So, my FW ink experience:

Preparations and Dyeing:

First, we went to Deserres to pick the FW ink. Their website said they had grey, but the store had none in stock. So we decided to just get black and white ink and mix them. The ink is very mixable, which makes it very optimal for fine-tuning a custom colour. Luckily, black and white are the best colours for lightening and darkening colours, so the next time I dye something I'll already have those colours handy.

I decided to go for the more concentrated dye method, that is, 6 drops of ink to a 1/2 cup of 70% rubbing alcohol (for reference: the less concentrated method is 8 drops of ink to 1 cup 70% rubbing alcohol). We used two batches, mixed separately, in a spray bottle. The spray bottle I picked up from the dollar store.

I set up a little wig dyeing station in my bathtub to do this, as I heard that the dye can and will stain everything in sight. I put a folding table in the bathtub, covered it with a garbage bag, and then covered the wall behind the wig with a garbage bag as well. I taped the two together so none of the dye would drip/fall down between the wall and table and stain the tub. I pinned the wig on a Styrofoam head and the head on an empty (but sturdy) wine bottle.

I can't really say how long the actual spray dyeing process took, because I didn't really time myself. But I just went lightly slowly spraying the top layers and then after lifting the hairs up to spray underneath. I very, very lightly blow dried the ends when the dyeing was done to prevent some of the runoff.

I then let it sit overnight to dry. And the next morning I followed the instructions to rinse it out in cold water and let it drip dry.

My impressions:

First of all, I didn't do a very good job of getting a before picture in the same lighting, etc. So, I actually don't have a very good basis of comparison. The wig was a very light blond/beige to begin with, and some of that still shines through. It does look grey though. I'm not sure how grey it will look under real sunlight, because the dye came out as more of a tint than an actual drastically changed colour. And we didn't want it to be a drastically changed colour, because that would mean we used way too much dye. So, there is a bit of a challenge for me to say exactly how well this all worked. Another thing is, online tutorials mentioned there would be a need to comb through crispy hair before the cold water bath. Well, the hair wasn't crispy at all... so, does that mean I should have used more layers? I'm not sure.

Overall, the colour appears to be what we wanted. I'm not sure how big of a change it is from the original, but we're all satisfied, so it doesn't really matter.

I will be using this method again, I found it to be quick, easy and very entertaining. However, next time I'd like to use a white wig and dye it a more vibrant colour, to get a better impression of how many layers are necessary for this method.