For those that don't know "Ombre hair" is the new in thing according to all the fashion magazines. Its basically just a graduation of color, from light to dark, or dark to light aka. basically looking like your hair has grown out and you have massive roots. Like I said it isn't really a tutorial, There isn't a big secret or specific step by step routine when it comes to the DIY Ombre hair. I just don't think alot of people really considered about doing it at home and were over thinking the whole process of doing it! Its presented to us as some tricky technique called technique called 'balayage'. Where the colorist applies different related shades of colour in a freehand sweeping motion with a brush. Um. No, just take some peroxide and slap it on the ends of your hair and DONE! Seriously, Thats all the effort it took to get mine!
sorry for the horrid quality, photobooth fail!
I cant speak for everyone saying my DIY Ombre Hair technique will work for you, But, Hey it worked for me and it was so simple to do and looks super sweet! There isn't much to lose by doing it yourself, and you can save yourself a fortune if it goes right! I'm not an expert on hair, and I have hardly any experience dying my own hair let alone anyone else's. I'm simply sharing what worked for me!
horrible picture, but you get the idea of dye placement!
It is really as simple as just applying the dye to the ends of your hair. You just need to make sure you use a highlighting kit, or one specifically designed to lighten the hair. Blonde hair dye wont work because its not designed to make your hair blonder unless of course it actually is blonde. You need a good highlighting kit, I used Loreal Perfect Blonde Creme Highlighting Kit. But Im sure you can get cheaper ones that do the same job! Make sure you read and follow the instructions on the box when mixing up the dyes, and be sure to use gloves when directly applying the peroxide to the hair! If your worried about the fade line, Do what I did and apply the highlighting solution twice. Personally I think this is what gave it the fully faded look. Although you could try applying more product at the tips of the hair compared to the ammount towards the top of the Ombre. If you wanted to go really out their try doing it with bleach and then use a wash in wash out colour to get pink tips!
inspiration: image credit 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Its not about being perfect so don't worry about being too precise during your application! Its supposed to be a lovely messy beachy effect! Celebrities like Alexa Chung, Rachel Bilson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lauren Conrad and Erin Wasson have all embraced the Ombre Hair trend and look really amazing! There is no harm in DIY-ing it! Seriously, Just be brave and go for it! Its made such a difference to my hair with so little effort! Its brightened up my skintone and given my boring long hair a much more interesting effect!
If anyone does use this technique, Let me know how it works out for you!
If anyone does use this technique, Let me know how it works out for you!
ah, i've been waiting for this post with such excitement. i can't to do this to my hair stat.
ReplyDeletexx
It looks highly awesome and you are great on camera! And beautiful too! All in all, I hate you a bit.
ReplyDelete:) ♥
I want to dye my hair dark plum and then ombre the ends light purple! It looks cute on you - although, not massively noticeable?
ReplyDelete▲ WOLF WHISTLE ▲
p
damn..awesome trend when i have short hair..just my luck.
ReplyDelete"Um. No, just take some peroxide and slap it on the ends of your hair."
ReplyDeleteClassic. This made me laugh.
Alyse Tea Rose
Well done! Doing this yourself must have saved you sooo much money. I've been all the colours under the sun (red, dark and light brown, blonde, platinum) and it's sooo expensive! I do miss dying my hair myself at the moment but I like being light blonde too much (too scared to dye the roots myself with bleach!). Corinne x
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usedandabusedvintage.com
haha! thats exacdtly what I did to mine too :) I was thinking, right must do this professionally in sections then by the end i just ended up matting the ends of my hair with bleachy hands, very un-glamorous, but just as effective :)
ReplyDeleteLooks very good! Bad that I just went to the hairdresser to get my roots dyed again :D let´s hope this trend lasts until my roots are more grown out :D
ReplyDeleteYour hair is great Lily1 If I had longer hair like yours I would totally do this and you don't have to worry about it going wrong either, seriously what could go bad? I've had so many hair colours in the years, I used to do it all myself but now get it down at the hairdressers but its so expensive =( some people seem to be asking you really silly questions about this ombre thing, just try it out everyone. hair can be cut, grown and redyed
ReplyDeleteI love how this looks! Too bad it'd be sort of weird on black hair...
ReplyDeleteYou are too cute! (: wish I could do this but my hair is too dark and I'm afraid going any lighter would scare people off.
ReplyDeletei really want to dye the tips of my hair purple but my hair's too short. i might do i just to test it out. it looks great on you.
ReplyDeletex
i wanted to do that too, but i guess my hair is too short for it :/ a bit over shoulder. and normally i'm blonde, so it would look a bit silly with more blonder hair at the bottom
ReplyDeleteWhat a great tutorial x
ReplyDeleteawesome! this is what i've been waiting for since i decided to do this to my hair too. i guess i'm going to try it next week. :)
ReplyDeletethanks for your tutorial!
x
great idea! i like your hair, seems to be so natural!
