Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Countdown to Dragon*Con: Taming the Beast

So I have crazy curly, light brown hair. It's unmanageable and insane. Loki has slicked back, black hair. Not exactly the same thing. At all. What's a girl to do if she's trying to make a Loki cosplay?

Seriously, below is my hair...or was my hair last Dragon*Con before I chopped it all off. Do you see that color? Do you see how no matter how tightly I bind my hair there is frizz coming off everywhere? And do you see that beautiful Gibson Tuck I mastered for my steampunk costume? Dedication. That's what that was. Anyway, my hair is clearly not the same color as Loki's.
My hair is short so now it looks more like in the photos below.

Well clearly temporary hair dye is in order. But it has to be something that simultaneously tames my hair. And it has to be something I can wear for twelve hours without driving myself insane. I've used the spray-on temporary hair dyes in the past, but it gets everywhere and will come off into your hands if you accidentally touch your hair. Seriously. It's a good thing my entire outfit was green when I dolled myself up as a capitol person for the Hunger Games premiere. Because that green stuff came off everywhere. EVERYWHERE. And I don't think I could go 12 hours without touching my hair.

Also, that green hair, my friends, is not a wig, despite the fact everyone seems to think it is. That is my hair essentially spray painted green. See that volume? That's what happens when I brush my hair when it's dry. My hair in the photo to the left is what happens when I let my hair air dry. And it just curls itself up.

Yes, I wear a lot of green. And see how crazy curly my hair is? It bears repeating that Loki's hair looks like this:
Smooth. Sleek. Black. Not my hair.

In my mind when I was researching options I wanted something that I could use to color my hair and then be able to mess with it to make it smooth and flat. Most spray-ons don't allow that because they're essentially hair spray. I needed something different.

And then I found Manic Panic's hair dye gel. Essentially it's a color gel. It dries hard and makes your hair the color you want it to be. And it washes out. 

Boom. That's exactly what I need! With a gel I could tame my hair in the wet state, make it maintain the straightness it has when its damp. And I could change the color. Simultaneously color and tame. But does it work? I needed to try it before Dragon*Con. I needed to figure out what to do. So I ordered a tube of it and when it arrived, one of my friends came over to play with my hair. The results? See the photo below:

That's my hair! My hair! Black! And smooth! And sleek! For the most part. It still managed to curl in some places, as you can see on the right side of the photo. But that area was only lightly gelled. A little more gel and it could have been as sleep and smooth as the rest.

I wore that stuff in my hair for an entire afternoon and it didn't come off in my hands or anything. It was a hard gel but I can deal with that. I could still touch my hair. Heck, I could touch my hair without messing it up. And none of the color came off into my hands or onto my shirt. 

And it came out easily. I only had to shampoo it twice, unlike that green stuff which took like four times. Basically, this stuff is magic and is going to work perfectly!

Now all I need to complete my Loki cosplay is the actual costume and some leggings. I already have the boots. It's going to be amazing!

No comments:

Post a Comment