Coloring Hair with Chalk Pastels

I'd seen this idea for using chalk pastels to color hair several times over the past year or so, but I finally had the perfect opportunity to test it out when the kids were visiting their cousins last week.  I searched again on Pinterest,  found this tutorial at Little Pink Monster and ran out to the craft store to pick up some soft chalk pastels.

Check out the fun hair...

The girls loved it and it was really easy and inexpensive.

Here's what we did...

First, I picked up this set of soft chalk pastels (Amazon affiliate link) at the craft store, using a 40% off coupon it was less than $5!

Next we got to work putting colorful streaks in the girls' hair.

1.  We brushed their hair to get rid of any tangles and the girls chose a color.
2.  I took a section of hair where we wanted color and dampened it with a wet paper towel, then rubbed the pastel over the section.  A spray bottle of water would also work well.
3.  I rubbed the pastel over the section a few more times, trying to get the color somewhat even from root to tip.
4.  Finally, we used a flat iron (could also use a curling iron) to "dry" the hair and heat set the color.

Look at all these funky hair streaks on the cousins...

A few tips, suggestions and observations ...

1.  Make sure you get chalk pastels not oil pastels.  Chalk pastels usually have flat sides and no wrappers.  Oil pastels have rounded sides and a wrapper like a crayon.  Oil pastels would most probably make a mess in your hair.  The ones we used were soft chalk pastels which I think might have more pigment than regular chalk pastels. (but I'm not totally sure on that)

2.  We used a flat iron, but you could also use a curling iron or possibly even a hair dryer.  It really helped to heat set the color so it wasn't dripping down on their faces or clothes.

3.  Even with the heat setting, some colors did leave a little residue on fingers and foreheads (especially the pinks and reds).  It didn't bother the girls at all, but it's worth noting.

4.  The chalked colors did wash out of the hair with regular shampoo.  It came out easily from the darker-haired cousins, but took one shampoo and then a swim in the pool before it came out of my oldest daughter's hair.  Her hair is lighter, pretty fine and I used quite a bit of the pink pastel in it.  It didn't bother her (or me) since it was summer and we had no plans that required color free hair, however, you might want to test the colors you want on a small section if you're worried about wash-ability.