35 Hair-Dye Fails That Make Us Feel Glad We’re Not the ‘Victim’ in the Pictures

This article appeared in Instantlymodern and has been published here with permission.

A Purple Disaster

If you’re very young and inexperienced when it comes to dyeing your hair, we have some advice for you — do not, under any circumstances, color your own hair. Check the purple disaster here if you need evidence for our claim.

A Purple Disaster

Then again, if it’s the Halloween season, you might want to achieve such a look but make sure you don’t do this using permanent hair dye. Otherwise, you’ll be an eggplant for longer than you wanted.

Crime Scene

At first glance, we thought this was some kind of gruesome crime scene but luckily after reading the Snapchat caption, we realized this was just a simple case of a hair dye bottle exploding. Wait, what?

Crime Scene

We’re pretty sure that isn’t supposed to happen. Well, at least it’s all over the bathroom and not a human but still, this clean-up is going to be a nightmare. We suggest repainting the entire bathroom dark red instead.

Poor Mom

This mom’s allergic reaction to hair dye has officially made us anti-dye. We’re so freaked out by this! This woman is actually unrecognizable because she’s so swollen.

Poor Mom

She probably had to take a trip to the E.R. to reduce the swelling and help with her allergies. If this woman so much as looks at hair dye again, it will be too soon. We just hope all is okay now and that she isn’t too scarred from this!

Risky Business

There’s always a risk involved when it comes to dyeing someone’s hair at home. Firstly, the color could come out tragically wrong. Secondly, the dye itself could be issued and badly affect the person’s hair. Also, the person applying the dye on could be an amateur and do it all wrong, which could result in a total nightmare.

Risky Business

But we never imagined that the disaster would be left with the amateur hairstylist. Though, as it turns out, accidents are prone to happen when you don’t really know what you’re doing.

Summer Fresh

In the summer, there’s nothing better than a breakfast of cereal or oatmeal with some fresh fruit, coupled with a glass of orange juice. You get your Vitamin C in, plus it tastes so good!

Summer Fresh

But, just because we love fruit doesn’t mean we’d want to resemble it. Well, as it turns out, neither does this woman. Her hair was dyed this color by accident and it just so happens she was dressed to match the bag of oranges.

Megamind

Does anyone know that blue superhero with the massive head? Ya know, Megamind? Well, awkward if you don’t but for the ones who do, doesn’t this dude kind of resemble him? If he were off to a costume party, this would have been perfect.

Megamind

Though instead, he’s got work in the morning so it’s a major crisis. For all the hair dye amateurs out there, just remember that a) hair dye does indeed smudge and b) don’t dye your own hair!!!

As Good as Gone

When something is in really good condition, the classic expression goes that it’s “as good as new.” But, in order to accurately describe this person’s hair post dye and other products, we had to adapt the saying.

As Good as Gone

No offense to the woman with the dyed hair but this makes us realize how dangerous hair dye can be for our hair. It looks like it’s past repair but we’re no pessimists so here’s to finding her the perfect hair treatment!

Shut-Eye

There’s an old French saying that roughly translates to “beauty is pain,” which many people abide by in order to meet today’s standards of beauty. We can understand this belief to an extent. For example, wearing high heels or maybe an itchy dress for the night if it looks great.

Shut-Eye

However, we draw the line at anything that can leave you in actual physical pain. This woman’s allergic reaction to hair dye was so bad that she couldn’t open her eyes and thus, ended up at the hospital!

Rookie Error

If you decide to bite the bullet and self-dye after knowing the potential risks, then you better dot the i’s and cross the t’s during the hair dye process. This means following the instructions and paying attention to everything, including what’s written in the fine print.

Rookie Error

Because if you don’t do this, you could end up experiencing the worst day of your life, like this girl here. Let’s hope mom and dad let her miss school until she no longer looked like an eggplant!

Avatars Exist

Want to be an avatar? It’s simple, just do a botched hair dye job at home, and voilà – you’re a blue creature! However, with your new look comes a few issues. For starters, your bathroom will most probably be stained, which is a real pain to fix.

Avatars Exist

And then, of course, you’ll also be stained from head to toe. Come to think of it, rather use food coloring or something less permanent… unless you want to remain blue. If that’s the case, then go right ahead!

When at College

When we think about what goes on at college, we expect that there’ll be partying, studies being taken seriously (or not), and people forming life-long friendships. We definitely don’t expect to see smurfs.

When at College

Yet such was the case for this college-goer after she did a bad hair dye job. Well, on the bright side, her hair actually looks great. Just try not to focus on her new skin color. Then again, she’s definitely gonna stand out!

