Lauren Conrad, or LC as some us from may remember her from Laguna Beach, has grown into quite the beauty trendsetter in recent years. How many of us fell in love with (and still rock) the braided bangs hairstyle she popularized?
And she set a major beauty trend this season: At the beginning of this past summer, Lauren debuted her bright, multi-colored dip-dye locks and set off another craze.
And Lauren wasn’t alone in trying this look – everyone from Kate Bosworth and Nicki Minaj tried the dip-dye trend this summer. And just recently, Lauren herself gave the style another go with an orange-pink shade inspired by My Little Pony (right photo above).
Unlike Lauren, however, few of us can afford a celebrity stylist, nor can we commit to a permanent dye job… but that doesn’t mean we can’t try this trend! A few weeks ago, we found an effective yet temporary DIY technique to achieve the look. Erica Worzel discovered a great technique she calls “hair chalking” and shared it on her blog. So that’s the look we’re recreating today.
Continue reading to learn how to recreate Lauren Conrad’s dip-dye tresses at home in just 3 simple steps.
Table of Contents
You Will Need:
- Rubber Gloves. Yes, this gets messy – gloves will keep your hands from looking like a Jackson Pollock painting.
- An old towel or t-shirt to wear during the process (for the same reason as above).
- A spray bottle of water
- Clips to section your hair
- Most importantly, soft chalk pastels (Rembrandt pastels work best.)
Note: I actually used another brand of pastels before switching to Rembrandt. I first tried using Cray-Pas pastels, however, the color didn’t transfer well at all.
Rembrandt is more expensive, but I was able to purchase some individually at my college’s local art store for a few dollars a piece, instead of purchasing an entire pack with colors I didn’t even want. Believe me when I say Rembrandt is well worth the money.
1. Section + Dampen
Product Information: Spray Bottles + Hair Clips both from Amazon
Separate the strands of hair you would like to color and use the spray bottle to slightly dampen the hair. If you don’t have a spray bottle on hand, simply running a comb under water will work just fine.
2. Color
Simply take a section of dampened hair, hold it tight and rub on your choice of the colored pastels in a downward direction until the color adheres. My boyfriend actually had the genius idea of laying my hair on scrap paper on a flat surface to rub the pastel on it. SO MUCH easier than just holding it in the air.
3. Style
Now that you’ve applied the desired amount of color to your hair, style it as usual. Colored strands would brighten up any braid and they also look adorable slightly curled, just how Lauren often wears this trend.
Here’s a close-up:
Click on the photo to enlarge.
What Do You Think?
Do you like the dip-dye trend or do you find it too over-the-top? Would you try the trend now that you have a non-permanent option? Or have you already tried this hairstyle trend? Tell us in a comment! Also, if you try this, be sure to leave a comment and share your results!
i’m in love with this and actually going to try it out this weekend in my school’s colors for a football game…any suggestions on how to section it so that it doesn’t look like a hot mess??
Awesome! I love “crazy” colors, but job hunting means I can’t have them permanently right now. 🙂 This is perfect for me!
I love this trend! Unfortunatly my hair is short and extremely dark, but maybe If I did it in my bangs it would come out nice:) Maybe a catchy blue. So cute on Lauren Conrad!
I love this! The only thing is, I was wondering whether anybody knows if the color can come out of your hair and onto clothing or anything? Is there a way to “lock” it in so it wouldn’t smudge on stuff? (I use pastels for art and they get all over everything, in my experience 🙁 ) Maybe hairspray? Thanks so much for any feedback. 🙂
This is really cute! I do worry that the color would rub off on clothes though.
I’ve loved this trend since I first saw it on Lauren, but I’ve never colored my hair and I didn’t want the commitment. I might just have to try this. So cool!
does this damage your hair at all?
Does this get on your clothes after you wear this style around all day?
This absolutely works on dark hair! My roommate did this for Halloween and she has dark black hair.
Also, while she was trying this chalking technique we learned that the more damp your hair is the brighter/better the color will show up.
And the color came out of my hair after one shampoo.
I love this and have been wanting do do it ever since Lauren did the Mermaid tips, but unfortunately I have dark hair =(
It’s Jackson Pollock.
I love the style on other people, but I like my hair to look a little more classic, and less colorful.
I tried it and it worked on my dark brown hair. =D I used bright colors though. Light blue, light green and pink.
I’m guessing this only works on lighter hair. I have dark brown hair and I don’t think the color would show up… Sad. This is such a cute style.
How long does the color last?
I absolutely love it… Maybe I’ll try it, but I don’t know if the pastels’ colour will show on my very dark brown hair.