How to Get Color Run Powder Out of Your Hair

Beware blondes!

Color run powder/Holi powder will make you crazy when trying to wash it out of your hair! The pinks/yellows/reds aren't so bad--it's those blues and greens you've got to watch out for!

I did a lot of research before we had our colored powder photo session with Kelly a few weeks ago. Thank goodness for my sister-in-law, Jeana, who had mentioned the Color Run a few months back and how the powder stains blonde hair. I most likely wouldn't have even thought about it staining...but it does! Most of the research I did said to wear a hat to protect your hair if you are going to be around Holi Powder. Well, since I didn't want to wear a hat for our photos, I kept researching.  Here's what I came up with and did to protect my hair from being a lovely shade of faded blue and green.

The first thing I probably SHOULDN'T have done is gotten my hair highlighted that day. Oops. But I had the whole natural ombre/dark roots thing going on and I wasn't a fan. And as I've mentioned here before, I'm stubborn. I wanted my hair to look good in the pics and I would deal with the consequences later.

Also, the powder we used was the actual powder used in Holi Festival in India. It came from India! I think maybe that the Color Run powder is probably more...domestic than the stuff we used. Ha.

Pre-Color Powder:

There are two reasons I wore my hair up for our pictures

1) Hair up = less surface area to be stained

2) The research I had done said to put some sort of castor oil or coconut oil in your hair in order to prevent staining. This was supposed to coat your hair so it would wash out easily. I put coconut oil in my hair. I put my hair up because it looked really greasy with the oil in there if it wasn't up. Don't skip this step! Use coconut oil!

This was right after we got home from taking the pictures. About to start the process of washing out the blue and green. Yikes.

Post-Color Powder:

1) This is the worst part, but you have to rinse your hair with cold water. I just leaned over the tub and went for it. Burrrr.

2) First I rinsed out as much of the color as possible just by using water. Don't use any product on it yet. This got out a lot of the color. I had a huge blob of blue and green on the left side of my head that was refusing to rinse out. And so begins my frustration and panic.

3) I halved a lemon and squeezed all over the blue spots that were not rinsing out. The lemon didn't help AT ALL.

4) After the lemon, I used the shampoo for the first time. That wasn't helping either. 

5) Then I had Will sprinkle baking soda all over the stained spots and then pour vinegar on it. He was having way too much fun with this part. He kept saying he felt like he was making a volcano science project. And it FELT like a fizzing volcano on my head too! This process didn't work. Boo.

6) At this point I got in the shower and just started washing my hair with whatever shampoos I had. I was really getting nervous. Mane 'n Tail shampoo seemed to help the best out of all the shampoos I tried. Still didn't get it all out though.

7) Ok, this is when I broke out the big guns. When I said the cold water was the worst part, I lied. This is the worst. Ketchup. Yes, like Heinz Ketchup. I had read that this or tomato paste would help. I globbed it all over my blue stained hair and it got out a ton of the color. Besides almost gagging several times, I was pretty thankful for that ketchup.

I still had blue in my hair, but I decided to give it a rest for the night.

By Sunday morning and another round of Ketchup treatment, my hair still looked like this. Oh, boy. Luckily I could part my hair on the other side and cover it up for church.

Sunday night, I used Ajax and baking soda. That's what got the rest of the color out. And luckily, it smelled much better than ketchup. My last resort was going to be mayonnaise. GAG. So glad I didn't have to do that. 

All in all, I am still so glad we took those photos. The fun we had canceled out the stress of washing out the color stain. However, after washing my hair so many times, it really dulled down my freshly done color. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. 

Good luck! Hope these tips help you!

Jesus Calling

By: Sarah Young

Have you read this book?? I just got it last week after hearing so many great things and I am enjoying loving it.

It is amazing how the devotion for each day seems to line up perfectly with what's going on in your life that day...weird even. The book is written as if Jesus Himself were speaking to you. 

It is perfect for someone who is already involved in a devotion because it's such a short (2 paragraph) reading for each days so it's to add on to what you're already involved in. It's also PERFECT for someone trying to start daily devotions/quiet times because it's so easy, short and simple so that makes the transition into spending time with God on a daily basis that much easier and that much BETTER. You'll probably find that after reading each day's entry, you want to read more into God's word and spend more time with Him everyday. I encourage you to order this book here and begin to read this book daily and BE ENCOURAGED by HIM.

