Restoring hair colour?

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

How does one go about restoring the colour to faded pony hair? Do spray-on or other hair dyes work?

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Re-pinking, you mean?  Most people use RIT dye...  which is specifically for fabric.  Hair dye will NOT work and will also stain your pony terribly.  Spray-on dyes...  I've not heard of those. 

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Dye that comes in spray cans for quick-and-easy application. I wonder why the hair in the ponies doesn't take hair dye.

[NovelNerd]

I do believe my hair stylist informed me about fake hair and dying ect before. I have no clue, but I believe she said something to do with the pores or whatever in the hair. No clue.

[CrystalCrown]

Hair dye will definitely not work.

I'm assuming you mean re-pinking for ponies with the Fading Pink hair, Right? please correct me if i'm wrong. What you can do is fill a small bowl with water and microwave the water for a minute and a half. then add a teaspoon of rit dye (I use the shade "Petal Pink") then dip the ponies hair in as close to the roots as possible for about 3 seconds. then rinse the hair out completely right away. the water won't be hot enough to stain the pony's body so its safe

[hathorcat]

Pony hair is essentially nylon plastic at the end of the day so it reacts differently to dye designed for real hair. Real MLP hair and nylon hair takes dye but you need to use fabric dyes which are designed for synthetic materials - rit dye is the most popular, you can get liquid versions which you paint on or powder versions which you need to dissolve. You should also remember that not every colour will take and it can be a hit or miss process to get the finish you require. Because it is so easy to purchase pre dyed hair in such a wide range of colours it isnt the most common thing to do although certainly re pinking is super popular.

Nylon hair is porous so it will take dye, as with real hair - its porous thats why you can dye it. But there are other types of hair which are non porous such as polypropylene which because of this quality will not take dye.

The link to the Gallery on the old Arena doesnt work but here is a tutorial from the amazing BridgetsMum

BridgetsMum wrote:
Hi Everyone,
This is what you'll need:

1. Liquid RIT DYE, ROSE COLOR
Comes in a white bottle and is a liquid.
2. Bowl, like a cereal bowl size
3. Small spoon
4. Q-tips
5. Running water hot and cold
6. Nail polish remover (Only in case of emergency you can use this to try to get the dye off the actual pony. Be careful around eyes/symbols)

Take a freshly shampooed and washed pony, wet hair. Pour about the size of a nickel or 2 green peas in the bowl of Rit Dye (shake well), add HOT water almost to the top and stir.
Holding the pony upside down, start with the mane since it's harder to do and the tail will be easy to match up. Dip the mane in the bowl doing the lower section first and work your way up to the ear area. Be careful not to let your pony sit in the dye. Just dip as far as you can, being careful not to touch the actual pony. I usually rinse the pony at this stage with cold water.
Now that you have dipped the mane for about 5 to 6 seconds and got a light pink shade, take the spoon and start to spoon the dye mixture on the roots. Have your Q-tips ready. You can use hot water and Q-tips to keep dye off the plastic if needed. I usually do this about 20 spoonfuls for the mane.
Then once it seems to have matched up, rinse the pony in cold water and check out your work. Sometimes when I'm spooning I try not to get the dye on the ends of the pony by folding/holding them up with my fingers and letting the dye run off the top half of the mane.
Now for the tail. This is too easy. Dip the tail into the dye being careful to get it just to the end of the roots. I have found that the dye doesn't effect the pony's color if rinsed right away! I sometimes dip the tail and then rinse right away and then repeat my process until it matches the mane.
It's easy to get a match. Just hold it in the bowl for the same amount of time, about 6 seconds. If you have only added a hint of dye to the hot water then you can kinda play around with the shade. Don't use too much Rit Dye like I did. I got the Taf Yum Yum's hair too pink and then there was no going back. She turned out really pretty though.


In some pics you'll see dark, dark pink and that is Kool Aid NOT Rit Dye!!! This just gets the hair slightly pink. It's messy and you have to keep wiping any spots off the pony but it works too!

Edit: KOOL AID METHOD: This method only gets the hair slightly pink but I suppose if you left it on longer it will eventually get dark enough. I used Cherry flavor Kool Aid.

What you need:
1. One packet of red flavor Kool Aid like Cherry/Strawberry.
2. Q-tips and Nail polish remover
3. Conditioner-I used Pantene
4. small bowl
5. small spoon

Mix about half the packet of Kool Aid with conditioner (about 3 tablespoons) in the bowl. Keep stirring. It takes forever for the Kool Aid powder to get absorbed into the conditioner--about 10 minutes. You don't have to stir the whole time. You can stir it and let it sit a few minutes.
I used my fingers (no gloves so I had better control) to pat and rub the mixture into the pony's hair. You have to really rub it in to get it even. It gets very messy and you don't want it on the pony, so use your Q-tip with water to wipe any excess--nail polish remover if it looks like it will stain.
Be careful when working around the roots but don't be afraid to get it on thick. I let Taf Yum Yum sit with the mixture on about 5 minutes and then I rinsed in cold water. It was too light so I did the whole process again and let it sit about 10 minutes but I wanted it darker so switched to the Rit Dye. I did Sunspot who had completely white hair and her hair got a little pink with the Kool Aid mixture on for about 20 minutes but in the end I used Rit Dye method. Her hair turned out very light. I only dipped her about 2 or 3 seconds and of course spooned it on the mane. I'll add pics in about an hour.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Thanks for the Kool-Aid tip. I used the whole packet and increased the amount of conditioner, and then let the mix soak in for over an hour. The results were fantastic, Rosedust and Honeysuckle both have their proper hair color now.

I wonder if the same thing but with Grape would work for Sea Winkle.

[hathorcat]

Thanks for the Kool-Aid tip. I used the whole packet and increased the amount of conditioner, and then let the mix soak in for over an hour. The results were fantastic, Rosedust and Honeysuckle both have their proper hair color now.

I wonder if the same thing but with Grape would work for Sea Winkle.

No problem - its BridgetsMums guidelines however not mine

I have seen several people have luck with kool aid over the years but the cherry/strawberry versions mainly as you are going from white.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Say, given that Kool-Aid works, I wonder if food coloring would also get results?

[hathorcat]

Say, given that Kool-Aid works, I wonder if food coloring would also get results?

The above is all the info I have...you could try and report back and let us know of course.