Alright. If you know me, you know that dying my hair is one of my favorit pastimes. If you're lucky, you might have done it for me before. If you've seen me, you know that I don't quite do it like anyone else. I've always used Punky Colour, but I have only used the entire jar once. I usually use a bunch of different colors and dye a few strips of my hair. This process takes a lot longer, but I think it works a lot better than putting an entire jar on like it was shampoo. When you do it that way, it always seems like you end up dying your hands, neck, scalp and face and the color comes out uneven and you can't ever get all the pieces colored. Although individual strips takes longer, you can avoid all of these problems. Here is a step by step guide of the way I do my hair, which is a lot like a salon's method.

Here it is:

1. Buying the dye.

It's preferred you get your dye from a store and not mail-order. Sometimes it can get messed up in the mail. You also don't know what you are getting. You might end up with a jar that doesn't have the right constancy. It also makes it hard to check the color.

If you're looking for a specific color, it's best to keep in mind the color your hair already is. The color comes out best on bleached hair because it's already broken-down (damaged). It makes the dye stick longer and get brighter. Blond hair is ok too. The lighter, the more the color will show. It will also come out a lot sooner then it would with bleached hair. Brown hair will still take ok. Usually you can only see the color in the sun unless you are dying it black or one of the darker colors. Black hair hardly shows any color at all. It's best to at least lighten very dark hair.

When you decide on the color that you want your hair to be, you should ask the person at the store if you can see all of the colors in your range. For instance, if you're going to try to dye your hair purple, you should ask to see purple, plum, midnight blue, rose and red wine. Next you should put a dab of each color on your wrist. This way you can check them all out to see how they will look with your skin color. This way you can also see what color they really are, and not the color on the sticker. When you put the color on your skin, it'll show you what it might look like on similarly colored hair. This also makes it easier for you to see how the color might look up against your skin.

2. Setting up to dye

First you should keep in mind that you need to be extra careful in a light colored bathroom. Especially if the sink area is light in color. You may want to put some newspaper down so you don't have to be too careful. Next you should go into the kitchen (or whatever) and get the tin foil ready like they do in salons. You should tear about 20 sheets 2" in length and the box's width. You will need these later to wrap the dyed pieces in while the dye sets. If possible, you should get some sort of rubber gloves for the dyer to wear. This keeps the dye away from skin where it will instantly stain. It's amazing how the dye stays on skin longer then it stays on someone's hair. Anyways... it's better to use snug fitting surgical gloves than the food serving type gloves. The latex surgical gloves don't break as easily, and give you more control over what you are doing. I've found them before in the toy isle of Walmart. They say that they are for testing products. I guess they don't want your germs on the kiddy toys. If you get them from Walmart, I suggest you buy some crayons so it at least "looks" like you've used them already.

After you're set up with this stuff, you should get either a tooth or painting brush. Better yet! You could get an official looking hair dying brush. I've seen them come free with bleach. You could probably find one at a beauty supply store, but I prefer using an old tooth brush. Just make sure that you get permission of the tooth brush's owner. I know that I wouldn't appreciate brushing my teeth with a stained tooth brush. Especially if the dye was red...

You should also have a bunch of hair clip paraphernalia. Clips, rubber bands etc. Are good for sectioning off hair into the individual pieces that are going to be dyed.

3. Dying your hair

First you need to have some sort of a plan. I usually just tell the dyer, "I want a bunch of colors all over the place."

After this is established, you need to section off your hair into the sections that you want to dye. If you're doing your hair all one color, it isn't very critical what sizes you use. If you are doing a bunch of colors, it is important that you get the colors far enough from each other not to bleed together.

Now that you have a plan, start dying. First you need to get your hair wet. This makes it easier for the dye to stick. Next, put a piece of tin foil under the section that you're going to dye. Now take the brush and start applying the dye to the hair. Make sure that you have enough dye on your hair that it will get all the pieces in the section. Keep doing this until all of the sections you want to dye are dyed.

4. Waiting for the dye to set

How long you wait depends on how dark you want your hair to turn and how long you want the dye to stay in. The main thing you need to remember is Green and yellow stay in longer than red and purple. If you're dying your hair red or purple, you should leave it in an hour for every week you want it to stay in. For yellow and green, it only takes about half this time. When I dye my hair purple, (my hair is bleached), I usually leave the dye in for at least 2 hours. This makes the color fairly dark. Green dye will end up turning chlorine on blond hair colored after it begins to fade. You really have to try it out on your own hair to see what's gonna work for you.

So that's it. Just mess around with it until it works!

Molly Bradbury writes a 'zine called Molly's Mind and also runs a 'zine distribution company called Miz Mu Distro. She has previously written a piece on the rebirth of Lounge Music in the January, 1997 issue of Grrowl!