Contrary to how much I wax lyrical about temporary hair dyes being the godsend for non-committal hair makeovers, I myself, have never personally gotten down to actually dyeing my hair. At all. I’ll admit that most days I don’t quite find the need to aggressively alter the colour of my hair since I already do have a mane that’s naturally chestnut brown. But just two months ago, I got my first dye job — blonde highlights — and while that popped my hair dye virginity, it also opened up my hair to a world of… colour. Considering the number of pieces that I’ve wrote for NYLON on temporary hair tints (see Missha, AprilSkin, Lime Crime and 3CE — yup, those are me), I decided that it’s high time I tried one out on myself, just so I can finally (literally) indulge in my own writing. I mean, it’s not going a be a long term relationship anyway, so why not go for a quick fling?
By Chelsea Tang
Now, all the above mentioned temporary hair tints are *still* not available in Singapore, but I had the good fortune of being gifted a tube of the 3CE Treatment Hair Tint by a friend. (More on where you can purchase this later.) I got mine in the colour Rose Brown. Basically, a pinky rosewood colour. Self-explanatory.
APPLICATION
You get 50ml of product in a single tube, which I reckon isn’t enough for an entire head of colour. For me, I only wanted pink highlights, so that didn’t take up much dye. In fact, I’m quite sure I only used about a third to half of the entire tube.
The dye came out as a reddish-pink hue.
Also, the dye smelt heavenly. There was no scent of ammonia at all, and in fact the product did smell a little like rose syrup. Colour went on smoothly, everything was pretty fuss-free and easy. I let the dye sit for about 20 minutes (as recommended) before washing it off.
Now, the wash-off was truly… comforting. My blonde highlights were a tad bit dry because of the bleach and I was afraid that the dye would fry it even further. But it instead conditioned my highlights. My hair felt so smooth and soft when washing off, and I truly feel that this is the best state that my hair has been ever since getting bleach involved. Lots of pigment washed off, but the colour stayed on pretty well. I had my hair blow-dried and was really quite impressed at the end result.
RESULTS
L-R: Before, right after, and day after.
Evidently, there is a difference. Because my natural hair colour wasn’t that dark to begin with, the dye did tint it a flush of rose brown too. My highlights were a vibrant shade of pink after the first wash, but on my third wash (last image) the more vivid parts had faded off slightly, but evenly, to a softer, muted tone.
3CE mentioned that the dye will last for a week or so. At press time, I’m on my fourth day of my dye job and it’s still holding up well.
THE HAIR TREATMENT TINT ON DARK HAIR
The pink dye came off extremely faint on dark hair.
Since there was half a tube of dye left, I decided to rope my sister in, and have her try out the the tint on her hair. She has black hair, but the kind that shows up as a dark brown under the sun. We decided upon a quick dip-dye style for pink tips.
As mentioned previously, 3CE has been quite upfront about the effectiveness of their dye on darker hair, so I was already half-expecting the dye to not show up. And true to their word, hardly any colour could be seen under fluorescent light. Even when under the sun, the pink hue comes off as a very, very, very subtle tint to unsuspecting onlookers.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There’s really nothing to not like about the 3CE Treatment Hair Tint. It’s really all about managing expectations. The dye does do its job when used on a canvas that’s slightly lighter / bleached, and the colour does turn out true to images and imagination. You really can’t expect bright, pastel, muted colours to show up on dark hair colours; that just defies logic. Overall, it’s a good product. I wouldn’t mind trying out other colours.
Here’s where you can get your hands on these dyes. The easiest way would be from stylenanda.com, but you’ll have to incur a US$20 shipping fee. A cheaper option would be Airfrov, where prices are as low as $13.
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