Tutorial Tuesday: My New Ombre Locks!

Last Saturday night, after much deliberation and watching countless YouTube tutorials, I did it!  Ombre!!!  My inspiration:

The lovely Rachel Bilson: 

 And the gorgeous Lily Aldridge:

Here's how I did it:

DISCLAIMER:  I'm not a professional hair stylist/colorist.  If you attempt to do this yourself, put the time in and do your research first! 

Step 1:  I get a few pesky grays around my root line, so I used Revlon's ColorSilk in Dark Brown (30) at the roots, following the instructions.  ($3.99 at drugstore.com)

Step 2:  I have been dyeing my hair dark brown for years, so I knew it was going to take quite a bit of stripping to get the color off the ends.  I used Revlon's Frost & Glow Honey Highlights Kit for Medium to Dark Brown Hair ($8.99 at drugstore.com). I mixed the powder and the developer as directed, but instead of putting on the highlighting cap and pulling strands through, I applied a thick coat of the bleach to the bottom two inches or so of my hair.  I left it on about 30 minutes, checking frequently, at first to see if anything was happening...then later to make sure nothing was turning orange!!  Then I washed and conditioned with about 1/3 of the shampoo and conditioner provided and blow dried my hair.  

Step 3: I then added another coat of the bleach, and went about 3 1/2-4 inches up from the bottom of my hair, and left it on for about 25 min, checking frequently.   Washed.  Conditioned.  Dried.

Step 4:  Last application, I painted the bleach up about 5 inches from the bottom of my hair, and putting a bit on my fingers, I tried to blend the bleach up in streaks about an inch or so more.  I also pulled out a few face framing strands and applied the bleach to those as well using my fingers.  I left it the bleach on about 20 minutes this time.  Washed.  Conditioned.  Dried.

Step 5:  By this point, my poor ends were various shades of red.  I wanted to mute the brassiness and ensure my ends blended far more naturally from dark brown to light brown, so I then dyed the entire bottom of my hair with Revlon's Color Silk in Light Brown (51) (also $3.99 at drugstore.com).  I only left this on for 15 min or so, since my hair had been through quite an ordeal already and I knew it was a bit more accepting of color.

Step 6:  Argan oil!  Deep conditioner!  All the bleaching/dying did cause a little bit of damage to the ends of my hair, truth be told, but nothing worse than a few split ends.  Nothing a trim won't eliminate :)  

I am in love with it, and, not to toot my own horn, but my dear friend who works as a model agent at a major agency told me that it looked like I had it done professionally.  He's brutally honest re: appearance (he's paid to be), and I knew if he approved, I was golden.  

Here are a few of the videos that helped guide my ombre adventure:

And another link to Britnee Cann's tutorial.


Not daring enough to try this on your own?  Lifebooker has had a deal almost every week for the past month for ombre services at some highly rated salons.