In the 1970s, mood rings were invented. Despite a color-coded key that allegedly matched the hue of the ring with the mood of the person wearing it, the only magic at play was the temperature of the wearer’s finger.
Almost 20 years later, a similar type of sorcery was employed in the form of hypercolor T-shirts. According to a Smithsonian Magazine article, between February and May 1991, Generra, the company who manufactured the clothes, ‘sold a whopping $50 million worth of color-changing, heat-sensitive T-shirts, shorts, pants, sweatshirts and tights.’ Of course, the effects only looked magical. The shirts changed colors as result of thermochromic dye, which was made of molecules that ‘changed shape and shifted from absorbing light to releasing it.’
Hypercolor shirts may have come and gone, but the concept is now being used in a very 2017 trend: shade-shifting hair color.
Is it magic? Jared Viliamu Pati has already racked up 50,000 views on Instagram on a clip in which he shows viewers how his hair goes from blond to pink with the help of a blow-dryer after he uses Pravana’s upcoming heat-activated Vivids Mood Color
On Friday, hair-color brand Pravana is launching a line called Vivids Mood Color.
According Allure.com, the product is not a hair dye. ‘It’s a temporary overlay that changes colors depending on the heat level around you.’
Lissette Cruz, Pravana’s product development manager, told the beauty site, ‘What makes it unique is that it’s the first-ever heat reactive color on the market. It happens so fast, with so many different heat sources. Walking out into the sun, with the simple heat from the sun, makes the color shift. Any gust of wind can change it again and reverse right back to its original color.’
Depending on which color is used, anything that makes the temperature change can make yellow hair turn green, pink hair turn purple, platinum hair turn blue and more.
It’s out of this world: The product, which will be available in salons this Friday, can make yellow hair turn green, pink hair turn purple, platinum hair turn blue and more
When it was first teased back in March, it sounded intriguing but left many skeptical that it actually worked.
Now, several hair pros and editors have gotten their hands on the product and taken to Instagram to demonstrate how it works.
Jared Viliamu Pati, for example, has just 5,000 followers on the photo-sharing app, but racked up 50,000 likes and counting on a video in which he uses a blow-dryer to turn his platinum-dyed hair bright pink in seconds.
Slide from purple to pink: Taylor Rae, who is a Pravana Vivids specialist in Denver, Colorado, ran a hot curling iron over a client’s rainbow-hued hair to show off the color-changing magic
Stylist Shiela Gomez posted a similar clip during which she uses a dryer to take her hot pink hair to a dark purple.
And Taylor Rae, who is a Pravana Vivids specialist in Denver, Colorado, ran a hot curling iron over a client’s rainbow-hued hair to show off the color-changing magic. She captioned the video, ‘IT’S MAGIC…Watch me wave my “magic wand” and change her color from PURPLE to PINK!!’ That post has already been watched more than 20,000 times.
Several of the editors at Buzzfeed also tried out the Pravana product in a recent video.
She’s a believer: In a Buzzfeed video, tester Jazzmyne was skeptical until she saw her platinum crop turn a dark grey when heat or cold was applied to it
In the beginning of the clip, tester Jazzmyne says, ‘I’m a little bit of a skeptic. I want it to work so I can just be like a dope a**-person walking around with different hair every second, but we’ll see if that becomes a reality.’
After watching her platinum buzz-cut turn a deep grey, however, her mind is blown.
‘I feel like I’m about to get my letter to go into Hogwarts because I’m a f****** wizard up in here,’ she says.
Although the videos are convincing – and unquestionably mesmerizing to watch, it’s important to realize the limitations of the product. For one thing, it will only be available in salons; sorry DIY-ers. And for another, like most things related to hair color, it works best on lighter hair.
Yes, you can do it on dark hair: Although you don’t need to bleach your hair to see the colors change, the lighter your hair, the brighter the hues will look
‘You don’t have to pre-lighten your hair,’ Lissette told Allure. ‘You can put it on various levels, but the brighter the hair, the lighter the color will look.’
Additionally, much like the way the hypercolor shirts of the ’90s would lose their ‘magic’ abilities after one too many washes, the same is true of the color-changing hair overlay. It comes out with shampoo.
According to the Pravana website, the Vivids Mood Color will only be available for a limited time and there is currently no information about pricing.