Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Violets and Blues

So back in my crazy mixed up college years, I learned a lot about the undertones of dye. I gathered this information from a year or so of adding blue streaks to the back of my head. The process began with a application of the traditional Manic Panic BLUE dye . Sadly, blue Manic Panic streaks fade to dingy green Manic Panic streaks... and your "cool cred" falls significantly when you look like "swamp thing". Now PURPLE Manic Panic on the other hand, fades to a lovely shade of blue and keeps you looking... like an 18-year-old with an eyebrow ring and blue hair. Which was totally what I was going for.

I've recently returned to the dying process with a crop of formerly white shirts that were cluttering my closet. I usually shy away from purchasing white clothing because it takes me about 45 seconds to spill coffee or chocolate or some other impossible substance down the middle, rendering the clothing unwearable forever. But my new thrifty solution is to dye all my rejected clothing black. My first attempt at this went well, but it turns out RIT dye you leave in a cupboard for two years doesn't really stay black, but becomes a lovely shade of midnight blue. Turns out, midnight blue tshirts are really cool and hide coffee stains well. Yay.

For my second attempt at shirt rejuvenation I bought a brand new bottle of black dye, boiled my clothing, and then threw them in the wash machine to set... and because my white bathmat was looking a little tired, I threw that in for a cycle too. I figured it would pick up the excess dye, turn midnight blue and match the rest of my decor (decorating theme for my apartment: salvaged IKEA chic) quite well.

Sadly, the undertone of the new bottle of dye was not blue, but red, leaving my hacked bathmat a garish shade of purple.

I left this on my floor for a day before I decided it was hurting my eyes and tossed it in the closet... I can't bring myself to throw it out... I suppose it will join my next batch of beverage stained clothing... perhaps forest green undertones would even everything out...

4 comments:

Simon said...

I have never seen you with blue hair. You made that up.

Anonymous said...

The rug is actually a pretty plum color. You could go for the really bizarre look with some bleach sprinkled about on it, then toss it back into the wash. Might end up with a tie-dyed rug look.

Hmmm. Never mind. That did not really work out well for shirts.

I agree with Simon, though. We need photos of the hair... Please.

Ivan said...

The streaks were in the back and only visible by way of ponytail. No pictures of this exist, or of the time I accidentally dyed all of it "little mermaid red". Eyebrow ring is documented only in my passport photo. For further proof, please contact my mom.

Simon, you had best be busy writing a long blog post about banjos and buskers.

Simon said...

Don't think that I won't ask your mother about this when I next run into her.

How did you *accidentally* dye your hair Little Mermaid Red? What were you going for to begin with?

Also, I actually was writing a long blog post about banjos and buskers. How did you know?