ReplyDeleteLove your style
XoXo
http://nightwriterequiem.blogspot.com/
ok, you're right - I'm going to stop thinking and just bloody do it!
ReplyDeletex
Hi :)
ReplyDeleteI have done the "ombre" thing a while ago but a little bit differently because I wasn't as brave as you.
I wasn't sure the colour would suit me so I wanted my main brown colour to be still more overpowering even right to the ends.
So what I did was take a small section from the underside of my hair right round the back of my neck and dyed that. I left it on for about 30 mins so I went MUCH blonder.
Because I dyed that small section, the colour shows through but is mixed with my brown so the ombre effect is there but not as loud. People have even asked me if it is natural!! Love it!
I love the big difference it makes to the look of my hair (it looks like it has much more depth and volume now) but it still isn't a huge change for someone who has never dyed their hair before!
I advise anyone who is wondering about doing this to just go for it!! HAIR GROWS!
Great blog by the way, I'm a new follower. I love your style and the fact that you buy from "normal" shops! x
I've been wanting to have this done for aaaages but couldn't afford to get it done at the salon! You've inspired me to do it myself... I shall be blogging with the results, do you mind if I link to this in my blogpost? :)
ReplyDeletegreat blog:)
ReplyDeletelove the outfit!
http://thebrunetteworld.blogspot.com/
xxx
Hey, I just wanted to thank you for the inspiration to do something different with my hair. I had dyed my hair dark red a fair few months back and it was growing out (had 3 or so inches of roots) I didnt want to go dark again, but more of a coppery ginger. I took the chance to do the ombre hair thing like you by myself and I absolutely love the results. I left mine in for about 20 minutes and at first i thought it had done nothing but it only appears very subtle as its blended my natural hair colour back in(I put a few streaks up to my roots in too)and my tips are a warm coppery red instead of the dark red they were from multiple dyes. I might go back over it in a couple of weeks to lighten it even more, but oh my, I do love it.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I used garnier belle colour lightener. It said it was good for use over dyed dark hair all over the box, and it is indeed.
OK you've inspired me to go for it, I've been wanting the Ombre look since I saw it on Rachel Bilson last winter. I had also been toying with the idea of going shorter (my hair is about the same length as yours) so if the dye job looks awful I can just chop it off, problem solved!
ReplyDeleteTried this out today. I used the Loreal creme high-lighting kit in the lightest blonde shade. My hair is a dyed shade of faded copper. I put it on the last 5 inches of hair, waited 30 mins then put it on the last 2 inches of hair for 30 mins. It's very subtle and natural looking. Thanks for the DIY. Here's a pic:
ReplyDeletehttp://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs220.snc4/39333_556736764939_203801386_32635079_6931358_n.jpg
Looks great.
ReplyDeleteI am doing the same procedure right now :D Can't wait for the result <3
you are the cutest thing ever. thanks for the vid! i actually went to my stylist last month with 10 photos for this look. i ended up paying a ton for a full head of highlights that start at my ears and then go down to the ends (so my ash brown roots show). sadly not so ombre, since my stylist was afraid of dying my hair since it's "super porous". howeverrrrr, i'm totally going to the store and buying some peroxide and trying this on my hair. worst case scenario i do a brown gloss over my whole head!
ReplyDeletethanks for your words of wisdom, pretty lady! love your blog and style.
xx
thank you so much for your help! simple. easy. to the point. you're lovely!
ReplyDeleteYou are really quite adorable. I'm sure you get that a lot. Anyways, I've been contemplating doing this here to my hair for a bit now, and I've grown impatient, so tonight I'm off to buy some dye! I've been on vacation and Sun-Inning it, so my hair's nice and lighter than it's been for a while, more like it was when I was a kid. Anyways, I'm psyched to lighten the ends. It's simple but it goes a long way. The color's a dirty blonde, with some golder tones on top, and I'm just not sure how long to leave the bleach in...should I do it for ten minutes, twice? Layered, like you did?
ReplyDeleteI'm also thinking of bleaching the ends of the pieces around my face, due to my extensively layered head of hair and all the lengths it's at.
Thanks for your guidance. :)
you are on the 'ombre hair' google image search :)
ReplyDeleteI think I'll give it a go!I wanted to do something to my hair, but no idea what...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the how to! :)
I've just done this and it looks awesome! So glad I did it myself for cheap!
ReplyDeleteI've got quite long hair but it's really dark, do you think it would work as well? Or would the colours be too contrasting using bleach?
