Although Winter is finally leaving us, Spring doesn’t feel like its coming either (What’s up with all the snow still?). My hair was in a funk and I was feeling pretty miserable. So, I decided to change it again. Now, most people have a destination in mind, an idea if you like of what they would like to do. My idea…. Well, in honesty I just wanted something different. So, I spent 1 whole day looking at styling, colouring and fashion working out where I wanted to go next. I saw this picture on Pintrest and fell in love (I cannot take any credit for the image, this is something I have repinned and therefore do not own the image!!!) ….
Now, thats a gorgeous ombre isn’t it? And different! None of this brunette to blonde or bronde to blonde. No this was something I didn’t see a lot of. But, could I pull of that red? See, with my skin tones I really need a tan to wear red. I fake tan regularly as I’m naturally olive skinned like my mum and can look a little ‘green’ and ill if not.
Before I talk about how I actually did this I cannot stress this enough…. DISCLAIMER – IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND COPY ANYTHING I HAVE LISTED HERE, DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! I CANNOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT. THIS IS NOT A TUTORIAL, BUT A POST ON WHAT I DID TO GET MY HAIR FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER.
Ok with that said, here’s what I did – people DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!
Starting Colour. My hair (Although poor lightening doesn’t really show you) is a base 3/4 Dark Brown with a Red Undertone
I coloured my hair Thursday to the shade in the above pic (For the post and review click here – it also explains why I did it). On friday I popped to town bought some powder bleach, 9% (30Vol as they didn’t have any 6% 20vol) and started my journey.
I always use Coconut oil before ANY bleaching activities. This helps the condition of your hair after bleaching, lessens the damage (It DOESN’T STOP the damage) and also helps with shine etc. I left the coconut oil on 2 hours, wrapped in a shower cap and a heated towel so my hair would absorb as much of the oil as possible. I also find it helps with scalps which flare up using bleach/peroxide (Again, but doesn’t stop the issues).
2 hours later I applied my first bleach bath. I am not giving out my ‘recipe’ for my bleach bath as I don’t advise doing them unless you know what you are doing. Yes, you can google them and find them online, but as I’m just talking about what I did and as I’ve stressed this is not a tutorial mine is staying with me. This bleach bath was left on 25 minutes total (15 minutes mid lengths/end, 10 minutes roots) and then rinsed. I did not condition as I knew I’d be doing a second bleach bath. The results are below….
Although it looks quite good in the image, it was actually quite ‘brown’ still – more mahogany. So, in all my craziness (AGAIN, DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME!!) I decide to do another bleach bath. So, on went the coconut oil for another 2 hours (This time more like 3) and then I bleach bathed exactly the same again as I did the first time.
Now, I know what you are thinking – CRAZY WOMAN! Actually, I am. But I also take A LOT of precautions when colouring. I strand test my hair, I know what I’m looking for. I check and monitor the condition. If my hair would not take it and would result being stretchy, damaged and awful I wouldn’t do it. I also would not do this process on any friend or client in such a short time span no matter how much they begged! You should allow a week in between bleach baths and thats only if your hair/scalp will permit it. Bleach bathing may be less damaging than straight bleaching, but it is still very damaging!!!
Ok, after blowdrying and curling my hair this is the result…
I think it looks pretty good. Its a copper based red, but fairly light too – maybe a base 7 if I was to guess at it. My daughters loved it, Mark thought it looked great and me… Well, it would take some getting used too. I didn’t really have a specific shade in my mind as the result.
So, Mark and I went out that evening and I stood in the isle in Boots, not debating over my hair… It was my EXTENSIONS!!! Should I brighten my hair and them and ditch the ombre, tone them and brighten my hair… the decisions?! In the end I decided my hair needed to be more red and less copper, so I picked up some Colour Restore Deep Red (Review is going up in a couple of days for this). I love the whole Colour Restore Range and knew this product would be fantastic! What’s even better is I got it just as the deal was ending in Boots and it only cost me £7.99 and not £11.99!
Early Saturday morning as we were out for the day I decided to brighten my hair and use the Colour Restore. I hadn’t used Deep Red before, didn’t know how it would take on my hair or anything. I literally applied it to my hair and left it 5 minutes (Please note again, 5 minutes!!!). I rinsed and this is the result…
Now, that’s what I call an AMAZING toning product (My God does it stain bad though on the skin!!!).
So, all in all my hair cost me under £10 to go from Brunette to red. I did have coconut oil and all the utensils at hand, plus I got the bleach powder and Colour Restore Deep Red on offer. I absolutely love this shade! But, my hairs not finished yet… oh noooo!
I still fully intend to do the red ombre and as you can see from the Pintrest image above it looks absolutely amazing! My extensions are all ready I just need a day to get it sorted basically. I won’t be doing this will full on bleach either, I’ll probably use the bleach bath method again as I don’t need to lift much at all.
Again, please don’t copy this at home. I would hate for someone to ruin there hair or something go wrong! I do this at my own hands and accept if I do it wrong its my own fault! As with all chemical processes, they can be dangerous – please be careful.
Lots of Love,
Mel xxxx