I've dyed my locks twice now with temporary hair dye since I started locking up eleven months ago. Here's what I've learned about the process:
1) I look stupid as shit when I'm dying my hair and have a pile of locks bunched up on top of my head.
2) You just about always need someone to spot you if you're dying your dreadlocks. Why? Dreadlocks soak up a variable amount of liquid, depending on the actual lock and it's quirks. You're going to miss whole sections of a lock or a whole patch of your head if you're not super careful. It's hard to tell through the gloves if the hair is wet enough. If it's really lightly applied to a few locks that's ok. It ends up looking like a highlight or sunbleached or whatever. I did that the first time around and it actually looked kinda neat. It was an accident, but the results were interesting.
3) Buy an extra box. Just in case. Dreadlocks are spongy. I now use almost double the amount of dye I would if my hair wasn't locked but at this same length.
4) Be prepared to have Scalp Pain from hell if you've got some decent locking up going on near your scalp or are completely mature. Hair dyes dry the hair out. Oh and guess what happens when you dry the hair out all at once? SHRINKAGE! And that means pulling and twisting inside knotty hair.
5) And on that same note, if you aren't seeing any real progress in your locks and are getting really fed up and impatient--- dye your hair! Temporary dye is perfect for this purpose. Just don't use the conditioner they include, of course. The first time I dyed my locks two months ago I was perfectly happy with the progress I had been making so the crazy amount of tightening and locking up that happened the next few days after that startled me. Now I knew what to expect ... just not the need for scissors to separate! Well, now I know. (And knowing's half the battttt....shit. Ok, nerd moment overcame me there.)
6) Even just temporary dying of the hair can help big time with hiding those blindingly white root bulbs that poke out. Amazingly, the temp dye stays in the root A LOT longer than it stays in the hair shaft. Why I haven't a clue, but it does. So if you dye your hair really close to your natural color as it gradually washes out the next two months it'll stay in the white root bulbs and that means you can dye your hair far less often. If that was the only reason I had to dye my hair I'd say that I'd only have to do it maybe three times a year.
Here I used one box each of temp dye Natural Instincts 9N Dark Blonde and 13 Light Brown mixed together in one larger bottle. I'll be taking my 1st year dreadiversary pics in a few weeks so you can see what it looks like calmed down and washed out. It looks pretty dark here.
Anyway, I just wanted to share what I've learned. Maybe it'll help someone out.
~Peace and Love
updated by @angel-frye: 02/05/15 10:12:49AM
