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How Audrey Kitching in the pink

Audrey Kitching, an influential fashion blogger, is photographed at the "Beauty is Pain" boutique.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Having pink hair à la Audrey Kitching isn’t easy.

“It is high maintenance, make no mistake,” says Kitching, an Aveda-trained hairstylist before she became an Internet celebrity.

“To get that bubblegum candy floss pink, first you have to go whitest Gwen Stefani blond,” she says. “Use a blue violet toner to pull out any gold.”

Once the blond is right, add pink. Kitching makes her own shade by mixing Manic Panic’s Cotton Candy Pink, Special Effects’ Cupcake Pink and Chi Chromashine Pure Pink. “I purposely don’t mix them together too well,” she says, “so you end up with a streaky effect, with three different dimensions of pink, almost like natural highlights with some dark pink, some medium and some baby.

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And here’s why her look is high maintenance: She has to do this every time she washes her hair, every four days or so. “Otherwise,” she says, “you’ll end up with a monochrome whitest pink peach color, which is actually a good thing if you want something that is easy to maintain.” In addition to dying with pink, she also has to bleach her roots every few weeks.

When she washes her hair, she mixes up her pink blend and adds it to a jar that’s filled 50% with conditioner, 50% with the dye. She cuts down on damage by keeping her hair much shorter than it appears. “My natural hair length is around 2 inches past my shoulders, and I wear extensions for the length. That way I’m able to change the color and the length all the time, without too much damage from the bleaching.”

—Caroline Ryder

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