Hair DIY: How to Get Rose Gold Hair at Home

Author:

Tori is a 28-year-old, three-time animal mom and DIYer living in Northern Atlanta with her boyfriend.

hair-diy-tinting-blonde-hair-at-home-101 — hellovictoria

Tinting My Hair Rose Gold

I love experimenting with my hair. Since high school, I've pretty much run the gamut of hairstyles and colors from short to long, natural to bright, dip dying to hidden rainbow! But the one thing I haven't tried yet was tinting my hair.

To me, tinting is a more muted version of dying your whole head a different color. I have seen rose gold hair gaining popularity online, and naturally, I also fell in love with it. But how could I do it at home?

There are many ways to do it—my hairstylist recommended I get my normal blonde heavy highlights redone like normal. Then, instead of using a toner that would take the yellow out, he would use a pink toner to give me the rose gold look I was after. I was 100% game and told him I would be waiting to get it done until the week before my trip to Europe over Thanksgiving!

But naturally, me being me, I woke up one morning with an itch to do something on my own right that second. I looked at my collection of hair dyes under the sink to contemplate how I could do it, saw my leftover Manic Panic Cotton Candy Pink, and had an idea.

Supplies You'll Need


Item	Where You Can Find It
Manic Panic Cotton Candy Pink OR One N' Only Argan Oil Perfect Intensity in Hot Pink	Sally Beauty Supply, Amazon
4-5 oz plastic container (I used an empty Manic Panic Tub)	Sally Beauty, Grocery Store, Amazon
Latex or Silicone Gloves	Sally Beauty, Grocery Store, Amazon
Hair Clip	Anywhere
Large Bottle of Conditioner (I used TreSemme Anti Breakage Conditioner)	Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon, Grocery Store

How to Tint Hair Based on Brand of Dye

Using Manic Panic Dye in Cotton Candy Pink

Put your gloves on, and using your fingers, scoop out the dye from the container. Coat your entire head with the dye as if you are conditioning your hair.
Let process for at least 30–45 minutes, or longer if you prefer.
Rinse out, and shampoo and condition like normal.
After you've dried your hair, if the color is not pink enough for your liking, repeat steps 1–3 a second time.

Using One 'N Only Argan Oil Perfect Intensity in Hot Pink

Using your 4–5 oz container, fill to the top with conditioner.
Squeeze out a drop of dye about the size of the tip of your pinky finger into the conditioner, and combine until the dye has turned the conditioner a hot pink.
If you think you'll want a slightly pinker rose gold tint, add another small squeeze of dye into the conditioner.
Put your gloves on and apply the mixture to your hair as if you are conditioning your hair like normal. Let it process for 30–45 minutes or longer if you prefer.
Rinse out and shampoo and condition like normal.
After you have dried your hair, if it is not pink enough for your liking, follow steps 1–5 a second time. In my second round, I ended up adding two squeezes of pink into the conditioner instead of just one.

The Process

First I started with the Manic Panic. I had bought it previously to use it in my rainbow dip dye, but after it had processed in that project it didn't come out bright enough for my hair so I ended up having to do a different color over top of it, and had nearly an entire jar left of it.

I was able to do about half of my hair in the Manic Panic Cotton Candy Pink before I ran out of dye. If I wasn't bound and determined to have rose gold all over, I would have had some pretty awesome pale rose gold highlights complementing my blonde hair. But you know me—I can never get enough, so I started searching for a solution to make it brighter.

I found some One 'N Only Argan Oil Perfect Intensity Haircolor in Hot Pink under my sink. This one made me a little apprehensive because if you've read my other hair blogs, you know that One 'N Only has extremely strong staying power! I was concerned about my entire head coming out bright pink, but I decided to experiment anyway.

One thing to know about bright colored hair dye is that conditioner helps dilute the color. This is especially helpful if you're trying to fade one color into another color smoothly, but it also helps dilute hair dye colors. I filled the empty Manic Panic container almost to the top with conditioner and put just a drop about the size of the tip of my pinky finger in the tub with the conditioner. I mixed it up and applied it all over my head.

I let it process for about an hour before rinsing it out, and then shampooed and conditioned like normal. The nice thing about using conditioner to dilute it is that it's like a tinted mask for your hair. It's completely non-damaging and super moisturizing! Your hair will be soft and shiny after a conditioning mask, and that is something I can never get enough of.

I ended up doing two rounds of this because after I washed and dried my hair the first time, I had beautiful, subtle rose gold color in my brightest highlights, but I wanted more than that. So I did another round of the hot pink mixed with conditioner a few hours later to try and get a more pronounced rose gold color.

A side view in natural light of my rose gold tint!
hellovictoria

Things to Remember

Both dyes are semi-permanent, which means that the color will fade after a few washes. Because there's so little dye that was actually put in your hair, it will more than likely return to its old color or pretty close to it.
If you have thin hair, hair that takes color extremely easily, or blonder hair than me, and you decide to go the Manic Panic route, you should add some conditioner to the Manic Panic dye to dilute it a little bit. For me, my hair is thick and it is difficult to make it take color if it's not platinum blonde, so any pastel shades from Manic Panic come out extremely light on me.
When using Manic Panic Cotton Candy Pink, I found that I did not have enough to do my entire head even with a nearly full jar of it! if your hair is chin-length or lower, you will need to purchase two jars of it should you choose to go that direction.
The dyes are non-toxic and do not contain any harmful chemicals, which means you can do several run-throughs in one day to get the shade of rose gold you're looking for and you won't have to worry about damaging your hair. The conditioner method is also basically a mask for your hair so once it is dry it will be super soft and shiny!
Your hair already has to be heavily highlighted like my hair, or it must be dyed a yellow or golden blonde. I personally prefer applying this dye over highlights because then it gives the rose gold more dimension since the color will take to some pieces of hair more than others. Once your hair is the same yellowy color that mine was, it will work best with rose gold tinting.
The longer you let the hair color process, the better the staying power your color will have. Again because the dyes are nontoxic you don't have to worry about how long the coloring mixture is in your hair because it won't damage it.
Do not be afraid by the color the dye is in the jar when using the Ion dye on your hair! It will look like you are dying your hair hot pink when you put it in, but it will not come out that color when you wash your hair because the color is pretty diluted. Your hair will be pale once you rinse it out.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.