5 Tips to Do Split Hair Color The Right Way

Split hair color is a hot new expressive trend right now. But, if you want to take part in the color frenzy, you need to know what you’re getting into and how to do it right. Read on for five tips on how to achieve split hair color the right way.

What is Split Hair Color?

Why have one hair color when you can have two? Split hair color is a new hair dying trend that splits your hair into two colors. Whether you choose pink and blue, silver and purple, or white and black, split hair color is a great way to express yourself.

How to do Split Color the Right Way

While pictures make it look easy, coloring your hair, especially with two colors, takes some know-how. To split color your hair the right way, you need to know how to prepare, choose your colors, part your hair, color, and keep up with the look.

1. Preparation

You don’t want to start dying your hair only to realize halfway through you’re missing a key component. To avoid this panic, you’ll want to prep your workspace with all of the necessities, including:

• A towel(s) you don’t mind staining
• Gloves
• Hair ties and/or clips
• A hairbrush
• Your hair dye colors
• A mirror
• A timer
• A dye brush if you have one

Once you gather all of your supplies, you’ll want to clear a space to work–unless you want hair dye getting all over your stuff. After you get your area cleaned and set up with your supplies within reach, you can get started.

2. Choosing Your Colors

Before you go out and buy your colors, you need to consider your natural or current hair color because choosing your favorite color doesn’t mean it’s going to work effortlessly with your existing hair color.

For example, if you select a light dye like pink or purple, your hair needs to be light for the color to take properly. If your hair is dark and you want a light color, you’ll need to bleach it to a compatible color base.

If you need to bleach your hair, you’ll need to acquire the necessary supplies; however, bleaching can harm your hair if done incorrectly, so you might want to schedule an appointment with a hair salon before you try it yourself.

If you already have light hair you only need to choose the colors you want. Have fun with choosing! You can go vibrant on one side and neutral on the other, choose contrasting colors, or choose colors randomly. Whatever dyes you choose is entirely up to you. 

3. Parting Your Hair

Just because you part your hair a certain way, day-to-day doesn’t mean you have to stick with it when you choose to split dye. However, you choose, envision how you want the end product to look.

If you want your hair to have an even distribution of both colors, you should part your hair in the middle. If you favor one color over the other, you might want to part your hair to the side. Remember to choose how you part your hair before you begin because once you get started coloring, you won’t be able to switch it up.

4. Coloring

For the best results, you shouldn’t wash your hair before you color. You want your hair free of conditioner when you go to dye it because the hair dye doesn’t stick to your hair as well. Dying on wet hair, in general, will also prevent the dye from sticking, so do not wet your hair beforehand unless the instructions of your dye tell you to do so.

Once your hair is prepped, split it into sections to make sure you evenly distribute the color to each side. If you don’t have a dye brush, you can use gloved hands to work the color into your hair, starting at the root and massaging it down toward the tips.

You’ll keep applying your color until both halves of your head are saturated completely. If you aren’t fully coloring both halves, you’ll keep applying the color until you’ve reached your desired level of saturation.

5. Continuing Care

Once you’ve got your colors perfect and curated to your liking, you’ll want to maintain them properly. Make sure you buy and use hair care products designed for color-treated hair, and when you go to use them, be sure to rinse with cooler water. It doesn’t have to be ice-water, just milder than scalding so that the colors don’t bleed and lose their vibrancy.