Brides With Radical Hair Colors?

I am 35 and haven't had a "normal" hair color since I was 14. It's been every color of the rainbow (and even for one summer, rainbow!)

My hair is currently 3 shades of blues and greens and I'll just be doing a root touch up for the wedding. Think "mermaid ombre". It's currently darker on the bottom lighter on the top, but in order to be kinder to my hair, I'm probably going to go dark to light from top to bottom. (less bleaching involved). Something like this but more subtle in the gradient: (that's not me below)

My MOH did it had it done and it looked amazing on her and I actually regret not doing it.

I used to do crazy hair colors all the time, then I graduated and had to get a serious banking job, so now no more awesome hair for me.

In my experience always bleach first! The color just pops so much better, also maybe it's just me but I feel like after bleaching, my hair just likes to soak up all the dye, so it lasts longer.

My hair is a mix between teal and dark blue. I've had my hair just about every color you can think of.

And even if your hair is light, if you want to do pastel the sections you want to do need to be almost white and pastel fades out pretty quickly as well. I've had pastel blue, purple and pink hair. I highly recommend Arctic Fox hair-dye if you decide to do it!

As a hairstylist, I give my clients this advice. When ever you have a big function coming up and are thinking about trying something new with your hair do it well in advance. Whether it be a new cut or color. With the vibrant colors , like the pastels, they only tend to look their best for about 2 maybe three weeks and then you will need another touch up. You most likely will have to lighten your hair to white blonde to get the pastels to look like that picture up top. The cool thing about color is, if you dont like it, you can always change it. BUT when you are doing vibrant colors like the one up top it is alot on your hair. The stylist should know how to do it without compromising the integrity or your hair. So if you get the pastel colors and dont like them any good stylist will recommend waiting at least two weeks before changing it. Unless you already have super blonde hair you will have to bleach it and then put the color over top. Please dont attempt it on yourself with box color or bleach. You will not be happy with the results.

Wow Boozy, that looks stunning! Great colors!

Bailey and Ruth, nice reds! I've done some bold reds back when I was younger, though I think I want to be a little less intense this round

FutureFrost, that's a good point about the bleaching.

And agenderscotty, teal and dark blue sounds lovely. I haven't heard of Arctic Fox hair dye, so I'll have to look into it!

Thanks for the tips SoonToBeMrsS. I don't plan on doing it myself, luckily. One of my bridesmaids is a professional hairstylist so I was going to work on this project with her. However, she's an out-of-towner, so I'm trying to discern if I should do the dye in advance and just have her style it or how we should do this. Sounds like I should probably get going in advance.

Definitely do it in advance to make sure you like it. Then if you do you can always have your friend touch it up before the wedding so its nice and fresh.

Any suggestions on a timeline? Like bleach and dye 2 weeks before, deep conditioning treatment 1 week before, color touch-ups a few days before?

A professional is best, but it's 100% possible to do yourself. I managed to do a full rainbow waterfall dye job by myself, you just have to be careful not to leave the bleach on too long (or get it on your scalp, so itchy!) and having a friend there to tell you if you've missed any spots.

I would suggest bleaching before coloring if you want the colors to be super vibrant. The picture you show isn't very bright so it may look similar to what your hair would do if color was added directly to it without bleach. I wish I could do something funky with my hair but I wouldn't be able to pull it off at work

I would recommend doing a trail run as soon as you can afford it and then have the color freshened up in between. For your wedding i would have it done the same week as the wedding. Try not to wash it everyday and use limited amount of heat on it as that will cause it to fade faster as well. Buy professional shampoo and conditioner and maybe a dry shampoo for the days you dont wash it.

Thanks Karen!

Yeah definitely bleach. My hair is black so there's no way it'd pick up colors if I didn't bleach it to an inch of its life first. Even if your hair is blonde, bleach it a bit. At worst, use toner. Also, if you've never done a "weird" color, I'd recommend doing it way before the wedding in case you have second thoughts.

This is actually my hair. Couldn't find the pic earlier cause I was on my work pc. It's currently past my armpits, I'm actively willing it to grow another 6 inches in 8 months. :/ Oh and I use Directions which can be purchased on Amazon. I used to use Special Effects but I swear they changed their formula. I guess it depends on what you want, cause the brands I use, I use specifically because they last the longest. Others like Manic Panic tend to wash out quickly if you're looking for something short term.

If your hair is light enough, avoid bleach if you want the color to last, but if you don't mind fade and just want if bright for a few weeks, bleach is the way to go. Bleach makes the color "slide" off the hair so yes it'll be fab and bright, but you'd need to have it done within a week or two of your wedding.

I don't bleach, and only need to color twice a year. The last time, my stylist had me pay close attention to when the initial brightness faded and what point I loved it for the wedding so we could plan when to color just before the wedding (I'm doing 2 weeks). I use Goldwell (I believe only licensed pros can buy it) and it lasts 6 months with minimal fading. Attached pic is 4 months post color...not planned, but my hair sort of matches our wedding colors!

I highly recommend doing a test run in advance, you have plenty of time.

Klimberkat. How long are your roots by the time you redye?

I wish!!! I would love a dusty rose pink with silver ombré, but, unfortunately I work for a very conservative company and must live out my wild styles with wigs xD

I've had radical colors for a while! My mom requested that I have normal hair color for my wedding lol. I compromised and told her I'd have my natural brown with some red extensions!

Please let a pro do this. But here's my unicorn hair

@Erin, the roots are an inch or two, but my amazing stylist blends the roots at the beginning (not all the strands are done up to the skull), so even as it grows out, you never see a harsh line. Hence you don't notice the roots in my picture, 4 months post dye.

@Riddel I love your colors! And definitely agree, have a pro do it.