One way to have fun with roots? GLITTER. (Image Credit: Annie Walton Doyle)
Of all of the supposed beauty “problems” in the world, for me, roots are really the least “problematic.” In fact, I love mine dearly. As I grow out all the damaged section of my hair, I intend to just let my natural color take over, inch by inch, with the inevitability of an advancing tide. Roots are Kurt Cobain and Pamela Anderson, understated AND glamorous, scruffy and cool. I won’t be convinced otherwise.
One problem I do have with roots, though, is the grease factor. My colored hair is dry and damaged, but my natural hair is full of health and joie de vivre, meaning it gets lank and greasy wayyyyy before the rest of my hair. In fact, I don’t think my bleached hair ever gets greasy — the way I know it’s due a wash is when it starts to have the texture of wire wool.
But a fun thing to do when treating your obvious roots for greasiness is to spruce them up a bit. Draw attention to them! They’re there and you should be proud of them.
How, you ask? Why, the same answer I have to every question: put some glitter on it.
Think of it like adding jewellery, but to your hair. One obvious bonus is the sparkles and colors. The other is, you don’t have to remember to wear jewelry and not take it off and then leave it in some pub toilet because it’s hurting you in some weird fashion. This is a super comfortable way to add “a bit of jazz” to your look — and as an extra, it conceals any rooty misfortune (of the greasy variety — as discussed, grown out roots are anything but a misfortune).
Here’s how to do it.
First, you will need a bit of the old faithful root-sprucer, dry shampoo. Mine is from Dove. Firstly, this will take down the lankness, but it also provides a protective coating between your hair and what is to come, meaning it will wash out (bonus for people with jobs, school, appointments, etc.).
Once you’re satisfied with the level of faux-cleanliness, you’re ready to party. I used some pots I’ve had for a while, bought from eBay. The bonus of the hair application is you don’t need cosmetic-safe glitter, because there’s no danger of it getting up in your eyes. I like a holographic effect (which basically means it reflects a whole bunch of colors, so it looks more multidimensional), so I used a holo white, gold and pink.
For layer one, I mixed a good amount of glitter in with the ELF Glitter Glue. This is supposed to be a primer for putting really sparkly pigments on the eyes, but I assumed the principle would translate here (spoiler: it totally did). I then painted it on all around my parting using the Real Techniques Domed Shadow Brush and … that was it.
See? I was expecting a more opaque glitter coverage but this actually just adds a fine dust which I think looks extremely magical and delightful. Stopping here, I think this could be a surprisingly subtle look for a party, first date, job interview, whatever.
Wanting to take things to their logical conclusion, though, I added a further layer of pure glitter. This time, using the same brush, I applied just the pink, dry, to my parting. As you can see, it actually had more of an effect on the sliver of scalp skin than my hair, but certainly adds a sort of amped-up, ombré-glitter effect.
To achieve glitter opacity, this step could be repeated with a more intense color — a silver would really stand out against dark roots. But remember, what goes up must come down, and similarly, what glitter is painted on must somehow be washed out. This level of sparkly-headedness was amazingly easy to remove, and my shower looks (actually somewhat disappointingly) untainted by shimmer.
