PSA: You Can Actually Dye Your *Hair* Using Only Tissue Paper & Hot Water

During quarantine we've been trying all sorts of new things with all this added time on our hands. There's been the dalgona coffee trend, which helps you to make simple frothy coffee from the comfort of your own home, and plenty of Instagram challenges like wearing pillow dresses, or the Run 5, Donate 5, Nominate 5 challenge, which raises money for the NHS. And the latest lockdown beauty hack is one that allows you to dye your hair bright colours without the use of dye. Want to learn how to create mermaid hair with tissue paper? It's actually incredibly simple.

The tissue paper trend has been popular on various Facebook groups, where Mum's were filling their time and keeping bored kids entertained by colouring their hair pink, blue, green, and a whole host of other shades. Given that children are no longer going into school, it seems like the perfect time to try this out. And don't worry, it quite literally only involves hot water and tissue paper, meaning there's no hair dyes or nasty chemicals. And it's only temporary, usually washing out within a few days.

However, this one isn't just for kids who want to covet mermaids and unicorns. The hack is absolutely suitable for adults, and is a fun way to keep busy and try a new look. After all, if it goes wrong, you can hide away from the world quite easily until it washes out, right?! Just remember that like usual hair dyes, colour usually takes much better to lighter hair, so blondes may get more of a colour pay-off with this clever little hack.

Shannon Gallacher, Senior Colourist at Nicola Clarke at John Frieda Salons, also wants us to know that certain colours may take longer to wash out as they essentially "stain" the hair. "It's a fun idea for quarantine," she says. "Just try and stick to warm colours such as reds, oranges, and pinks, and be a bit more cautious of blue and green dyes as they are harder to remove."

There are plenty of YouTube tutorials which cover the process simply, but I found this one the most useful, which lays out the following steps to the tissue paper hair hack:

1. Grab your tissue paper and rip it into pieces
2. Put your pieces into a bowl (per colour)
3. Pour boiling hot water over the tissue paper
4. Let it sit for at least five minutes, but not long enough that the water begins to drastically cool
5. Add a touch of salt to each bowl
6. Remove the tissue paper from the water
7. Soak the hair (or sections if you're doing different colours) in the water for around five minutes; this is best done by dipping your hair into the bowls
8. Remove and dry!

If you're looking for some inspo, there's plenty on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Here are some of my faves:

Now it's time to raid your birthday and Christmas gifting supplies to find that tissue paper!