talim time....

[morna]

So yeah im new to the whole cosplay thing and this year is going to be my first time doing it. I was wondering if any of you wonder people could tell me what color talim's hair is. I am so devoted that im going to give myself bangs and everything and im also willing to color my hair (my workplace suprizingly doesnt mind) and thus leaves me at how i should color it. Her hair defintely has a blue tint to it but im not sure how i should go about getting the color....please...help :toothy:

[TheFontBandit]

I think her hair looks like a dark bluish-aqua color. There are a few types of hair dye out there. There's Manic Panic, Special FX, and Punky Color. You can find one or two of the brands at Hot Topic in bottles, but for me they never really "took" in my hair. I prefer Punky Color, which comes in tubs. (You can find it at http://www.punky.com/punkycream.html although the photos of the color aren't completely accurate). As for buying it, you can run a search for it online to buy it, or look in "alternative" stores in your area, places similar to Third Planet.

The pictures on the site don't show the way the colors would come out at all. I'd say for Talim's hair go with Atlantic Blue. Midnight Blue is more of a deep royal blue, Blue Black is actually really close to black, and Lagoon Blue is more bright turquoise. Atlantic Blue is kind of between the two. (I used to dye my hair wierd colors a lot...) It'll wash out in a couple of weeks, so you can go back to your normal color or dye it again. If your hair is the same length as Talim's but isn't too thick, one tub should be enough. If I remember correctly, they tend to run about $8-$15 a tub.

If you're a natural blonde, skip this paragraph. =P But if you're not, and you want the color to really stick and be nice and vibrant, you should bleach it first. You can find the kits at your local supermarket with the other hair dye. Just read the box's contents and get one that has a powder you mix with a liquid or cream. The powder ones will bleach it out really well, just don't leave it in any longer than the box tells you to. ^_~

[morna]

so when you did dye your hair did you bleach your hair too? See i was thinking of just leaving my hair as is and trying to color it so that there would be a tint of the color and it would make my hair darker. Also i was reading up on some people that also used punky colors dye and they said that they leave it in over night? Did you ever do that? If so are the results that much better? Well thanks for giving as much info as you did already. It was a big help : )

[nur_ein_tier]

regarding not bleaching first: I have darkish brown hair and tried hot pink over it once, you couldn't see it at all. i strongly recommend bleaching if your hair is dark at all. after i bleached i did the hot pink again and it turned out fabulously bright. i used special fx and it lasted a pretty long time. it would've lasted longer if my boss didn't make me dye it back eventually, lol... even for a dark bluish color, i'd recommend bleaching, because it may not really show up. when your hair is bleached, the color sticks better also. it all depends on your hair color, i'd say.

[TheFontBandit]

Yeah, if you don't bleach your hair, the dye just doesn't seem to stick as well, and if your hair is very dark at all, it won't show up too well. I never left my Punky Color in overnight, though I had friends who did. I left mine in for an hour or so then rinsed it out and it seemed to stick pretty well. Here's a pic of the Punky Color in my hair: http://ewancient.lysator.liu.se/pic/art/h/a/hanna/me.jpg That's a combination of Atlantic Blue at the roots to Purple at the tips. That's just leaving it in an hour or so. You can tell when its done by getting a paper towel and rubbing the dye off a bit of the hair on the ends. You'll be able to see if the dye has stuck to the hair or not. I don't think there's any reason you couldn't leave it in overnight and put a shower cap over it, it just seemed like a messy idea to me. =P

Also, if you don't quite see the color you want, you can mix Punky Colors together. I mixed Flamingo Pink and Purple once to get a magenta color. Just make sure the two dyes are mixed together really well before you put it on your hair. (For Talim, maybe a Midnight Black/Lagoon Blue combo?). Somewhere I have a pic of the Lagoon Blue on my hair too... if I can find it I'll post it for a color reference also. It's really kind of a turquoise.

[nur_ein_tier]

that's a nice color in your pic. yeah, i wouldn't be afraid to leave that on overnight either. it seems like it's staining your hair more than dying it.

here is my hot pink hair:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/bulletprooffaces/me1.jpg
(the streetlight is yellowish, but believe me, it was hot pink...)

mixing them works well too, yeah. at some point i mixed more hot pink with some dark shade of purple and blended it out to the ends. i had a friend with naturally red hair, she didn't bleach first and used a light purple. it turned out horrible, not purple, but not red, her hair just looked dirty all the time.. she had to put regular dye over it, it was so hideous. and her hair was light.