How to Dye Your Hair with Kool-Aid

Hi all! My little Diva has been after me to let her use a temporary hair color before she goes back to school. We only have a couple weeks left of vacation, so I guess she’s trying to have as much fun as possible while she can. She actually asked to try Kool-Aid hair dye last summer, but we didn’t have any, so we used food coloring, instead.

So this year, she reminded me to pick up some Kool-Aid when were at the store, and we did a little experimenting when we got home. In case you’re wondering how it works, I thought I’d share our tips for dyeing hair with Kool-Aid.

My daughter attends summer dance class, and the girls enjoy showing off their multi-colored manes when they come to class each day. When we tried using food coloring last year, it worked pretty well, and the colors were very vibrant, but it washed out right away. So guess who got to deal with that every day? That’s right — me!

So that’s why I was up for trying the Kool-Aid, which my daughter assured me was supposed to gradually rinse out after a few shampoos.

We bought cherry flavor and grape flavor, and then we used two different methods to see what the color would look like.

First, we boiled about two cups of water and mixed in the cherry flavored Kool-Aid until the water was nice and red. Then, we poured it into a glass bowl and let it cool. For the grape flavor, we just mixed the powder with cool water in an empty plastic container. My daughter told me that boiling the water is supposed to produce a richer color, while not boiling the water would make the dye a little lighter.

To dye the hair, we just dipped the ends into the Kool-Aid for a couple of minutes. My daughter did the sides, but I helped her with the back. We left the back in the hair dye a little longer, so I’d say it took about five minutes to get the shade just right. 

Oh, I also made sure she had an old towel around her shoulders. This stuff can be messy, folks! And when I took her hair out of the bowl, I patted it dry with a few paper towels. Then, I used a blow dryer to finish drying the hair and to set the color.

The ends of your hair tend to absorb more color anyway, and this is what happened here. My daughter just loves the bright red tips!

My other daughter wanted to try the purple. I thought the color would be more noticeable because her hair is blonde, but because we didn’t boil the grape flavor, the result is a very soft, almost pinkish shade. 

The good thing about using Kool-Aid to dye your hair is that it does last longer than the food coloring. It didn’t wash out right away, even after a swimming session and a shower later! And my daughter was able to show off her red hair at dance the next day, which she was totally thrilled about.

And, I’m happy that we crossed another item off the summer bucket list!

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

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