Orange Hair, Don't Care: Dye Your Hair with Kool-Aid

One night my little Isabella went to bed loving pink and the next morning she woke up
and pink was "so yesterday" and orange was her new favorite color. Now, when
Isabella commits to something, she commits with her whole being. That means that
that her entire life is now orange. She wants orange shoes, orange clothes, orange foods,
and she seeks out anything and everything orange. Orange, Orange, Orange.

So, when school ended she wanted orange hair for the summer and we decided to
go the Kool-Aid route because we'd seen a few cousins and friends do it with red
and have good results. We've done it a few times this summer, so I'm sharing a few
tips on how we got the really gorgeous orange color that lasts FOREVER!
Well, maybe not forever, but a long time.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• 2-3 orange Kool-Aid packets
• 1 cherry Kool-Aid packet
• microwaveable cup or bowl
• pair of gloves
• 2 or 3 old towels

Prep the hair by pulling it back into a ponytail and laying out the towel she'll lay on

and put one around her shoulders too. Make sure she's wearing old clothes.

STEP ONE 

Mix your Kool-Aid with 1-1.5 cups of water. The first time I did it, I only used 1 cup, 

but the second time I wanted the color to go farther up the hair, so I used 1.5 cups 

of water. Pop it in the microwave and bring it to a rolling boil.

STEP TWO

Head outside and have her lay down and carefully submerge the hair into the Kool-Aid

concoction. It's REALLY hot, so be sure to be careful to keep it away from her skin.

We have a front step that made it perfect for her lay down and put the Kool-Aid down 

below. You could have her lay across chairs or on a table, or she could sit in a chair,

and you can hold the cup behind her. But you'll be sitting there for about 15 minutes,

so that's probably not the best option.

STEP THREE

With gloved fingers, pull her hair our of the Kool-Aid and separate all the hair,

so that all the little strands get the pretty orange color all over them.

Put the hair back into the Kool-Aid and let it sit for 15-20 minutes.

I've seen other tutorials that said 10 minutes, but we wanted to make sure it stuck,

so we did a 20 minute soak.

STEP FOUR

Remove the hair, blot dry the excess moisture, and then blow dry all the way dry.

Then, wash the hair as you normally would you are in business!

It really turned out better than I imagined it would and has last WAY longer

than I anticipated. We had originally said she would only have orange hair

during the summer, but she loves it so much and it looks so awesome, that she's

still going strong with orange hair three weeks into second grade.

It was really popular on the first day of school. All of her friends were like - WOW!

Even her teacher stopped her when they first met and said, "Let me look at your

cool hair!" We'll see how long we let the orange hair ride, but we've heard good

things about Oxiclean or baking soda and boiling water to remove it.

We'll keep you posted when we come to that point!