Kool Aid Hair
Posted by: annaholler on June 30th, 2009
Do you remember when you were in High School and all of the rebel-teens who were too suburban to be actual misfits dyed their hair with Kool-Aid?
Well, I have a five year old who thinks punk-rockers are the hippest people in the world. Any time we are out and see crazy hair, tattoos and facial piercings, she nearly falls over with admiration. Recently she began begging me to dye her hair pink. Now, I’ve always said that I would give my children the freedom to become the people they will be, allow them to express themselves using fashion without interruption… no matter what my personal feelings are on their choices. That said, when I imagined myself as this embracing, awesome, i-love-you-you-love-me-we-all-hug mama, I was picturing my children at around 13 or 14 years old. I was certainly not imagining myself walking my kindergartners to her first day of school with a purple Mohawk, winged heart tattoo and spiked dog collar around her neck.
That’s when a friend suggested Kool-Aid.
Because my daughter has very light hair, I was able to mix one packet of cherry Kool-Aid with half a cup of vinegar and apply it to her hair. If your child has dark hair, this will not work. Unfortunately, that’s when bleach needs to become involved and I don’t know about you… but if I don’t let my kids eat rice that’s been bleached, I’m certainly not going to pour it all over their heads (my head, now that’s a different story.) I applied the color by dipping her hair into a bowl of the Kool-Aid mixture and soaking it for about two minutes. Then, I applied it to her roots with a paint brush. I didn’t rinse it out, but rather blow-dried her hair with the vinegar/Kool-Aid still wet.
We decided to do just one streak, which was a happy, fun compromise. The color was more orange than pink, but she was thrilled with the result. I wash her hair just about every day and the color lasted for about three weeks.