Here's the devotion for October 15:

Try to stay conscious of Me as you go step by step through this day. My Presence with you is both a promise and a protection. my final statement just before I ascended into Heaven was: Surely I am with you always. That promise was for all of My followers, without exception.

The promise of My Presence is a powerful protection. As you journey through your life, there are numerous pitfalls along the way. Many voices clamor for your attention, enticing you to go their way. A few steps away from your true path are pits of self-pity and despair, plateaus of pride and self-will. If you take your eyes off Me and follow another's way, you are in grave danger. Even well-meaning friends can lead you astray if you let them usurp My place in your life. The way to stay on the path of Life is to keep your focus on Me. Awareness of My Presence is your best protection.

Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 12:1-2

Color Me Happy - A Colored Powder Photo Session

I have waiting to do this post for what seems like a year! Maybe not that long, but it's been a while! I first mentioned having a colored powder photo session here in July! So it's been just a few months. I asked my friend Kelly Ginn to do these photos for us because I knew she would be just as excited about it as I was!

Here are just a few of the AMAZING photos that Kelly captured. Will & I are so excited about these and can't wait to get them printed and hung up in our house!

We wanted to do these photos "just for fun." We didn't need an excuse to go throw colors all over each other! I am so glad we did these! Can you tell?!

Here's what the colored powder looks like! Loved these bright colors! If you want to have a color session like this with Kelly (& John!) then email her and she will help you out with order details! We got the powder at a really good price compared to others online and Kelly has all of that information. It did come from India and took about a month to get here after ordered so plan accordingly!

Love this family photo pre-powder

We have an engagement photo with this same pose so I'm planning on hanging these next to each other! I'll try and post that photo next week.

SO. MUCH. FUN.

Seriously, you HAVE to call Kelly and schedule a session like this. Whether you're engaged, married, or whatever-- these will be photos that you cherish forever. I hope our marriage will always be this fun and having these hanging in our house is a great way to remember how much fun Will & I have together.

Have I linked to Kelly's blog and contact information enough?? Have you gotten the hint and scheduled your session? If not, do it now. I'll wait.......

Ok, now that that is taken care of, I can't wait to see YOUR colored powder photos from Kelly and John!

HAVE FUN!

Stay tuned for a post on how to get this color out of your hair! It'll be a helpful read especially if you're blonde!

Kelly & John-

Thank y'all so much for taking these amazing, colorful photos for us. They turned out better than we even hoped for! You two are so talented and are PERFECT for each other. Now I think it's your turn for a colorful session. I'LL hold the camera!

Love y'all!

Poison Ivy Princess

Poison Ivy Princess just sounds lovely, right? 

Um, no. Wrong.

That's just the catchy name I've given myself for the sake of this post. You would think I had magical powers or something. I mean, I can get poison ivy just by looking at it. I should be able to win a talent show for that, or win a medal....cash prize? If only. For now I'll just have to settle with giving you a little inside information on poison ivy remedies (or lack thereof) from someone who has it almost year-round. Yippee.

Let's just go ahead and get the items that absolutely do not work out of the way. (By the way, when I say these things "don't work" I mean in terms of clearing up the outbreak.)

1. Calamine Lotion

Is this even worth mentioning? All this does is turn you a lovely shade of pink. No itch relief whatsoever. Bad memories of having chicken pox in Kindergarten and being pink polka-dotted for a week.

2. Benadryl

Whenever I use Benadryl, it's mainly as a sleep aid when the poison ivy is extremely itchy. If you're losing sleep because the itching is keeping you up, then take some Benadryl before bed and this will help soothe your skin some. As far as clearing up the rash, it does nothing. Bummer.

3. Cortizone Lotion

Doesn't do anything for me. No itch relief. Nothing as far as clearing it up either. Maybe I've just developed an immunity to it. Who knows.

Ok, now let's get to the good stuff. At least the stuff that I use on my many outbreaks.

1. IvaRest

This cream looks just like Calamine lotion...except it actually helps. They also make an IvaRest wash that you can use in the shower that's supposed to help wash off the poison ivy oils from your skin. They both kind of have a burning sensation when used...but that feels good to some itchy poison ivy! Definitely worth a try!

