# Hair dye as a wood stain?



## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

I want to dye a small piece of burl pink and I’m wondering if hair dye will work. 

Has anyone ever used hair dye to color wood?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Quickstep said:


> I want to dye a small piece of burl pink and I’m wondering if hair dye will work.
> 
> Has anyone ever used hair dye to color wood?


I would not. You don't know if the hair color would be colorfast on wood or not.


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## shoot summ (Feb 21, 2014)

If it will put color into hair I would think it would dye the wood, the issue is what is the chemical makeup of the dye? I know some of that stuff is pretty nasty. 

Have you thought about getting some of the small cans of rustoleum in white and red, then thinning it way down?


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

Hair is protein, mostly keratin. The hair color chemistry is made to bind to that.
Wood is mostly cellulose, a carbohydrate that very few critters can digest at all.
Wood dyes bind to cellulose, not protein with the same effect.

Find some post secondary botany lab. See if you can score a gram or two of Saffranin O.
Dissolve that in maybe 500ml Everclear (or 95% if you can find it.)

Don't use denatured lab alcohol. It's usually poisoned with some crap like Jet B that spoils the binding.

Test on scrap for time. I'll predict soaking for an hour+.
Saffranin O in alcohol should stick to your skin for less than a month.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Stains everything else, can't imagine why it wouldn't stain wood too. Color fastness might be an issue,but with a fi ish over it I doubt it. Can't hurt to give it a shot on some scrap.

Leather dyes also work in wood


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## raskgle (Dec 10, 2007)

*rits*

rits close dye works and has lots of colors. as always test before use. carl.


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## raskgle (Dec 10, 2007)

*rits*

rits close dye works good on wood. as always test first. carl.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I've heard of people using food coloring for stain only to come back later and admit the color badly faded. You just don't know when you start jury rigging. I would rather used something I could depend on and yet some well known wood stains are not colorfast either. Minwax fades so bad I suspended using it a couple years ago.


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

I suggested Saffranin O only because it's light fast under a microscope for 40-60 years.
There are no others for botanical histology which are effective.

Start with a red/pink wood such as Australian Red Cedar.


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## Packard (Jul 27, 2018)

RIT clothing dye is probably a better choice. Mix it with mineral spirits instead of water. 

Note: This is a permanent dye and available in a million colors at the fabric store. However I have never used it on wood. I did use it to color the faded carpet in my old car however, and it worked fine.

The old formula was in powder form. I see they are pushing liquid form now.

https://www.ritdye.com/products/


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

I always forget about RIT dyes. Good choice.


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## audmercer (Dec 15, 2020)

Y’all, I used my black hair dye on my coffee table just now. A small amount of black paint had come off because nail polish remover got on the table & took off just the paint. It worked!! I’m not sure what’ll happen when I clean the table but an insta fix is exactly what I needed. Definitely recommend but BE CAREFUL.


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## Dave McCann (Jun 21, 2020)

audmercer said:


> Definitely recommend but BE CAREFUL.


Joined 14 hours ago to respond to a 2 year old post. Hummm???
Good advise,,,,,,,,,,, "BE CAREFUL".


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## Paulywog (Jan 31, 2021)

Steve Neul said:


> I would not. You don't know if the hair color would be colorfast on wood or not.


 Hell yeah hair dye is the best , i put that **** on everything


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## Paulywog (Jan 31, 2021)

No stain or paint could pull off this shade of purple


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## Geeze (Jan 28, 2021)

Paulywog said:


> No stain or paint could pull off this shade of purple


Nice! What shade and brand?

I switched to RIT fabric dyes for the same reason - for me most 'wood' dyes are boring - I want POP! When I make something I want people across the show hall to think 'What the hell is that!?!'



















Russ


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

You could get that color with an aniline dye stain. Probably a mixture of Oxblood and Blue would do it.


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## Shelia vila (Feb 5, 2021)

I've used Rite fabric dye to stain pine. Works great. Hair dye would probably work fine. Have also made alcohol ink with sharpie markers and used it to stain wood. Both get the job done.


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## ChrisWa (Feb 12, 2021)

Shelia vila said:


> I've used Rite fabric dye to stain pine. Works great. Hair dye would probably work fine. Have also made alcohol ink with sharpie markers and used it to stain wood. Both get the job done.


I'm just trying out a project with a combination of colors using Rit and Tulip fabric dyes, Keda powder wood dye and pinata Alcohol Ink(super saturated, gorgeous!) thinned with rubbing alcohol- But Sharpie markers.. Great idea.. Do you soak the markers in alcohol to pull out the ink??


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## Shelia vila (Feb 5, 2021)

ChrisWa said:


> I'm just trying out a project with a combination of colors using Rit and Tulip fabric dyes, Keda powder wood dye and pinata Alcohol Ink(super saturated, gorgeous!) thinned with rubbing alcohol- But Sharpie markers.. Great idea.. Do you soak the markers in alcohol to pull out the ink??


Yes I pull the insides out of the sharpie's cut them into pieces and place them in baby food jars with rubbing alcohol 50% works but 90% is better. It's a great way to get a little more use out of my old sharpie markers.


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## ChrisWa (Feb 12, 2021)

Shelia vila said:


> Yes I pull the insides out of the sharpie's cut them into pieces and place them in baby food jars with rubbing alcohol 50% works but 90% is better. It's a great way to get a little more use out of my old sharpie markers.


This is a great idea and inexpensive too. what kinds of things do you make?


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