Wednesday 1 October 2014

PINKKI PAPLARI & NATURAL HAIR COLORING


The other week I went to the hairdresser's. Which is kind of an occasion, as the last time was in March 2013. In between I've just had to rely on a couple of mirrors and scissors in my bathroom.


I go to a place called Pinkki Paplari (the "pink roller"), which is a vintage style hair parlour that coiffures both men and women and that will make any crazy rad punk coloured styles you may want as well, but the main thing (for me) is that it is also an organic hair salon, meaning you can get all-natural treatments there as well.



The salon moved to a new location in Tölö late last spring. The old parlour was in red and pink, but the new one is mint green!

Fabulous owner Anita is a friend and burlesque student of mine. (And btw her hair is naturally wavy; she doesn't even have to curl her bangs!!. Now how jealous that does make me!)

We had talked about doing a natural hair color mask for me to get some warmth back into my colour and brighten my shade -it has turned more dull the past year, age does not come alone as one says in Finnish - ever since my last visit. now we finally got the time to try it out. I've done lemon-and-camomille washes and such but never really tried to color my hair with herbs and plants before.

Paplari has lots of nice photofriendly retrolicious and fun small details.

Not to forget the misters as well - Pinkki Paplari just started with beard & shave workshops for men btw.


In the back room the brightening parts for my color were soaking in - camomile and marigold (calendula).



A range of colorants in jars. You have alder cones (I remember colouring yarn with alder in the art club when I was small) and walnut for brown and dark shades for example, avocado pits and hibiscus for reddish tones and so on.  It's interesting to see the ingredients, some may come as surprises (like the avocado) while others are more obvious (the henna, and indigo for jet black).

You can get a wide range of shades depending on what  you mix together and how; in general Anita makes the colours one by one for each colouring. You can't bleach hair naturally though (although, a little btw from a poison-point-of view; bleaching is less bad for you than colouring your hair darker, although it will dry your hair) but you can brighten it's tone and get a more golden shine to it, like we set out to do.


The soak was blended out with cassia for shine, and a little henna for a toffee like result. The cassia will also slow the henna a bit down. But that's it, nothing more than that!
I have a lot of hair and the mix is compact so when it was all in my head was rather heavy I tell you!

On with a compostable bag and a nice scarf and time to sit under the hood for some time!

With the company of organic snacks and some mags.

Then it was time to wash out the goo, give the locks a go with the scissors and dry and wait for the result!

Which turned out just right! Brighter and more toffee just like planned.

With natural colouring it's advised not to wash or soak the hair for a day or two, as the color will grow in intensity for a while and set. I had a little irrational feat that it would wash away once you wash your hair but it won't, it stays. As the tone is rather subtle there won't really be a harsh edge as it grows out.

Oh, and last: Pinkki Paplari is celebrating it's 9th year at Golden Classic Bar this Friday, starting at 21hrs!   The entrance to the event is free and among a bunch of bands our very own student group The Shangri-La Showgirls are also performing there!




7 comments:

Unknown said...

I had no idea you could get such a wide variety of colours from nature. I have been using henna and indigo to dye my very dark hair. It's taken a few attempts to get it right, but I am really happy with the result. Previously my hair was dry and damaged from chemical dyes, now it's shiny and the colour is really pretty. It takes hours and it's smells strange, but it's so worth it for shiny hair! Great post.x

Lil said...

Lovely and unique color. Nature provides everything, you need. I have been using natural hair colors for 22 years, I love them. I use henna mixed with onion skin, saffron, tumeric, camomile, lemon. Thanks for the post :)

Unknown said...

Wow, this is great. I have become allergic to all the industrial colors. No surprise, really. But I would like to try this out just to give my hair some more glow. I wonder if there is a place in the Netherlands that does this.
Thanks for this post, very informative.

Konad-licious said...

What a fabulous informative post. I am jealous of how your side of the world embraces more natural remedies than we do in Australia. Everything is chemical based and to find anything natural or organic is a special trip to a shop in the middle of nowhere, to spend a fortune (or so it seems). I am also amazed that avocado can be used! Your hair looks amazing and your fringe is perfect.

Ina - Years Since Yesterday said...

Cool cool! And I can witness it looks good still several WEEKS afterwards :)

Unknown said...

Lovely shade! Did you cut yourself bangs??? Looks lovely.

Miss Rascal said...

Vilken underbar salong!!! Fin farg och du ser ut som a million bucks!