2. Zanfel

 Ok, this is a product that's fairly new to me and it's probably my favorite at the moment. The only downfall is that it's a little expensive for such a small tube...but when you're desperate, who cares. The good thing is that you can buy the generic at Walgreens and it seems to work just as well. Zanfel is a wash for the shower like the IvaRest. It's also got some kind of "scrub" in the cream which feels reallllly great on the poison ivy. Good excuse to scratch it too---oops, I mean, don't scratch your poison ivy! That's bad!

Zanfel- about $40 at Walgreens

Generic Zanfel- about $30 at Walgreens

3. Prescription

I currently have this prescription, Beta-whatever. As far as itch relief, this doesn't help at all. I guess it helps clear up the rash. I don't know. I'm not patient when it comes to getting rid of poison ivy so my time scale of this stuff "working" is probably way off. I want my poison ivy to be gone in a day or two. Is that even possible? No clue. This cream doesn't clear it up in a day or two, but nonetheless I still use it. Can't hurt. 

Well guess what decided to pop up ON MY FACE yesterday. Ugh. I look like a teenager with acne issues.

Here it comes....Day 2

I got a little brave yesterday and tried two new "home remedies." I mean, this stuff is on my face. I will try anything! 

1. Baking soda and water mixture

Supposed to dry up the rash. Did it? No. Add that one to the list of worthless remedies.

2. Bleach and water

Yes, I said bleach. This one made me a little nervous. I just kept thinking, "Am I about to burn my skin off?" "Am I about to bleach my skin?!" I obviously didn't listen to those thoughts in my head, because I did it anyway. I made a 1:1 bleach/water mixture, dipped in a paper towel and starting gently blotting my face. First I didn't feel a thing and then OH FIRE, MY FACEEEE!!! It was burning SO bad. I proceeded to stick my face in front of the air conditioner and got a little relief. Did I stop after that? Nope. Hard-headed, I tell ya. These were my thoughts: If I can stand a few minutes of intense skin burning (should've stopped right there) and the bleach dries up the poison ivy rash then it's totally worth it. I can't tell if it's worked yet. For now, I feel like I keep smelling a chlorine pool...but it's probably just my face and hands. Weird. I will have to give it a few days and update later. Fingers crossed. 

UPDATE: DAY 4 AND THE POISON IVY IS STILL GOING STRONG. MY FACE IS SWOLLEN AND MISERABLE. HEADING TO THE DOC TODAY FOR A SHOT. NEVER BEEN SO EXCITED TO GET POKED.

Just remember--these are things that work for me. Everyone is different. So maybe the calamine lotion does work for you.

Maybe you have no use for this post right now, but maybe someday you'll have a poison ivy outbreak and think of me. Maybe you won't. If anything, this post helped me feel better about ranting over my most recent outbreak. Now the venting is done and I can just get over it. Deep breath. I feel better.

Do you get poison ivy as easily as I do? What have you found that works best? I'm up for anything!

WiLW

Well, hello there. It's been a while! I decided it's about time to quick slackin' and start bloggin'! Here's my What I'm Loving Wednesday finds this week. Most of them are clothes--I'm just ready for Fall boots, scarves and sweaters, I think!

I'm loving everything about this outfit. Love the pants, belt, and shoes. It would be a nice work outfit before it gets too cold!

I'm also loving this outfit. I've noticed that the denim shirts are making a comeback. I think I might need to find me one! Love these wide leg pants!

I've been a little obsessed with "riding boots" lately. I just ordered me some! I love them and can't wait for Fall!

I love these colored skinny jeans. I saw an Old Navy commercial for these the other day and I really want to try these out. And the best part? They're on sale for $19! I'll take one in every color, please!

I'm loving this red blazer from Mod Cloth!

Here's another Mod Cloth find that I love! Very cute!

I'll leave you with one non-clothing item....

TAKEN 2! I love that this movie comes out in a week and a half! Liam Neeson has got to be my favorite actor! Hopefully Taken 2 can live up to the first one!

Have a great second half of your week! I'll hopefully have a few more new posts soon. Maybe I can convince Will to write another one...