleached)

this is an example of a stage hair colour spray -
Screenface - Brandel Colour Spray

 

[Bizarro Lois]

Thanks for the link. I got some spray yesterday to try. Since my hair will be in a bun, I don't think it will matter if it looks a little stiff - I really don't want to dye my hair if I don't have to. I'll be experimenting with it later today. I've used shoe polish and even clown white for age makeup before, with decent results, so my husband wants to try that before we think about dye.

 

[Bizarro Lois]

Well, this is what I have right now, using the spray I got. Does it look too dark? Too gold? Should I use more spray?

 

[thomdave]

Bizarro Lois,
In case you end up bleaching your (or your hubby's) hair, I have two tips:

1) Add one packet of Sweet'n Low for each ounce of bleaching solution that you use. This can help lessen the severity of scalp irritation. The Sweet'n Low website's FAQs even discuss this practice: Sweet'N Low

2) Buy some Red Gold Color Corrector from a beauty supply store and follow instructions on the bottle. This will help you achieve a blond look without harsh red or gold tones.

Here are the results I achieved a few weeks ago:

Before

After

Hope this helps!
Thom

 

[Bizarro Lois]

Thanks for the tip. I'll look into that if we end using bleach. I left the spray in overnight, and looked at in the mirror and the pictures this morning. It's definitely too gold, but if I can get one that is more blonde, I'm using that. With my hair in a bun, I think the coverage is decent for what I want. I used a brush and wash cloth to smooth it in a little better. I have very thin hair, and at first it just looked like I was coloring my scalp, especially in the front.

 

[Sakara]

yeah i agree that one did look to gold...
Id also agree if you did bleach to find a toner...Manic Panic do an amazing one called Virgin white Amplified, its purple toned, which neutralises any yellow tones in bleached hair. You do have to get the hair to the yellow stage for it to really work well though.

ooh also...hair bleach has a time limit on it doing its thing. After about 20 minutes it stops working, so leaving it on any longer does not lighten the hair any more...I was recommended this by a hairdresser, to scrape off old bleach and reapply fresh mixture, this will start the bleach process again.

Once done get the richest conditioner possible (the hair masqua type is bets) and smother the hair in it, wrapping the hair up with cling film to produce heat and keep moisture in. The manic panic stuff is herbal based so it will also help the condition of the hair.

As you can see from my banner below..ive been pretty much every hair colour!

 

[Bizarro Lois]

I think I might stick with the blonde I tried today. It looks shinier in the picture than it really is. I might even be able to use less spray. I used to dye my hair a lot, and I was hoping not to do it anymore. Especially because if I dye my hair blonde, I'll have to return to work that way. Starting a new school year, with new clients, I don't know how I feel about that.

 

[Sakara]

oh i'd spray over the top some dry shampoo spray. It gives a lovely matt effect.I use it on wigs that have a little too much sheen to them. Works a treat.

 

[Bizarro Lois]

I haven't decided how I feel. Does it look blonde or yellow? I don't want it to look terrible.

 

[Sakara]

The spray colours ive seen arnt as shiny as the one you are using.....hmm, the dry shampoo spray might tone down the shine and brightness...combined they might give the right effect.

If there is a Sallys near you i know they sell coloured hair sprays that look like they might be better. But being in the UK, not sure if same store sells same stuff in US (in fact it sells more in the US)

 

[Bizarro Lois]

Unfortunately, both sprays were from Sally Beauty. Would a peroxide spray lighten my hair over time if I started using it now until the con? Would that be an alternative to stripping it?

 

[Sakara]

Unfortunately, both sprays were from Sally Beauty. Would a peroxide spray lighten my hair over time if I started using it now until the con? Would that be an alternative to stripping it?

ah damn... No i wouldnt go near peroxide sprays..they wreck the hair way more than if you had your hair lightened with proper hair bleach.
if you dont want to do the lightening at home, then id recommend going to a salon. if you hair is undyed, it will be easier to lighten it to the blonde you want. If it is dyed, then can use a dye remover (they should if they are a good salon) then use bleach to get it to a light blonde, then toner it to a good shade.