Friday is wacky hair day at my son's elementary school. Like most boys, my son has insisted on keeping his hair kinda shaggy/long-ish (ala Justin Bieber/Jones Bros/Zac Efron) and so spiking it up is really not an option. I would like to put some fun colored streaks in his hair but without making it permanent or going to a salon and paying for it.
What can I use? Waaaay back in the day, I seem to recall using packets of Kool-aid or Jello (mixing in a little water) and streaking that through our hair in middle school. Does this sound right? The 80s were a long time ago and so maybe I am remembering this wrong?
Anyway...Any fun/natural/at-home hair streaking ideas would be appreciated!
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.
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!
Hi Kaye. 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!)
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 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
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)
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!!!
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 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.
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.
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!
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.