Anti-Plastic

We could give you infinite reasons why you should be anti-plastic. Not only does it threaten wildlife and is harmful to the environment, but it also costs billions to abate and affects human health.

Anti-Plastic

If all that doesn’t sound bad enough to you, add what it did to this woman’s hair to the list. Well, at least two good things came of this — she has a very original hairdo and from now on she’s going to be an avid recycler.

Please Be a Nightmare!

Not only can hair dye products be dangerous because of the damage they can cause to your hair but also because they could fall into the wrong hands. Someone who doesn’t know how to use this powerful and permanent dye could end up in quite a pickle.

Please Be a Nightmare!

We’d say that’s an understatement of what happened here. We can’t imagine how this mom must have felt when she woke up to this mess. We wouldn’t be surprised if she thought she was having a nightmare.

A Big Head

If someone has a big head, it means they are full of themselves and come across as arrogant, But as it turns out, we have a new meaning for the term. You can also be big-headed if you happen to be allergic to hair dye — like this unlucky fellow here.

A Big Head

His forehead looks particularly swollen and his scalp seems to be inflamed. So, the next time we think someone is conceited, we’ll think twice before saying they have a big head because then we’ll just picture this alarming image.

Stay Away

A warning to you all — if an amateur is dyeing their own hair at home, stay as far away as you can. Otherwise, you may need to brace for impact if you get dragged into the mess.

Stay Away

Such was the case for this husband who got a little too close to his wife while she was attempting to do her hair. We want to be nice and say the design on his arm looks cool, but then we’d be lying and that’s not very nice either.

Bobblehead

Is it just us or are these allergic reaction sightings getting worse and worse as we go on? This poor woman looks like a bobblehead after her bad allergic reaction to hair dye.

Bobblehead

She now understands why they say you should always test the dye out first somewhere on your body before applying it to your hair. While she’s a little late to the party in figuring that out, at least she’ll never forget it now.

What This Space

At first, this poor dude thought he looked slick with his new hairdo but over time, he soon realized that the hair dye did not agree with him. Hence, the larger forehead and worsening swelling.

What This Space

Having this four-way split series of selfies really helps viewers understand the process of an allergic reaction. We also appreciate how he chose to use the same background throughout. This guy understands a thing or two about artistic direction.

Expectation Versus Reality

Oftentimes, we scroll through Instagram or Pinterest for inspiration. It can be for anything from new style trends to hair and nails. This particular Snapchatter wanted some lovely ombre waves and even went to a hairdresser to make that happen.

Expectation Versus Reality

But, instead of getting beachy waves that look like they’ve been touched by the sun, she ended up with a nightmare. Not only does her hair look super frizzy and damaged, but the color actually burns our eyes. Sorry, not sorry!

Devil Child

Due to a faulty bottle explosion, this little bucket of sunshine is now dyed head to toe in pink. Before we get all freaked out by the fact that it’s a permanent dye, we have to admit that for a child, this must be like heaven.

Devil Child

We’re sure the parents battled it out trying to de-pink her afterward but at least she got to match her pink outfit for one day. Remember folks, it’s the little things in life!

Of All Fingers

Of all fingers that this amateur hairdresser could have stained, it just had to be the one that is responsible for the F-sign. Coincidence? We think not.

Of All Fingers

Perhaps her leaving dye on that particular finger symbolizes the failure of a job she performed on her hair. We don’t want to sound too judgy here but we’re going to assume that she did a botched job on her hair as well. Sorry, not sorry!

A Pink Moment

There are many side effects of using hair dye. First and foremost, you could be allergic and end up with a swollen face. Then, of course, you could hate the end result and wish that you never would have started playing with dye in the first place.

A Pink Moment

And lastly, you could create a huge mess that stains. Such seems to be the case here but the fact that it’s all pink makes it that much better.

Big Mistake

You know that phrase, “Never send a man to do a woman’s job?” Well, as stereotypical as it is, it accurately applies to the following scenario where this woman allowed her husband to dye her hair.

Big Mistake

While we don’t yet know how the hair color turned out, we can report that her face is now stained, which is definitely not a good start. Do we blame the hubby or forgive him because at least he tried? Let us know your thoughts!

The Outlier

On a rare occasion, you get to see a sight that’s quite unique and not known by many. For example, sighting rare species animals like the giant panda or a cheetah.

The Outlier

Another example of a special breed is a person who manages to dye everything except for their own hair. As weird as it sounds, this girl right here proves such a thing can occur. We’re calling her ‘the outlier’ because she’s in a league of her own.

Wrong Order

You know that annoying feeling when you’re waiting on a delicious meal at a restaurant only to see that they got your order wrong? Yeah, we’ve all been in that unfortunate situation once or twice but we’re about to describe an even worse feeling.

