Whether it's Halloween, New Year's Eve, Mardi Gras or a theme party, you might find yourself wanting to accentuate your hair with glitter. While you're out being festive, it's a fantastic look and vibe, but what about when the day is done and you're ready to hit the hay? The last thing you want to do is go to bed with glitter still in your hair. You'll be finding it everywhere for days, weeks or even maybe months!
Here's How Long Glitter Stays in Your Hair
While glitter is not meant to stay in the hair for more than a day or so, there are a few factors that will determine how long it stays put. "The duration of glitter staying on your hair depends on factors such as the type of glitter and the hair texture," explained hair expert Alice Rawling. "Typically, it can stay for about one to three days."
It's not likely that you'd want to sleep with glitter in your hair for days on end, but it's good to know there are ways to have it stay put if you're wearing it for an event. "Using hairspray on the hair roots and then applying glitter can make it last in the hair," said Rawling.
How to Prevent Glitter From Sticking to Your Hair
While you might not want glitter to fall out of your hair immediately after applying it, the truth is you don't want it to stick around forever. Leaving glitter in your hair — especially if it's mixed with hair gel or hairspray — can harm your scalp, follicles and hair strands. To make sure the glitter washes out easily, Rawling said to avoid glitter made with denatured alcohol, polyvinyl, and parabens.
"Avoid glitter which contains [these] substances, which make the glitter stick more in the hair," she said. "If you don't want the glitter to stick in your hair for as long, you'll [also] want to avoid things that will make it stick to the strands longer, like hairspray or hair gel."
Now that you know how to safely apply glitter to your hair and how to make it stay, you might be wondering how to get it out quickly and effectively.
How to Safely Remove Glitter From Hair
When it comes to the removal process, it might seem like the first thing you want to do is jump into the shower, but you might not want to clog your drain with glitter's tiny particles. Rawling explained that the first thing you want to do is shake glitter out of your hair using your fingers. By bending over and moving your fingers in an up-and-down motion, you can shake some of the glitter out first.
Next up, brush as much glitter out of dry hair as you can with a fine-bristled brush, like a boar bristle brush. This would best be done outside or somewhere where you can sweep the glitter up easily.
Next, consider a hair soak. "To safely remove glitter from your hair, use a natural oil such as olive oil or coconut oil," said Rawling. "Soak the hair in oil for about 15 minutes and use warm water to wash and rinse hair. Gently massage the scalp to loosen flakes and remove the [excess] glitter."
You can also use baby oil if you have that handy. Run your fingers across your scalp in small circular motions to loosen up the glitter particles on your skin.
After you've removed all the glitter you can with just your hands, wash your hair as you normally would. If you can still feel the glitter on your scalp, try shampooing twice. Since your hair has just been stressed with hairspray or gel, you might want to use a hydrating shampoo to impart moisture.
A few techniques you might want to avoid to remove glitter are using scotch tape or a lint roller as these could damage your hair strands.
