Retro Gals and Hair

I'm having hair indecision again so we're going to talk about hair. I've been experimenting with home hair color (and color removing) but since I have dark hair, it's hard to do much with out professional help! I'll be sharing my hair adventures on Wednesday assuming youtube cooperates but today I wanted to talk about the vintage/retro scene and hair colors.

It seems to me that a lot of vintage and retro gals are attracted to bold and contrasting hair colors. I know that ladies of the past also enjoyed these colors.

Dark hair and bold brows set of lighter eyes.

And there's Marilyn's famous locks that we all know had some help getting this shade.

But what is it about these bold contrasting shades that draws us so? Especially considering that most of us don't have stylists on retainer to follow us around and touch up our color!

Ashley of Lisa Freemont Street has been rocking RED locks for a long time (and platinum blonde before that). As much as I love red hair, I know how much maintenance it is even if you are lucky like Ashley and have light enough hair that you don't have to bleach it first!

Brittany of Va-Voom Vintage has rocked both darker and lighter hair. Maybe because we tend to do more with our hair than stick it up in a pony tail, it makes us desire a stronger color to show off our hair dos.

 Plus there's Candice of Super Kawaii Mama and her iconic blonde streak which does look awesome in rolls and such. Maybe we like standing out in our outfits and want our hair to do the same.

Then there is the crayon box colors that are becoming more and more popular. Gertie of Gertie's Blog for Better Sewing has rocked pink tips and a whole head of pink! There seems to be such a sense of fun and excitement with these bold colors.

Not to mention that pink hair looks awesome on camera as modeled by A Vintage Vanity. One reason that I really want to get away from black hair is that it does not show up well on camera.

So what is our obsession with crazy hair colors? Did we pick it up from stars of the past? Did we bring it from other subcultures in our past? Is it just that it's so easy now to do? Are we getting bored too fast? Is it just a reflection of the greater acceptance of less natural hair color by society?

 Or maybe most of us are more like Casey of Elegant Musings-quite content with the hair color that naturally springs from our head and it's just the flashy, bold looks that get more screen time because they are "more exciting".

So let's discuss while I ponder what color I want my hair!

Adventures in Dying: Part 1

I had a length of off white linen that had gotten turned a bit pink after washing with a length of red linen (which had already been washed several times before) so I thought I'd try dying it. I really wanted a hunter green linen but they didn't have any when I bought the linen so I picked up an appropriate box of dye from JoAnns and went to work.

Linen before. The camera didn't pick up the pink tint well.

Vat of dye! I didn't really have a good place to dye my fabric and I think this bucket was a bit small. I'll have to try someplace larger next time.

Fabric drying. Hunter green-check Perfect dye job-no check

I got a whole bunch of lighter streaks from the dye not penetrating into the lump of fabric. Probably from using a too small bucket.

I also did something really dumb and tried bleaching my bucket on the other side of the sink where my fabric was rinsing. *facepalm* So there are a few orangish bleach spots where I dripped into the other side of the sink.... :(

I want to try and fix the streaking. Do you think if I dye it again, the color will even out? Or will it just make everything proportionally darker? I may try dying it in the sink since the fabric fit in there much better than the bucket. I'm planning on using this for a petticoat for my red peasant Renaissance dress, so I think it's ok if it's not perfect, but I would like it to be better.