Color hair spray can be an effective way to quickly and temporarily color hair with festive and funky colors. Those that enjoy giving their evening look a bit of an edge can typically use colored hair spray and wash it away with a single shampoo, returning their hair to its natural color for work or school. Others may have thinning hair that they want to disguise with a color hair spray that matches their natural color. Either way, it is best to spray color onto clean hair, wear old clothes for the process, and have combs and clips at the ready for fast styling.
Most color hair spray products stick better to clean hair because it is free of oils and dirt that may prevent the color from coming into contact with the surface of the strands. It is also best used on dry hair. Washing hair and drying it with a towel or blow-dryer before using the hair spray is generally a good way to start.
Users should always put on old clothes or carefully cover their clothing with an old towel before using color hair spray. These products often spray in relatively wide streams and contain large amounts of dye, meaning they can stain clothing very easily. Those planning to use color hair spray often may want to designate a certain T-shirt or towel for use during styling. This usually eliminates the risk of ruining clothing.
When getting ready to spray hair, users should typically have several large hair clips, a comb, and a shower cap nearby. The user should then use the tines of the comb to separate his or her hair into sections for coloring. This is especially important when using funky colors, like green or purple. Proper sectioning generally prevents the spray from bleeding onto parts of the hair that the user wants to leave uncolored. Spray should be held about 3 inches (about 6 cm) from these sections and applied in short bursts.
A shower cap can be particularly useful if the user wants to color stripes at the front or the back of the head. The cap can cover the rest of the hair, allowing the user to put on as much color as he or she likes. Some users snip holes into the shower cap and pull sections of hair through the holes to create asymmetrical stripes all over their heads.
Those using colored hair spray to make hair look thicker or cover thinning spots don’t generally need to use most of the above steps. These users may simply hold their colored hair spray about 6 inches (about 12 cm) from the thinning spot and spray, moving the bottle constantly. Movement helps apply the color evenly. The spray should cling to colorless and very fine hairs to make hair appear thicker.