Wacky Hair Day...Suggestions Needed

http://www.ehow.com/how_###-###-####_dye-hair-jello.html

Also I think something like shaving cream would offer a "temporary" spiking hold too. You could try it tonight and see if it holds well when it dries. It may look crispy, but I think it's a relatively safe one day way to hold it. They do have hair products at WalMart that offer SUPER holding power too.

I assume most boys would do the mohawk thing. What about going for the "Wolverine" look (from X Men)? That'd be a cool/modern superhero way that most other boys probably wouldn't think of, but would be super cool.

I used to mix a little conditioner with acrylic paint. I would paint it on in streaks. It washed out with shampoo. With some colors there would be residual stain for a little while but it fades fast. A little bit of dish soap gets the rest out faster.

Hi K.. My son attends the same elementary school as yours, and he has really long hair too. You can buy non-permanent color sprays at Party America by Byerly's (or whatever the party store is called now). We are going to try to get 3 colors. I haven't bought any for a couple of years, but that is where I used to get the colored sprays. It's not natural, but it's not permanent either. (Just be careful--last year Wacky Hair Day coincided with a baseball game in the evening. My son got green hair spray all over the inside of the batting helmet!)

Go to the local Party Warehouse. They have spray in colors that are really bright and won't stain the hair like kool-aid and jello might. They wash right out and come in bright pink, green, and blue. Works great on blondes or brunettes.

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I remember drug stores having non permanent hair sprays similar to Halloween stuff.

Fantastic Sams should have sample colored gel packs that you can purchase. We have bought them in the past for our boys and the work great.

We have spray cans of temporary color for hair in every color of the rainbow!! My kids' school does this stuff all the time. We just streak the hair - our school colors are red and blue, so we'll do red, white and blue stripes down the head. I will warn you that even the temporary spray colors will stay in after a wash if your child has light hair. Mine are all blondies, so it usually takes 2 washes to get it completely out. Also, if they sweat, it will run a bit. The first time I picked my oldest up after school, I saw a red streak down his face and thought for a second he was bleeding!! LOL! You could do little "twists" in his hair with ponytail holders or gel. I like the cornrow and braid ideas, too. Not sure if your son will be cool with that, but it would be wacky!!! Good luck and have fun!!!

My blonde friend did Koolaid 12 years ago when we were in high school. Worked fine, but if there's any humidity, then I think there could be a problem with it running or leaking onto his clothes. What a mess that might be.

I agree to spray on colors from the party store. Or a wig.

Or maybe do cornrows - complete opposite of your sons personality. Or is he ready for a haircut? You could give him a mohawk or an opposite mohawk (shave the middle, leave the sides long). Then after crazy hair day, shave the rest. Is it long enough for a french braid? Or pigtails? Ha!

My son's old school did this and it was lots of fun. He usually wears a brush cut. The first year we didn't know what to do, so I used some styling gel to get his hair sticky then stood him outside and sprinkled glitter in his hair. He sparkled all day (it was kind of subtle unless he was in a bright light or in sunshine), and it washed out fine at night.
The next year we knew it was coming so we let his brush cut grow out a bit shaggy. I gave him a mohawk, then used a stiff gel (I think they called it hair glue - it dried really stiff) to give him some spikes. That evening we gave him the rest of his brush cut, and he was his normal self again. We did have to run some errands after school that day. We got some nasty looks from some people in the super market (I explained it was just a fun hair day at school - he doesn't look like a punked out metal head the rest of the time), but some people will judge by looks no matter what. Hopefully he'll never go for a terribly weird look when he's a teenager.

I know they make spray colors that aren't permanent, however I do recall the kool-aid one too just not how to use it.

We have Party City stores here and they sell colored hair spray in all colors! I just had to use the silver on my 6yr old daughter for her "100th day of Kindergarten". They had to dress like they were 100 years old, so I put her long hair in a bun and sprayed it silver. LOL It washed out super duper easy with normal shampoo that evening. =0)

I did that for my son's wacky hair day with food coloring, I think. It worked fine.

I've also put multiple rubber bands in my son's hair -- it's longish like your son's. He looked pretty wacky with little pony tails sticking up all around.

If you tease it enough you can get the Edward Scissorhands effect pretty easily, never mind color.

I would do a bunch of braids, all different colors.
One thing you could use that is not "girly" like ribbon is lanyard string [the plastic string used to make key chains] and just braid it in, or stick it in the binders of a whole bunch of pony tails. That would be colorful and much less work.
In fact, it would be very easy to make a sort of wig from that stuff too.
Or you could get one of those Halloween "wigs" that is actually a bald head, and he could go as the wacky-no-hair kid.
I agree with the other posters...get the spray-on colors if you want to go that route. I also put Kool-aid in my hair when I was younger, and I remember the colors sort of mixed into a brownish red which was not was I was going for! and the red color also did not wash out right away

Claire's, target and Kids hair sell spray hair colors that wash out easily. It's like colored hair spray in vibrant colors. In Target's hair product aisle there are freezing products that will work to spike up even long boys hair. We got my son's hair into a huge mohawk that lasted all day!

Careful with kool-aid or jello. I think it does work for most people, but I know one girl with light blonde hair that hair blue hair until it grew out after using kool-aid and it was a rather bright blue.

Looks like you have lots of other good ideas of places to buy spray in that won't last long. Hope he has a great wacky hair day

I would check out a store like Michaels for options for color. I too knew people with permanent purple/green hair from using Koolaid or Jello for dye.

Didn't read the other posts so I'm not sure f I'm repeating... but if you want to spike long hair I was once told (by a punk person) that you use egg whites.

You would just separate the yolk from the egg white and then use a pastry brush to brush it on. From what I've seen (on others as I've never tried it myself) it works like cement!! Good luck.

koolaid can stay in the hair a little longer. However they do have colored sprays or gels that you can purchase.