Hair Chalking

The ombre trend has been around for a couple of seasons now, and is basically the term for graduated hair colour, ie from dark to light or light to dark. I've had ombre hair for a while now (got the guts to do it at home thanks to this lovely lady. Thanks LLY!), and find it a nice alternative to block colour, highlights or streaks. Safe to say, I love this look: this is the longest I've stuck to one style, so that's saying something! 

The catwalks and fashion pages have shifted from subtle colourings to being a wash of rainbow hues and wackier applications with each season! Ever colour and technique imaginable, and some completely off the wall!, have been plastered on the hair of models around the globe for that quirky edge.

Pastel up do's at Thakoon, Slick and vivid at Julian Macdonald,
Honey (yes honey!), gold leaf and grungy pink at Topshop Unique.

Acid wash beehives a la Amy Winehouse at Jean Paul Gautier Couture,
Dakota Fanning and Kate Bosworth dipping into the trend. 

But, let's face it, this isn't something we can all commit to: honey stuck gold and bright purple beehives for the office, anyone? I've always wanted, but never truly had the courage, to permanently dye my hair in an array of tie-dye and wacky colours: even my mosh phase didn't persuade me! So, if I can appease my creative side, whilst still allowing for mistakes to be washed out quicker than ever, perfect!
I've heard whispers about hair chalking through friends and the blogosphere (good old bloggers!) and it seemed ideal. A way to get bright coloured hair that is only one shower away from erasing. As the name suggests, it is a technique of using chalk pigments to temporarily colour your hair, that gives alot better results than the coloured hairspray you can get.

My chalking experiment! Excuse the phone/bathroom pics!

Here's how I did it!

Soft chalk pastels: I used these ones from Rymans. £4.19 for 12 hair colours is pretty good in my book! Just make sure that you get soft chalk pastels. Oil pastels would be a nightmare to get off and regular chalk does not adhere to hair at all!

Important tip!: If you have dark hair, brown or black etc, then you may need to wet the hair/ pastel a little before application to get the colour to come through. I do not know the details of this, as I have only done this on light hair, so test before you go crazy! If you have blonde/ blonde tipped hair then DO NOT WET! Wet pastels on light hair creates a more permanent dye. So, unless you want a colour that lasts a couple of washes, always put onto dry hair. Red hair is a little different: try it dry first. If the colour doesn't show, add a touch of water. 

Get the section of hair you want to colour and twist it, as this releases more colour from the pastel. Then, rub the pastel against your hair: Always rub downwards, as going against the hair will damage it in the long run! It only took a couple of rubs to get a vibrant colour on my hair! Voila! You now have chalked hair! It really couldn't be simpler. 

I've read alot of sites that says the application of the chalk can be a messy process. I didn't find this, but I'd suggest wearing a towel/cape around you to protect your clothes and do not do it anywhere you could stain, such as your mum's brand new bath suite!! There will be some colour transfer during the day, but try to keep your hair dry and wear something of similar colour: the pigments do come out of clothes, though, so don't worry! I've seen alot of advice saying to wet and apply heat after you have coloured to keep the colour in, but I can't see how this wouldn't damage your hair! Instead, I used a bit of hairspray on eat strand before I untwisted and this seemed to work a treat, and created a rather nice messy, grungy effect! 

Some important advice:

>As with any hair and beauty advice, always make sure you are not allergic to any ingredients or materials you are using. If in doubt, leave it out!

>Don't chalk your hair too often. It is a powder pigment on your hair and can have a drying effect that can damage hair if done too much.

>Brush as much of it out as you can before washing with a clarifying shampoo as you really want all the pigment and ingredients out. Also, condition afterwards to replace all the lost moisture. Better to be safe than sorry!

There you have it! A temporary hair colour solution that gives a similar effect to dye without the price tag, up keep or commitment! What do you think? A perfect nod to the catwalk colour trends? Something you could see yourself doing?