Hair styles with extreme colors and cuts are not for the timid.
If you're ready for a big style change, look to an accessory that's not in your closet but with you all the time: your hair. Hair is an extremely versatile way to express yourself; it may be styled, cut, colored and fashioned in endless varieties of ways. Show off your punk or emo side, match your hair to your favorite sweater color, or simply try out an extreme style if you dare. Does this Spark an idea?
Coontail
Take a cue from the masked foragers of the forest and turn your long hair into a coontail with just a few supplies. The style is created with bleach, masking tape and optional bright, neon hair dye such as pink or electric blue. Even people with the lightest blond hair will want to use bleach so the style really stands out.
To create the striping seen on raccoons and lemurs, be sure to separate a section of your hair (place the rest in a scrunchie or non-pull rubber band). Wrap sections of masking tape around the hair in loops, leaving about an inch or two in between sections of the tape so your hair shows through. To apply bleach to the non-taped parts of your hair, paint it with a brush or wear a glove and dip your fingers into the solution. Be sure to coat hair entirely and use the bottle's suggested time to leave it on. In the shower, the tape will fall off as soon as it gets wet, leaving your hair striped.
Optionally, once your hair is dry, you can repeat the process, applying colored dye to the newly bleached parts of your hair, creating an unnaturally striped tail. Note that this style is extreme; once you bleach your hair, the resulting color is part of your strands until it grows out.
Harajuku
Steal a style from overseas, based out of the Harajuku area of Tokyo, known for extreme fashions and hair. The basic style for Harajuku hair involves extremely bright, unnatural colors and long layers that fall into your face. Hair is cut with a razor to give it sharp angles and edges; you can use gel or mousse to add spikes or pull locks down over your eyes and around your cheekbones.
Dark-haired people interested in the Harajuku style will need to bleach their hair first or the vibrant neon colors won't show up; lighter-haired stylers may opt to bleach their hair, too or do a test on a small area to see how the color comes up. Many Harajuku hair wearers leave some of their original hair color peeking out from below; this means when you apply the bleach, it should go on just the top parts of your hair and a few strands that will fall around your face.
After you've let the bleach set, washed it out and let hair dry, temporary and semi-permanent extreme hair colors in purple, green, brick red and blue may be added to complete the style.
Dip Dyeing
Dip dyeing is a process that takes its name from the old hippie-favorite of tie dyeing, but it's anything but mellow. Unlike rainbow-colored t-shirts, dip dyeing hair is an involved process where you cut and style your hair with a color that will eventually fade or be trimmed out. Dip dyeing works on any hair color; no bleaching is necessary unless you want to add it to the process or have extremely dark hair and want to dip dye a very light color.
After hair is cut to your preferred style, a coloring solution is applied to its ends. (The actual height is up to the wearer; opt for just an inch of extreme color such as blue on blond hair or add hot pink halfway up the sides of your brown hair.) Other options include dip dyeing a single lock of hair over your forehead, creating stripes or doing just the undersides of your hair. Dip dyeing is a permanent commitment; the color will be part of your hair until you cut it off or dye over the top of it.
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