Temporary Hair Dye
If you want to color your hair, but only for a special occasion or perhaps to test the reactions of friends and family, there are many different temporary hair dye products that you can use. You might also choose to use a temporary dye to test your own feelings, and decide how a certain color change looks – particularly if you want to one of the more outrageous hues.
You will find temporary hair dye in a variety of different forms, ranging from color shampoos and rinses, to sprays, gels and foam-type products. Often these come in convenient one-dose quantities, for one-off coloring, although if you like to change your hair color often, you might want a more substantial quantity. While this type of colorant can be even brighter and more vibrant than any other type of hair dye – depending of course on the color of your natural hair – it is, by definition, temporary and not intended to last.
Generally, if you choose a temporary hair coloring product, you will wash your hair and apply it (or simply wash your hair using a product that contains the dye), and then remove it when you shampoo your hair again with your regular shampoo. This means it can be here today and gone tomorrow.
Products don't contain the ammonia you find in most permanent hair dyes. Ammonia, of course, opens up the hair shaft, permanently altering the structure of your hair. Instead, the large molecules of pigment in temporary hair dye are adsorbed onto (and not into) the hair shaft, forming a thin film of color on the surface. The color agent doesn't actually penetrate the cuticle layer of the hair, which is how you are able to wash the color out.
Many of the coloring agents that are used in temporary hair dyes have been adapted from the textile industry, and are described as being "natural". This is all very well, but, like fabric, you do need to consider the base color you are working on. For example, if you have naturally dark brown hair, using a temporary dye that is pink won't turn your hair pink. It will simply add a pinkish tinge to your hair. The same applies to virtually any of the colors that are not found naturally in hair. If you are naturally blonde, you will though notice a much more profound and obvious effect when you dye your hair, irrespective of the color you choose to use.
In a way this base color issue might be regarded as Catch 22, particularly if you are opting for a temporary dye that isn't going to damage your hair. For instance, if you want to temporarily go blue, red or purple (as these colors appear on the traditional color wheel), and you've got a naturally dark color hair, then you will need to bleach your hair first. And we all know that bleaching our hair isn't at all good for it.
On the positive side, with bleached hair, you can experiment with every possible hair color on the market. Better still, if you stick to temporary hair dye products, you can change the color of your hair as often as you wish. Since the temporary products also come in natural colors, you can even rinse it your natural color during the week, for work, and then change the color according to your mood at weekends.