The ombré effect is obtained by dying the ends of your hair in another colour to create a gradient effect. Now, why pay a lot of money to get it done at a salon whilst you can get it easily done at home for almost nothing? Although the trend has been around for quite a while now, my flatmate has finally decided to jump the boat and get it done! I’ll show you how I helped her dye her hair and hopefully the information could come in handy for you if you ever decide to do the same. Although this post is titled “DIY”, it’s technically a MYFDIFY – Make Your Flatmate Do It For You tutorial! Anyways, let’s begin…
PREPARATION
We did a bit of research on the internet at first and figured out she’d need a blond hair highlighting kit. Normal blonde hair dying kits wouldn’t work unless you use bleach (peroxide) with it. As I understood, the highlighting kit contains bleach powder in the mixture so it seems much more practical. We got the L’Oréal Perfect Blonde Creme Highlighting Kit from Boots for just £6. Aside from that, you’ll need:
• A towel or an used shirt to cover your back and shoulders in order to protect your clothes/skin from the hair dye
• A hair comb to help you apply the hair dye evenly
INSTRUCTIONS
In regards to product mixing and preparation, the instructions on the box are rather clear and straightforward. But since it’s a highlighting kit, it doesn’t tell you how to apply the dye so here’s how we did it:
1) After pouring everything in the container, mix it until it becomes creamy then start applying it to your hair.
2) I first applied product on roughly 10cm of hair from the tips (where you want the hair to be most blond). Of course, you don’t have to follow my measurements since it depends on personal preferences. My flatmate didn’t want a large section of blonde hair so we only started with 10cm but if you want a larger one to start of with, just apply the product on a larger section of hair.
3) I left the section rest for 15 minutes then started applying more product upwards. The logic here is that the longer you leave the product on, the lighter is the colour turnout (be careful not to leave it for too long though, it could severely damage your hair). Therefore, you’d want to leave the bits at the end tips for a bit longer to create the “ombre” effect. We used foil to cover the end tip and then blow-dried those parts, hoping that the colour would develop faster – not sure if it actually works though, but sort of looks a bit more professional!
4)I let the product rest on QA’s hair for a total of roughly 35 minutes (including the initial 15 at the end tips) to let the colour develop.
5)Thoroughly rinse off the product from your hair with cool water. Whilst your hair is wet, the colour usually doesn’t seem to be light but it will show up more clearly once it dries up.
I actually ended up dying her hair twice. The first time it created a light orange gradient but she actually want the tips to turn out even lighter so I applied the left over product on a short section at the ends of her hair and left it for another 20 mins.
RESULTS
After carefully washing off the product, here’s the result… ( Beginning of process vs. ending result)
QA was pretty happy with the turnout so I was quite glad! – Ironic how she actually looks happier in the “before” picture. I was really scared that I would ruin her hair but it actually turned out to be a really easy process. I really liked the end result as well because her hair looked like it’s on fire! If you look closely at the after picture, you can see that there are 3 defined sections to the gradient. However, in real life, the gradient is much smoother and looks quite natural. There aren’t any sort of harsh divide that looks as if your roots grew out to that length. However, that all depends on the hair dying technique that you are using. This one would allow you to achieve a more natural/feathered ombre look.
We took 2 more pictures in daylight so you can see how the colour turns out and how it looks with straight vs. curly hair. Also, I just wanted to add that the colour of the gradient would largely depend on your original hair colour and the length of time you leave the product on your hair. Whilst it turned out quite orange-y for QA, it is because she had previously dyed her hair in that tint. It may turn out differently for you. Another point, the colour does get lighter after a couple of washes so don’t be disappointed straight away if you think that it’s not light enough!
Disclaimer: I am not a professional hairdresser. This may have worked for us in this case but do take caution in dying your hair. Be aware that bleaching your hair WILL damage and substantially dry your hair. Just to be cautious, make sure you do one of those skin allergy tests (amidst the fact that this process doesn’t involve putting the dying product near your scalp) and remember to wear gloves at all time if you’re doing the hair-dying job!
I hope that this post was helpful! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section below!
