Sorry, Interwebs. Only a day late, right? Not three days in and NaNoWriMo is all ready kicking my butt!

You might have noticed that my hair is no longer mermaid-coloured. Unless, of course, that mermaid happens to be swimming in the Gulf right now, in which case I may still have mermaid hair. Although I washed my hair literally once a week, tops, use a very mild, colour-safe shampoo, and sometimes didn’t use any whatsoever, the purple did not last long at all. Within a week, it faded from vibrant shades of lavender and violet to more subdued white-pinks and finally turned completely gray. While I have nothing against gray hair, it became a pain to work with all the way around. My makeup simultaneously needed to brighten my complexion against the faded gray of my hair and yet remain subtle since anything too bold looked ridiculous.

I had agreed to go back to a more natural shade after the mermaid hair, but I absolutely could not find a dye that would take me from my current platinum-blonde/gray to my natural dark brown/black. Especially if I was trying to avoid harsh chemicals that had all ready fried my hair, I was out of luck. But I remembered hearing about Palty Hair Dye, renowned for its ability to lift dye-resistant hair. It’s a Japanese brand meant for Asian hair types, and while I am not Asian, my natural hair might as well be if we’re going by dye resistance. It took me five bleach sessions to get my hair blonde, and another three to go platinum. That said, Palty also makes a line called “Turn Color,” to return previously bleached hair to more natural shades of brown and black.

I picked up Palty Turn Color in Natural Black from JasMart over on St. Marks. It’s a little Japanese convenience and grocery store, so I figured they would have it (side note: I know the Mistuwa grocery stores also carry Palty products). I only bought one box, but for shoulder-length hair, you ought to buy two. I had to skimp considerably, and would have felt safer getting a more generous, even coat. According to the swatches on the back, medium-golden blonde should turn dark brown in five minutes and black within ten. I was considerably lighter than the lightest swatch, but I figured the worst that would happen would be brown hair instead of black.

Inside the box, there was an applicator bottle containing the developer, a brush-top for the applicator, a tube of creme colour, gloves, and a packet of conditioner. I did not use the gloves contained, opting instead for our always-handy box of latex gloves instead. The directions are entirely in Japanese, but you can find translations online if you can’t read it. Like any other dye, the creme colour goes into the bottle of developer and is mixed thoroughly. It tells you to apply as quickly as possible after being mixed, beginning at the nape of the neck where your body heat is slower to develop the colour. From there, work forwards, and wait ten minutes before rinsing.

The first thing my entire house noticed was the lack of ammonia smell. Anyone who has ever had their hair dyed can identify that nostril-searing chemical reek, even if covered by perfumes or extracts (if I recall, Garnier boxed dyes have a slightly fruity scent under all that ammonia). Palty dyes simply do not have that. Amazingly, the dye itself smells very floral, even a little fruity, and does not give off any harsh chemical odors at any point in the dying process.

The dye mixture applies very nicely. It’s rather thick, and if used with the comb attachment, you can be fairly certain that each strand is coated well and evenly. It applies stark white, so it can be a little difficult to see exactly where you have applied and what spots need to be dyed, but within minutes it begins to turn darker–just be warned, this cooks up blueish, like a dark indigo. My family was terrified I was going from purple to blue.

After application, I left it on for a bit longer than recommended–I know, follow directions, blah blah, but I get busy and lose track of time (and simply don’t believe in timers). Maybe instead of the ten recommended minutes, I let it sit for thirty. The only downside to over-processing here seemed to be a bit of difficulty in rinsing. Some of the dye may have dried on, and because of the dark colour, the water takes a while to run clear.

The conditioner, which shares a similar floral smell and supposedly contains camellia oil to recondition the hair, was lovely, but a little too little for my hair. Considering I only have shoulder-length hair, I take this to mean anyone with longer hair will definitely need two packets. My hair is ridiculously dry, so after I rinsed the dye out of my hair, I applied the conditioner as best I could and let it sit on my head for a while–normally I do this for 10-15 minutes, but I might have accidentally lost further track of time and let this sit for an hour.

The result immediately after dying: a dark, black cat black. My only complaint about the dye immediately afterward was a strange, lingering metallic smell. Honestly, I don’t know if this was a result of the dye itself or my sink (which was stainless steel and cleaned just before I rinsed my hair in it). Regardless, it lasted only until I re-washed my hair and wasn’t much of a problem.

One thing I had heard about Palty that appealed to me was the longevity of colour–most reviews I’ve seen said they managed to get three months or so before needing to re-dye. Unheard of! With most shades I’ve ever worn, I needed to re-dye at least once a month, with the garnet red and unnatural-shades at a staggering two-and-a-half weeks. Three months without re-dying would be magic!

Unfortunately, I began to notice fading about a week after initial dyeing. I’m not sure if this was because my hair was too light to begin with (it was at least two whole shades lighter than the lightest shown swatch), or because I used Natural Black when what I obviously wanted was Deep Black or Rich Black, or whatever they call their shoe-polish black colour. It wasn’t terribly noticeable to anyone else, and my family said they only noticed a distinct brown note to it, versus the inky black it started as.

All in all, if you want to take your bleached hair and go from blonde to black as quickly as possible, this is a very good product. I can’t speak for all shades, or even the bleach-based line (though they do have adorable colour names like “Ganache Tart” and “Mango Gelee”), but Turn Color Natural Black was just what I needed at the time.

You can see Palty dyes on the Dariya page here, or buy online at WebIchi. If you have a Mitsuwa Market or Jasmart or any other Japanese grocery near you, check the hair care and cosmetics aisle!

Love you to the Moon and Back,

Luna Valentine