Fashion

Dyeing Asian Hair Is No Walk In The Park

by Rosie Narasaki

I'm one of those people who can't leave her hair alone for more than a few months at a time. If I'm not chopping it off to my ears or requesting blunt Zooey Deschanel-inspired bangs, I can be found bleaching streaks of it to add in green or purple depending on my mood.

Though I mess with my hair a fair deal, there are a few leaps I haven't dared to take. I've never made the full pixie chop yet, and I've never dyed my whole head. Even though I love hair chameleons like Ramona Flowers, getting my hair light enough to change the color is a real process. I'm blessed (or cursed) with hair so black that people have asked me if I dye it and that my mother tells me I look like Morticia Adams. It's that almost-blue black that sucks up all the light around it, and it does not like to be bleached.

After finally getting my hair healthy and managable, it seems almost foolhardy to put it through the trials and travails of bleach, especially after I found out it's painful, and could take the better part of the day to get those coveted platinum strands. Plus, I'd never be able to afford the upkeep — I'd have roots showing in a week, and there's no way my recent grad salary could cover the constant touch ups. Still, a girl can dream...

And hey, I could list the negative sides of bleaching all day long, but it's not all bad in the land of blondes.

Jemal Countess/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Model Soo Joo Park makes it look oh-so-easy (and chic). Her Khaleesi-platinum locks (with a handy assist from her ah-mazing bone structure) look covetably editorial, and I'm at constant war with myself not to show up in the salon with her picture in my hand.

Okay, sure, platinum might be a little far, but honey blonde wouldn't be all that bad for me, right? Right?? Damaging or no, Nana (AKA Im Jin-Ah) of popular K-pop group After School makes a strong case for going blonde with her enviable locks.

StyleNanda model Park Sora tends to favor a slightly more subdued caramel brown, which also looks like a fun change for summer. Besides, light brown with a reddish tint would be even easier to achieve than the honey blonde, especially because Asian hair leans orange when lightened. Hmm...

I've also been told Asian hair does magenta/red fairly painlessly... And was there anything more badass than Rila Fukushima's 'do in The Wolverine?

Okay, I've just about talked myself into it. What about you?

Images: sora_pppp/Instagram, Getty Images, Giphy