Hair chalk? I think not..

I really love the look of "hair chalk" .. It's hard not to, it's ALL OVER Pinterest and everywhere else.. When I was at the store buying bleach for my ombre look, I saw "hair shadow", a similar product for $10. It was a little tiny pot, like an eyeshadow.. No way. I had seen on Pinterest that someone had used chalk and a flat iron. Well I have art chalk (conté crayons) so I knew I didn't need to spend that money.. And I have a lot of colors. I also had a hunch (based on the other pinners experience of having to make a "paste" with the chalk) that watercolors may work. 

Watercolor paint

So, I started with the watercolors.  I took a short handled (oil color) paintbrush and just got a good amount of color, and painted it onto a strand of damp hair. Easy-peasy. I let this sit while I tried using the chalk pastels on two strand on the opposite side.

Artists pastels

This was a little more difficult. I tried wetting my hair and coloring on it.. no dice. I ended up coloring on my hand and pulling it through. It was a little "chunky" in my hair.. felt kinda wierd. 

The wet pastel side:

The wet watercolor side:

Then I dried them both with my hair dryer. (Next time, I will be sure to comb through each piece while wet.. I didn't and it was pretty tangled.) When dry, I flat ironed them. (I read somewhere that this would seal-in the color.. that doesn't really make sense to me, but I did it b/c I just wanted them straight.)

The dry pastel side:

The dry watercolor side:

 

Although both worked fairly well, I definitely give the edge to the watercolors.  MUCH easier to use and the color is MUCH more vibrant.  Both made my hair kinda crunchy feeling, but this may be b/c I just bleached the ends and they are very dry. 

The color is fun and will only last until you shampoo.  Grab some watercolors and go to town!