A new hair dye trend has taken Chinese social media by storm: Pet owners in China are dyeing their dogs’ fur wacky colors using natural food coloring, more specifically, with cabbage juice.
Notably, the cabbage dye reminds netizens of the cute ‘Cabbage Dog’ designed by Japanese artist PonkichiM. The creative has released an illustration series called ‘Vegetable Fairy’ on Twitter since 2019.
The series, said the illustrator in previous interviews, combines cute animals with vegetables to encourage kids to eat their veggies.
In China, PonkichiM’s most famous character is arguably the Cabbage Dog, which is also a phrase to use when humiliating someone incompetent in Chinese slang.
In 2021 and 2022, collaborating with the Chinese toy company dodowo, PonkichiM released blind boxes with seven toys from the ‘Vegetable Fairy’ collection.
Now, having seemingly discovered food coloring for the first time, Chinese pet owners have found a natural way to decorate their canines to resemble the viral Cabbage Dog.
Moreover, other creative dog lovers have discovered natural dyes from other foods and plants, such as dragon fruit (pitaya) and garden balsam.
But be careful leaving your dog alone with dragon fruits, as you may return to find Sparky looking more like Jeffrey Dahmer than a purple version of the Cabbage Dog.