11 Ways To Dye Your Hair Bright Colors At Home

Forget what you may have heard. You don't have to book an appointment with a professional in order to achieve vivid, salon-quality hair color. In fact, there are several ways that you can dye your hair brighter colors without spending a fortune. There are even several at-home coloring options that don't even require actual hair dye. While it might sound crazy, getting gorgeous, vivid hair color might be easier than you think.

The first step to dyeing your hair a vivid or neon color is to start with a lighter base. Unfortunately, brighter dyes and pigments don't tend to show up as well on darker strands. Instead, these dyes can end up looking like a muddled mess if not applied on the proper base. If necessary, give your hair a brightening boost by using a hair lightening kit to fade your strands. While bleaching will cause damage to your hair (like any sort of harsh chemical will), it will give you a better base when applying more colorful dyes. However, after bleach, be sure to coat your strands with a deep conditioner in order to restore softness and shine. Otherwise, your hair might end-up looking more fried than fabulous. From there, it's time to start dyeing. Wondering how you should be applying your brighter hair color? Here are 11 ways to dye your hair a brighter color at-home.

1. Use An All Over Color

If you're new to dyeing your hair, start off by using an single color all over to create your preferred look. One of my favorite tips from the video above is to go in directly with the dye itself (not the conditioner/dye mix) and apply another coat to the areas of your hair that are still dark. While this does add a bit more damage to the hair, it does add a brighter vividness to darker strands.

2. Mix & Match

Not everyone is satisfied with sticking to a single shade. Create your own unique look by mixing and matching different bold dyes for a more dimensional style.

3. Get Creative

Can't find the specific color that you want on the shelves? Get creative instead! GoodDYEyoung, a hair color brand by Paramore's Hayley Williams and hair colorist Brian O'Connor, features dyes that can mixed together to create customized shades.

4. Embrace The Rainbow

Show off your fun, quirky personality by dyeing the ends of your hair to match the colors of the rainbow.

5. Use Food Coloring

Unsure about tacking the plunge with permanent hair color? Try using food coloring to temporally punch up your strands.

6. Or Crepe Paper

Believe it or not, the dye found in crepe paper can actually add temporary color to your strands.

7. Use Henna

One of the major drawbacks to dyeing your hair is the damage that the harsh chemicals can do to your strands. Give your hair some TLC by using henna to add vibrancy to your hair. While henna is often provided in more natural hair tones, you can use henna combined with household things like tea to add more vividness to the color.

8. Try Jell-O

It might sound crazy, but the food coloring found in Jell-O can actually leave behind color on your strands. It's a fun DIY hack that can wash out over time.

9. Become A Unicorn

Honestly, who wouldn't want to look like a magical unicorn?!

10. A Twist On Ombré

Turn the ombré trend on its head this season by using vivid neon colors instead of more traditional hair tones to create a quirky effect.

11. Vivid Color Melt

Transform into a gorgeous butterfly by creating a seamless color melt using bright, neon colors. While this may seem difficult to pull off, it actually couldn't be more simple.

Bland, boring colors just aren't worth it. Punch up your strands this summer by opting for more vivid, bolder colors when dyeing your hair.