Source: McKenzie Dawkins / Photo by McKenzie Dawkins
I am no stranger to color when it comes to my natural hair. I’ve dyed it all kinds of colors, from blonde, to burgundy, fire engine red, and purple. While I’ve been pretty vigilant about maintaining the health of my color-treated tresses, chemical processing does take its toll. For that reason, I decided last year to chill out on the permanent hair dye. Now, as I grow out the last little bit of my colored ends, I only switch up my look with semi-permanent or vegan dyes, which stain my hair without chemically altering the pigment.
That’s why I was super hyped to try out Hair Paint Wax ($6.99, hairpaintwax.com), a no-commitment option to coloring your hair without actually dyeing that’s been going absolutely viral all over my Instagram feed. According to the website, the wax gives easy color with no damage and no stickiness. It’s also supposed to rinse out with just one wash.
Naturally, I had to see it for myself so I ordered four colors: red, gold, blue, and purple. These are the cheapest colors on the site, but I should note that some of the other colors, like orange, yellow, aquamarine, and pink, are a few bucks more, at $9.99. The black Hair Paint Wax is $7.99.
Starting on freshly washed hair, I applied my moisturizing products as I normally would. First, I applied the Mielle Organics Pomegranate & Honey Leave-In Conditioner ($12.99, target.com) followed by the Mielle Organics Pomegranate & Honey Curl Smoothie ($8.89, target.com). To set my wash and go in place for multiple days of wear, I followed up with the Mielle Organics Pomegranate & Honey Curling Custard ($8.99, target.com). Since I was completely unaware how the wax would mix with my styling products, I applied less product than I normally would.
Next came time for the wax. Sectioning my hair in four parts – and then sub-sectioning as I went – I applied a small amount of the wax to each section of my hair with my bare hands. I didn’t feel the need for gloves as the product isn’t an actual dye and is advertised to rinse off with water. The Hair Paint Wax glided very easily over the top of my stylers, and I found that the color vibrancy was buildable the more product I applied. I wanted a more dimensional look, so I alternated my sections between the blue and the purple wax, and then smoothed my hands over the sections to get rid of any harsh color lines.
From beginning to end, my experience with the Hair Paint Wax was effortless.
APPLICATION
The wax felt like a cream and went onto my hair with no problem. I thought it might be sticky because that’s what the term “wax” brings to mind, but as promised, there was absolutely no stick factor. The wax was very easy to blend into my hair. The only place I feel like product was tricky to apply was close to the scalp, near my part. In that area, I had to work to make sure the color wasn’t too saturated because I don’t like the “hot roots” look.
COLOR PAYOFF
My final results were beautiful. The color definitely looked more vibrant in natural sunlight or sitting in front of my ring light than it did in the shade or indoors, but either way, the color was definitely noticeable. No, the color wasn’t quite as vibrant as it appears in the jar, but personally, I liked that. I love having the option to build it up from subtle to a more “how YOU doin?” level of impact.
STAINING/TRANSFER
Source: McKenzie Dawkins / Photo by McKenzie Dawkins
Now, there is some mild transfer that occurs with this product, but nothing crazy at all. You can barely see where the purple only slightly rubbed off around my collar where my hair was rubbing against my shirt. This is after a full day of wear – pretty impressive, if you ask me. There was also some color transfer to my ears and the very back of my neck, but that washed right off with water or wiped off with a paper towel. There was no color smearing to my face, even though my fairly long hair constantly brushes against my cheeks and forehead. As for my hands, there was some color transfer when I really had my hands up in there, either putting my hair up or taking it down out of a bun. When generally fluffing or touching, however, I saw no color whatsoever. There has also been no rub-off onto my white satin pillowcase – go figure!
PRODUCT FLAKING
I only experienced a small amount of flaking the very first day of wear. It was honestly so tiny, I could have missed it, and no one else seemed to notice. After the first day, I saw no more flakes. This could be attributed to me being light-handed with my product layering.
DURATION OF COLOR
I styled my hair on Monday night, and four days later, the color is still kicking! It’s not quite as vibrant as it was the very first day or two, but it’s definitely still there.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, I think the Hair Paint Wax is a bomb option if you’re looking to have fun with your hair color without all the commitment and risk of chemical dyes. It’s a fairly no-muss, no-fuss product and the compliments haven’t stopped rolling in. At $6.99, why not give it a try?
Would you try Hair Paint Wax on your hair? Leave us a comment below.
