OMBRE Hair: Tips, Tricks & How to DIY

Since I dyed my hair the first time around, I’ve received a ton of questions asking about my hair and how I went about ombre-ing it myself. I decided to dedicate a post to all about my ombre hair and my experience maintaining it!
I decided to take a second shot at “ombre” as it crept back into style shortly after the trend was fading. I went dark a few months after the first time I tried it because I wanted my hair to be darker for the colder seasons. It was also getting really brassy and “orange”; a super common problem for black-haired girls who try to bleach their hair lighter (because the undertones of our hair are actually red, when we strip our hair of it’s colour, it leaves it an orange or red colour). This summer, I went ombre again because I loved it so much the first time! My sister did it for me again this time, and I was extremely pleased with the results. This time, I wanted the colour to be much less brassy, but lighter at the same time. 
I’d like to firstly say that I’m not a hair stylist or a professional about this in any way. I researched a lot on other blogs and youtube and figured out what worked for me. I highly encourage everyone to do their research on this before they go ahead and do it on their own! This process saved me a ton of money rather than going to the salon, which was awesome for a trendy hairstyle such as ombre. All products can be found at Wal-mart (where I purchased mine).
The inspiration this time around: 
Shay Mitchell (from Pretty Little Liars) has awesome ombre hair! I like the transition and that it gets a lot lighter towards the ends. 

HOW I DID IT
Since my hair is naturally black, I used a hyrdogen peroxide cream that had a high content (about 30 or 40 percent was good for me), I mixed it with the bleaching powder, following the instructions on the packet. I left the mixture on for about 15 minutes (my sister encouraged me to put it on for longer, but I got really anxious that all my hair would fall off). USE gloves, the mixture is very strong. I then applied the dye – I used a blonde dye since my hair is so dark, and it turned out to be more a blondey brown colour. Use an Ash colour if you have red undertones to your hair like me. Follow the instructions on the box, and you should be good to go! My hair kind of smelled like bleach for a week, but it does wash out eventually – don’t fret! 
TIPS
  1. To prevent brassiness, try a bleaching powder that is blue, this will attempt to take out the warm undertones from your hair while you are stripping it of it’s colour. ALSO, use an “Ash blonde” or “Ash brown” (any dye with the description “Ash”) dye to prevent brassiness, this will also add a cooler tone to your hair and balance it out.  
  2. I recommend that you definitely use a colour-treated shampoo. I have yet to find the right one, but the colour does slightly alter over time. The first time  I ombre’d my hair it did become much brassier over the months. Colour-treated shampoo will help slow down this process. 
  3. Trim your hair! I trim my hair much more often now that I have bleached the lower half of it. This makes sure that my hair always stays fresh. There is a drastic difference in how much drier it does feel, and trimming it (I usually trim an inch off the ends about once a month) really does make it feel a lot better. 
  4. Conditioner! The state of my hair pre-dying it was VERY low maintenance; I skipped out on conditioning it all the time! Colouring it has made my hair a bit drier and conditioner is a godsend. It also gets tangly much easier, so conditioner also helps get the rats out. 
  5. Hair Conditioning Oils are a holy grail item for dyed hair! I run it through the ends when I get out of the shower when my hair is still damp. It leaves my hair MUCH softer than when I don’tapply it. I do this only to damp hair, not dry hair.
THE RESULT
Here is my hair currently! I like my ombre much better when it’s curled. The transition of dark to light really happened naturally, I started the bleach at the bottom so the ends had the bleach on for the most amount of time. I don’t have any plans to go back to black anytime soon, I’m really enjoying my hair light! although it’s more maintenance to upkeep than virgin hair, I like that it adds a bit of flair to my beauty regimen. 

Questions? Shoot me a comment!

Love always, Rachel 

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