Let me guess. You love colorful hairstyles, you’ve always wanted to see what it’d look like on you, but you’re scared of dying your hair. Trust me, I get it. It’s a legitimate fear! What if it comes out badly? What if it the color doesn’t look great on you? If you just go and permanently dye your hair, there’s no going back. But, if there was a way to temporarily dye your hair the tint that you want without any hair damage and virtually for free, you would do it wouldn’t you? Yeah, me too. So I did. After searching online I found out that you can temporarily dye your hair with Kool-Aid. Immediately, I ran to my local grocery store and bought two different colors to try on my brunette hair. Now, let me tell you just how I made Kool-Aid hair dye and dyed my hair blue and red with Kool-Aid.
When I was searching online for how to actually to dye my hair with Kool-Aid, I found that in almost every article or video I saw, everyone always dyed their hair with the red Kool-Aid. It seemed to work well on brunette hair. But I wanted to try a color I have never seen anyone try before: blue.
First of all, I wasn’t sure if it would work. Every article or video I saw could have just as easily been fake or overly exaggerated. And even if it did work, I had no idea whether or not it would be visible on brunette hair like mine. But the only way to answer these questions was to do it and see. And now that I have, I can gladly inform you that both colors work! Check out the video above and the steps below for just how to make your Kool-Aid hair dye.
How to Make and Dye Your Hair With Kool-Aid Hair Dye
Step 1: Getting your ingredients
To complete this step it’s as easy as heading to your local grocery store to pick up some dry-mix Kool-Aid packets. My local grocery store actually didn’t have any Kool-Aid. But luckily Walmart has just about anything, including all sorts of Kool-Aid flavors and colors. This was where I got two flavors, one in blue, and one in red. The name of the packets I got were the Cherry (the red one) and Blue Raspberry Lemonade (the blue one). These Kool-Aid flavors temporarily dyed my hair really well, but I’m sure other flavor names of the same colors would have the same or really similar effects. Also, I tried blue and red, but you can try any color you want!
I only bought one pack of each flavor/color. I used one packet for one side of my hair and another packet for the other side. So, if your hair is a medium thickness like mine or you are only dying part of your hair, then you should be safe with 2 packets of Kool-Aid. But, if your hair is thicker and/or you have a lot of hair you want to dye, then I’d recommend using 3-4 packets.
Step 2: Making the Kool-Aid Hair Dye
Once you’ve gotten your Kool-Aid packets, now it is time to prepare the Kool-Aid Hair Dye. Start by pouring your Kool-Aid packet(s) into a separate container (if you are using multiple colors, make sure you separate each color into separate bowls). Next, carefully add about 1-2 cups of boiling hot water into your bowl. Mix until the Kool-Aid is completely dissolved. Then, allow the Kool-Aid hair dye to cool.
Step 3: Dyeing Your Hair with Your Kool-Aid Hair Dye
Now that your homemade Kool-Aid hair dye is cooled, this is where it gets a little tricky. You will need to find a comfortable position to stay in while your hair soaks in the Kool-Aid for at least 30 minutes. Make sure that you completely soak ever part you want to dye. I waited a solid hour just to make sure that the Kool-Aid would dye my hair well. As seen in the video above, I soaked one side of my hair in red and one side in blue by soaking each side of my hair in two small bowls with the Kool-Aid mixture.
You don’t have to keep your hair in the bowl of Kool-Aid. You can just soak your hair in it and let it sit for a while. But continuously soaking it can help the color and pigment be stronger.
Also, make sure you wear something that you don’t mind possibly getting stained and that you are in an area that can easily be cleaned in case of spills and drops of Kool-Aid that may fly around. Your bathtub or sink may be the best option.
Step 4: Rinsing and Preserving Your Kool-Aid Color
After you have soaked your hair for at least 30 minutes, now it is time to rinse it out. The best way to preserve the most color in your hair is by rinsing quickly and only in cold water. If you don’t rinse enough, you may stain your towels and clothes later on. But if you rinse too much, you may wash away most of the color. I rinsed my hair just until the color that ran off of my hair was a very light pink and blue, which worked well for me.
The more you wash your hair, the quicker the color will fade. So if you want the color to last a long time, make sure to wash your hair only when necessary and only in cold water. I washed my hair every day in warm water and it faded out in about 4 days.
Check out the video above to see the full results of my Kool-Aid hair dye. Below are some images of how you can expect your red and blue to turn out if you have a light brown- blonde hair color. If your hair is darker like mine, expect to see a tint of the Kool-Aid color you use to dye your hair as seen in the video above.
This is a realistic faded-red color you may see using red Kool-Aid:
This is a realistic faded-blue color you may see using blue Kool-Aid:
Happy Kool-Aid hair dyeing!