Kid-safe hair coloring options?

My daughter recently started asking about coloring her hair. She’s got friends that use hair chalk, but for some reason, on her hair it doesn’t even last the morning at school. Anyone out there have a great semi-permanent option that’s not going to destroy her hair? She just wants a fun streak or two for “unicorn hair”.

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RE:

I use Overtone on my gray hair for bright unicorn purple/pink/blue/teal colors. It’s a conditioner that washes out over time. Not smelly, easy to use and tons of fun colors in pastel/vibrant/extreme shades. Check it out. Overtone.com. 

RE:

We’ve had luck with kool-aid! Certain colors work better than others but if you google this there is a plethora of info online :) my daughter has brown hair and was delighted to have her tips pink for a week or so. And I felt better about this option than about bleaching and dying her hair. Hope this helps!

RE:

Is her hair light or dark? If it's light, you can just plop hair color on top of it. Go to Sally's Beauty Supply and they have several unicorn options in the semi-permanent aisle. Semi-permanent dyes go on top of your hair, so it doesn't damage anything -- in fact, that's why people dye their hair before using it, to damage the hair enough so it'll hold onto the color. There is nothing particularly toxic about these dyes. At first, I stuck to the old stand-bys from my youth, Punky Color and Manic Panic, but was sad to find out they didn't stick to hair as long as some of the newer brands. I've used Arctic Fox, Wella Color Charm, and Ion Neon Brights, all three of those stick pretty well. Arctic Fox is scented like grape (at least the purple is), which is so silly and a tiny bit gross. If her hair is dark, color chalk is prob still your best option, but you'll get at least SOME result from the semi-perm. I've actually bleached streaks in one of my daughter's hair, very carefully, far from her scalp and she loves it so much she just decided to forgo the color and enjoy the "highlights." 

RE:

My niece dyed the ends of her light brown hair a lovely pink with red (strawberry? cherry?) Jell-O. I hear all the 3rd graders are into it :) I figure it’s pretty non-toxic... (I mean, it’s “edible”) Maybe google it for instructions. 

RE:

I've been wondering the same thing. The chalk doesn't really work well enough for us either. I'm wondering if red kool-aide could work... I think I saw that posted somewhere. Maybe we should check Pinterest?

RE:

I just saw a product on Sephora’s website (it’s only available online) for a hair “makeup” with a really unfortunate name— Poser Paste... company is called  Good Dye Young (even worse) that looks like it works on light and dark hair, washes out easily, and is really easy to use!