Wrong Order

And that feeling is ending up with a hairstyle that you didn’t want. We’re assuming that’s what happened to this woman who wanted an ombre hairstyle but ended up with a dip-dyed mess.

Dress-Up

We like to consider ourselves optimistic; we strive to see life from a half-full perspective rather than half-empty. So, with that in mind, we’d like to believe that if we ended up with a pink hand hair dye disaster, that we’d try to own it.

Dress-Up

You might be wondering how one could pull off such a look? It’s simple actually — we’d just host a random dress-up party and style our costume around our newly-stained pink hands.

Smurf Alert!

Wanna look like a smurf? Follow our easy tips and you can turn yourself into a blue furry character in no time. How to begin? Simply buy a box of hair dye, then get an amateur hairdresser to do a botched job on your hair.

Smurf Alert!

And voilà — you’re officially a smurf. Don’t believe us? This woman’s end result backs up our claim. But we should warn you, once you go smurf, you never go back.

Queen of Rap

Even queens with grand glam squads can get it wrong sometimes. Nicki Minaj’s cheetah-inspired hair is a great example of this. While some may argue that she was intentionally going for this look, it’s pretty obvious that it wasn’t her best work.

Queen of Rap

And for that, we feel obliged to add this to our list of hair dye fails. Why you might ask? Because who in their right mind would want a hairstyle like this? We expect better from the Queen of Rap.

Queen of Alternative

Yet another queen chose to rock a hairstyle that can only be classified as a hair dye fail. As much as we love alternative pop star Billie Eilish, that doesn’t mean that she has great taste in hair.

Queen of Alternative

Her bright green and black dip-dye looks like it belongs at a Halloween party and not the red carpet. All in favor of our decision please say, aye. And all those that aren’t, we’re just going to pretend we’re wearing Billie’s shades so that we can’t see you.

Not My Color

They often say “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and oh boy, are they right! This poor woman assumed that a certain hair dye would make her hair dark brown as that’s what the box said.

Not My Color

It’s safe to assume there was either a case of false advertising or the woman simply didn’t correctly follow the instructions. Whatever occurred, it left her hot-headed with a hot mess for new hair.

Kiss the Paw

Poor Fluffles didn’t deserve to undergo this botched hair dye. She simply wanted some highlights for summertime and instead was left with bright pink fuschia ears and paws. Some might think it’s a cool and eccentric look but judging from Fluffy’s reaction, she’s not happy with her transformation.

Kiss the Paw

Somebody better get this furry creature her favorite doggy treat ASAP before her meltdown begins. Never mind, it’s too late — the angry barking is about to commence!

Imprinted

When you’re dyeing your hair at home versus at a hairdresser’s salon, chances are, you don’t have all the right tools and equipment so you just learn to make do with what you’ve got.

Imprinted

That’s what this woman attempted to do by using a Walmart plastic bag to conceal the heat while she dyed her hair. Unfortunately, though, the bag’s logo imprinted into her hair and now she looks like some sort of Walmart mascot.

A Rainbow of Fluff

Here we have another fluffy friend who has undergone a seriously bad hair transformation. Whoever decided to do this to Fluffles 2.0 deserves to spend some time in a doggy prison.

A Rainbow of Fluff

Poodles are such elegant dogs with soft, fluffy fur. Attempting to dye it with a multitude of colors seems like a crime to us. Don’t you think? Maybe we’re being overbearing dog lovers but maybe not… Someone give us some validation!

A Pretty Mess

Trying to package something ugly as beautiful will only go so far. Such seems to be the case for this hairstyle right here. The pretty and curly ends are a clear distraction for the botched ombre job. Don’t you agree?

A Pretty Mess

Judging by the woman’s speechless face in the mirror, we think she even agrees with us. In our opinion, she has two options here — either chop the hair at the transitional part or make the hairdresser redo the whole thing.

SOS!

This woman used a cry for help as a way to caption her new hairstyle and she couldn’t have been more accurate. When you put grayish blonde, pink, and maroon colors together, that’s exactly what you’ll get.

SOS!

As a way to correct this hair dye fail, we suggest choosing just one of the shades or perhaps turning a new page and looking into a new color altogether. Starting fresh is always a good idea!

Volcano Hair

If you haven’t heard of volcano hair yet, that’s because it’s not a real thing but it’s what came to mind when we saw this botched hair job. You see it too? Even the orange and red part on top resembles lava.

Volcano Hair

So, if that’s the look she was going for, then job well done! But judging by the hairdresser’s Snapchat, she was not all rosy about it. Then again, who wants their hair to look like a natural disaster?

