Chalking Your Hair 101 “Mermaid Hair”

I get a lot of questions about my hair, from how I get the colors, to how I keep it healthy. I thought I’d do a little blog post about my process of hair chalking, which is how I get the “mermaid hair” colors everyone loves! I hope this guide will be insightful and helpful for you!

You can use hair chalk in many different ways for different looks. You can go with chalking individual locks of hair for colored “highlights”. Or you can do the tips of your hair. I love to chalk my hair in an ombre using 1 – 3 different colors. I suggest not chalking your all the way up to your roots, as it will make your hair dry and hard to manage, plus will be hard to set the chalk with heat that close to your scalp.

So good luck! Feel free to share photos of your chalked hair with me! I’d love to see your creative ideas. <3

You Need:

Hair Chalk (a.k.a chalk pastels – NOT oil pastels!!)

A shirt you can get messy

A paper plate to set chalk on and contain mess

Spray Bottle

Rubber gloves (or just wash your hands after)

Hairspray

Hair dryer or hot iron

Spray/Leave-in Conditioner

Hair Oil

1. Use spray bottle to evenly dampen a lock of hair.

Applying to wet hair makes certain colors last longer. Blues & greens can last up to a week. Pinks/purples last about 2 days. If you’re a brunette, apply white chalk before to make the color brighter.

2. “Paint” the chalk on ONLY in a downward motion.

Going upwards on your hair will damage the strand. You’ll want to hold the bottom of the lock with one hand, and hold the chalk horizontally in your other hand, pressing it flat against the strand, and twisting the strand around to get both sides.*For the ombre look, press the chalk lighter at the top and harder at the bottom. You can blend the color a little by gently rubbing/massaging the lock of hair between wet palms.

*To get a multi-colored ombre, start by applying your lightest color first, then apply the darkest color last, so that your colors come out right.

3. Mist the chalked hair with spray on conditioner before drying.

This helps to lock in the chalk so it can last longer.

4. Apply heat.

 Use a hair dryer or curling iron/straightener. This locks in the chalk and help to keep it from rubbing off onto your skin or clothes. Then seal it with hair spray on chalked area.

*Wear a top you don’t care about the first day because chalk will get on it! You may want to chalk your hair the day before any event.

*Braid your hair while you sleep to keep the chalk from getting on your pillow.

You may also want to braid it during the day or when your hair is “not in use”, as the chalk makes it tangle easily.

*I usually skip washing my hair on the second day, and just use dry shampoo to preserve the color and lessen the hassal.

*Third day, wash hair with warm water, avoid shampooing the chalked area as best as you can. After the first wash, the color will be the faded pastel look and you won’t get chalk on your clothes!

*Any other days, I usually touch up the color after I shower and my hair is wet. I do this just by picking some locks and very gently add more color like “highlights”. If you happen to get too much on and it’s too bright, just wet your hands and sort of massage the color through the lock and it’ll become more faded.

*You’re hair will feel dry and chalky with chalk in it! It is considered minor damage with drying out effects, but it hasn’t bothered me much at all, and doesn’t permanently dry out your hair.

*You can put argon or macadamia oil on the chalked area to soften it after drying your hair. Just apply dime size drop of oil between your palms and gently rub into chalked hair. This helps it to be more manageable and touchable- less chalky.