Fuck yeah I made a Star Trek pun.

I’ve been doing my own hair for many years. It’s been all the colors of the rainbow, spiky and silky and extensions. Black, blonde, it’s all good! I’m a short hair lifer. Cut it all off when I was 19 and never looked back!

This is Special Effects “Wildflower”, a true blue violet. It’s my favorite and might as well be my natural color, since it’s what I always come back to!

To get this look, follow my simple, lazy advice: Is your hair bleached or naturally very light? Great! Wash it! Don’t condition it. Wash it really well, though. Air dry it until it’s barely just a little moist – I find this makes it easier to get the dye through your hair. But don’t put the dye in when it’s wet or it’ll be a pain in the ass.

Put on some nitrile gloves (they don’t catch on your hair as badly as latex), fill your hands with thick, everything-staining purple paste straight out of the bottle (skip brushes, that’s just a pain), and smear that stuff into your hair like you’re doing a hair mask. Make sure it’s all saturated. And then, leave it in your hair for at least three hours. It is not damaging color, it will not harm your hair. If I have the time I will leave it in up to 8 hours.

If your hair is naturally dark, you will have to bleach your hair, first, as light as you can get it. If you aren’t confident with bleach (many people aren’t), have a stylist do it for you or a friend who is handy with hair.

The longer you leave it in, and the lighter your hair is initially, the more vibrant and long lasting your newly violet tresses will be. If you literally want he exact same, bleach your bangs/”forelocks” and dye that purple and dye the rest black. Don’t worry about trying to put the purple on just the front, just slather it over the top of the black hair too. I feel like it makes my hair shinier and makes the purple seem like it blends in.

Then, if you’re like me, avoid washing your hair like you’re literally allergic to it. For weeks. Wait, did I say that out loud? Fuck yeah I did. Don’t wash your hair, and you’ll avoid having to re-dye your hair every two weeks. And it’ll be easier to style if you’re into weirdo crazy hair from the 80s and shit.