Pre-Surgery

While getting your hair done does not even closely resemble surgery, we can’t help but appreciate this girl’s caption. You see, the reason she referred to it as such was to emphasize how much work was going to be required to fix her hair.

Pre-Surgery

And judging from the before and after pictures, she was right. Seeing how lovely her hair looks now makes the previous disaster seem almost worth it. Are we being overly dramatic? Well, so be it. *Flips hair and walks away.*

Rooted

A lot of girls who dye their hair will continuously do so to prevent their roots from growing out. For those of you who have never played with color before, see the hair below as a reference.

Rooted

Having such dark roots doesn’t really work when the rest of your hair is so light. Then again, it’s all about personal preference but we personally find this hair to be a total fail.

Pink-Handed

The most important thing to remember about hair dye is that it belongs solely in one’s hair. So, when it happens to get on your hands and forehand, it falls under this category of hair dye fails.

Pink-Handed

And we’re glad in this case, as we are able to showcase these disasters for you all to see. However, our heart does go out to this poor guy who shouldn’t touch another bottle of dye with a 10-foot pole.

Funny or Scary?

We are split down the middle on this decision. Do we find this man’s hair and beard combo to be a funny statement or a scary sight? Maybe if his facial expression was a bit more joyful, we’d laugh and appreciate it more.

Funny or Scary?

But, since he looks like we just stole a french fry off his plate, we’re going to go with the latter reaction. Who’s with us? Actually, if you’re not, then we don’t care to know. Only kidding!

She Drew on Herself

If you know who the celeb is in this picture, then you can really appreciate our heading. But for those of you who live under a rock when it comes to pop culture, here we have the lovely American actress Drew Barrymore.

She Drew on Herself

And while we have loved her since she was a child star, we can’t say the same about all her hairstyle choices. Take, for example, this dip-dye choice that looks like she drew it on with a black marker.

Snack Time

While we are big snack lovers, that doesn’t mean that we are going to put it on our heads. Though, this diehard Doritos fan thought otherwise. While we admire his bravery and for embodying the YOLO mantra, we can’t say we appreciate the hairstyle itself.

Snack Time

If hair could talk, we bet this one would scream “Help!!!” Moving forward, we suggest he gets the chips logo on a shirt rather. Who agrees with this compromise?

Just Like Fire

On a scale from one to ten of botched hairstyles, this one is a weak three. In fact, the only reason we chose to include it is because we aren’t a fan of overgrown roots.

Just Like Fire

However, some are and those people will not agree with our choice to put this hairstyle on our list of hair failures. To those of you who don’t agree with us, we hear you and will consider your input for next time. Many thanks!

Clown-Gate

To those of you who think clown hair is fashionable, that’s quite alright. We all have the right to our opinions but with that being said, your opinion lands itself in the category of botched hair.

Clown-Gate

Why you might be asking? Well, it’s actually pretty simple — it looks bad and wouldn’t match any outfit. Unless you’re wearing a clown wig to a Halloween party, we do not subscribe to this look.

Purple Rain

When Prince put out the track “Purple Rain,” we fell in love to the point that we’re biased toward the color purple. Whether it’s purple sneakers, shirts, or nails, we’re on board with it. But hair? We have to draw the line there.

Purple Rain

Sorry if we’re coming across as overly conservative but we just don’t see the magic to it. Even when famous stars attempt to rock it, we’re still not convinced. Sorry, not sorry!

Two-for-One Special

When it comes to bargain deals, there’s nothing better than getting two items for the price of one but we can’t say the same about hairstyles. This woman’s doubled hairdo is giving us a headache just looking at it.

Two-for-One Special

And quite frankly, both hair colors seem a bit noisy to us. Perhaps a pastel version of one of them could work for her? What do you guys think? We need validation from our board of committee members.

The Worst Part

While we’ve seen a lot of hair disasters, we’ve also seen a lot of dyed foreheads and for that reason, we feel that we should play a little game of would you rather. So, would you rather have a botched hairstyle that leaves your hair looking all kinds of funky?

The Worst Part

Or would you prefer a stylish hairdo that happens to stain your forehead and hands? We know it’s a tough decision to make. If it were us, we’d go with the latter option and then implement crisis control!

Hard to Miss

This woman wanted alluring, fiery, fierce, red locks. Unfortunately, what she got makes her look more like a certain creepy clown who works at a fast food restaurant.

Hard to Miss

Well, if she does work at McDonald’s, she’ll fit right in! In fact, she can probably ask for a raise because she’s doing double duty as both a cashier and a mascot. If this woman is employed anywhere else though, we agree that this is a disaster.