ReplyDeletex
i came across your vid today.. i'd be umming & ahhing for a couple of weeks & you totally inspired me to do it! i bought the dye on my way home from work & it looks totally amazing x
ReplyDeletehi!!! I'm Tere, I'm chilean... mmm... I want to understand a bit like you did but don't know English ... hahaha. emmm ... Coloring Your tips and then did it again but taking a little above (in your hair) for the gradient effect. Please answer me this question ... time looking as I do, and the hairdressers say they don't know how to make "ombré hair". so I do at home :D
ReplyDeletelove love love.
ReplyDeleteI was convinced I was going to have to go drop loads of cash to have this done professionally until I found this post. I bought the cheapest stuff the drug store had (Clairol Nice 'n Easy Highlighting Kit for dark blonde to light brown hair) so that if it didn't work I wouldn't be out anything and it worked just fine (I did a first application of 30 minutes, rinsed and dried it, decided I wanted to go lighter and did another 20 minutes -- a little over the suggested maximum, but rules are meant to be broken). Super happy with the results.
Before/after photos here: http://lethologic.tumblr.com/post/2061814174/jumped-on-the-ombre-wagon
hi, i was just wondering...where I live you can puchase those highlighting creams in several different kinds..they will(or at least they should) make your hair 2,2-4,4-5,or even 4-6 shades lighter. I have really dark brown hair, but still i´m afraid that the 4-6 shades one will be too much..What would you recommend? :)
ReplyDeletebtw u r amazing!
Lovely post! I also expected to spend a lot on ombre dying, but thanks to you that's not happening. I can't wait to try it - I'm thinking red dye on my brown hair.
ReplyDeleteHi Lily! I found your blog yesterday, while I was searching for some inspiration to ombre hair, and I am sooo pleased that I actually found it! So today I went to the local store and bought a packet of bleaching, and bleached maybe 10-15 centimetres of my ends. And I LOVE it. I am so happy with it, and I am walking around with a smile on my face all the time, ha-ha. So, thank you, dear!! You can see the result at my blog, by the way. And my hair has been coloured and bleached a LOT before too, so I am actually really shocked that it became real blonde, not orange. Thanks again!! xoxo
ReplyDeletei dunno why everyone is so concerned to do this on short hair, i;m right about to!
ReplyDeleteAH! Totally tried this on my hair, look at my blog, new post about it~
ReplyDeleteTotally works, love love loveeeee
amazing. I'm totally going to do this (if my mother approves :P)
ReplyDeleteI have really dark hair though, so I guess I'd have to leave the bleach on for quite a while..
www.vintageandpreppy.blogspot.com
Was just reading through your blog and saw this post. This is exactly how I did mine! It is so much easier than people think, just throw it on and leave it. And it can always be cut out if you hate it. Just wish my hair was as long as yours!
ReplyDeletex
I love your hair.because your hair is silky .it's a really nice.thanx
ReplyDeleteFollowed this tutorial the other day, a bit nervous at first as I have had my hair highlighted many a time previously but I had left it over a year so my hair had grown out and really naturally become ombre. However it was very faded and not so blonde so I tested it out on a small strand and it worked really well. I left it on a little longer than your recommended ten minutes but I think this may be down to dye being already in my hair.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this tutorial, I can't believe I only discovered it a few weeks ago. I am a bit anxious whenever it comes to hairdressers because it never seems to turn out how I imagine but this saved me from my anxiety and saved me a lot of money! It has really brightened up my hair and skin, thank you!
Holly Taylor
http://pickleisatreat.blogspot.com
Done this three times now, works so well, last time I did it a bit different, I used Jerome russel bblonde cream, heres what I did, I put it on the tips and left that for ten minutes, then I put more on a bit further up and left that, then put more on, I just did that all the way up until I wanted to stop bleaching. That gave me the best results and wasn't as fiddly as it sounds. And use a violet shampoo to keep it blonde :). I have darker hair so I do have to leave it on for longer.x
ReplyDeletehey :) I think you did a great job! I'm going to dye my hair tommorrow according to what you wrote here. So, what do you mean by fadeline? How can i make them gently change the color from my natural to dye's color and look messy?
ReplyDeleteI JUST did this and it worked great for me!!! I followed your instructions exactly and got nice subtle results that look pretty awesome. The hardest part was making sure the blending from lighter to darker looked nice but other than that it was easy! This is the best tutorial I've seen since most others have you do the peroxide and then dye the tips. It made way more sense to use the highlighting kit.
ReplyDeleteWhen you applied the dye the second time did you apply it on wet hair? Or wash it off, dry it and apply more? Looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteI did this and it resulted in some serious yellow action. I bleached it three times before resigning myself to the hairdressers.
ReplyDeletehttp://izzieturley.com/