How To: Dye Your Hair Using Pravana
My Honest Guide To An At- Home Dye Job!
WARNING: LET ME JUST START RIGHT HERE BY SAYING; I AM NOT A BEAUTICIAN, I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HAIR, AND AM NOT AN EXPERT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM. I AM JUST SHARING MY OWN EXPERIENCE AND A FEW TIPS I LEARNED ALONG THE WAY. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS BLOG POST FOR THE GOSPEL TRUTH; I’M JUST A HUMBLE BLOGGER HOPING TO SHARE SOME FUN TIPS ABOUT HOW TO DYE YOUR HAIR USING PRAVANA.
Well there you go, you’ve been warned.
When you want to have bright, fun hair, there can be a lot of pitfalls. Take me in my blotchy, sherbet-esque pink hair…Disaster people, disaster. After that mess I knew I need to take it up a step and clean up my mess! So I decided to use Pravana Chromasilk Vivids in Violet and Wild Orchid to dye my nasty pink hair back to a lovely shade of purple; catch is, I’ve never used Pravana before!
Pravana is a salon-grade dye that isn’t really for the likes of home hair dye peeps like me. But after doing some research online I was pretty sure I could handle it; or I decided to give it a try anyways. For your enjoyment I filmed the whole process, so if you’d rather watch scroll down to the bottom to enjoy my YouTube video!
First off, you’re supposed to lighten your hair. Since my hair had already been bleached one week prior to my little experiment and was already fairly light, I decided to forgo any more possible damage and go straight to the dye part. I was fairly confident that my color was light enough that the color would take. If you have super dark hair and want a nice bright color I would suggest lightening your hair first.
I did read a few accounts of brunettes who put their chosen dye color right over their enlightened hair and achieved a nice color. But it wasn’t a bright or punky color if that’s what you’re going for. If you don’t want to pre-lighten your hair, just know that your color will be whatever your natural hair is with a nice tinge (hopefully).
1. Use Conditioner as a Base
I used a nice deep conditioner as a base for my Pravana dye to help protect my hair and add some nutrients back in during the dyeing process. Although fresh out of the shower my hair didn’t feel super silky like I was expecting, after styling it I did notice my hair was very soft.
2. Apply Evenly
Do your best (if you’re dyeing your hair alone) to apply it evenly and fully saturate your hair. It’s hard to get all the way in the back, but I like to use my gloved fingers to feel for potential dry spots and then add more liquid there. While learning how to dye your hair using Pravana Chromasilk dyes it’s definitely better -in my opinion- to over-saturate to make sure you get good coverage! There is nothing worse than quality dye being wasted!
While using Pravana I noticed it was fairly easy to track where I’d already applied dye; sometimes it can get a bit confusing when the color is too close to your natural hair, but with the nice thick, dark color application was simple.
I also like to tip my head upside down to better reach the roots at the base of my hair.
3. Let it Sit!
When you dye your hair using Pravana you don’t have to adhere to such a strict time schedule. I am used to box dyes that you shouldn’t leave in for more than 30 minutes or your risk frying your hair. Because of the type of dye you run a smaller risk of ruining your hair.
If you hair takes well to dyes or is pre-lightened, 30-45 minutes should be good. If your hair is dark, course, or doesn’t take well to dyes consider letting it sit for 1-1.5 hours. I allowed my dye to sit for almost 2 whole hours before I washed it out.
4. Rinse with COLD Water
If you’ve ever dyed your hair at home before I’m sure you know that you’re always supposed to wash your hair with cold water. It’s not any easy habit to make -but trust me it’s worth it! I’ve had colored hair for years and when dealing with bright colors like purple it’s a lifesaver! So rinse the Pravana dye out of your hair with as cool of water as you can stand!
I don’t recommend using any shampoo or conditioner at this point; usually a thorough rinse is enough. I’ve tried shampooing like they do in salons and usually it just ends up stripping my color or making it blotchy.
Make sure when you’re drying your hair that you use a crappy towel also! You will definitely experience some bleeding and when you dye your hair using Pravana you’ll notice it might leave stronger stains than normal.
5. Speaking of Stains…
If you experience staining during the dyeing process; use baby oil! It works wonders to remove the dye from your skin! Just a little bit on a cotton ball should do the trick! Try to catch it while it’s fresh too and it’ll come right off.
If you happen to splatter some dye on the sink or counter (yep, we all do it) use a gentle bleach or whitening product to help remove the stain. I worked on stains as soon as my hair was fully saturated and I didn’t have any problems with them becoming permanent.
Wrapping It Up
Or maybe I should say curling it up? Because at this point it’s just drying and styling! So here comes the fun part -enjoy your new color!
I’ve had colored hair for a long time and adhere to a pretty strict routine, I’ll be writing a blog post with more info on that soon! If you’re looking for a really nice, easy to work with, at-home color, I would highly recommend considering Pravana. If you’d like to know exactly what I used, here is my entire shopping list:
Pravana Violet Pravana Wild Orchid Deep Conditioner Color Applicator Gloves
With love and bright colored hair,
