Off-Topic Tuesday! Purple Ombré Hair!

I'm back with another Off-Topic Tuesday, and this time I'm going to show you how I got my purple ombré hair! I've been colouring my hair since I was about 15, although now it's a mixture of needing to (damn you greys) and wanting something different without going for the chop. If you follow me on Instagram you may well have seen it recently (as well as the myriad of other colours my hair has been over the last few months) and I'm really quite proud of it. I've been getting lots of comments, and everyone genuinely seems to love it; even the lollipop lady at my sons school  was impressed! So here's how I did it. Warning - epicly long post! If you just want to see pics of the hair, skip to the end, I don't mind!

As my hair is dark and has been coloured many, many times, I lightened the ends first. I've not had much luck with bleach in the past, and I was fully expecting a nice satsuma hue. I used a maximum strength bleaching kit by Bblonde which came with the bleach (a powder and a cream to mix), a mixing pot, small tint brush, gloves and shampoo. You will also need an old towel, hair bands or sectioning clips, a comb, cling film, a plastic bag and a bin bag or hairdressing cape. Wear something you don't mind ruining too!

Get everything you need together! There's nothing worse than getting started and then realising you've forgotten something...








Part your hair as close to the centre as you can. Mine is stubborn...





Separate your hair into four pony tails. I find using hair elastics easier than sectioning clips as they're easier to adjust to make them even. Put them about 1/3 of the way up your hair, or as far up as you want the ombré. You may want to do more than 4 if your hair is thick, but mine is very thin so this was enough. Silly face optional.




Lightly backcomb at the base of each pony tail. This will rough up the edges of the ombré, so you don't end up with a straight line.









The next step is to add the bleach. This is a bit scary, but the way I look at is is nothing is permanent! I wasn't too worried about this step as I knew I'd be covering it up with the purple, but if it really goes wrong you can always cover it with a colour closer to your natural colour again, or have it cut! It's only hair. Ok, so I know it's a big deal but, seriously nothing is unfixable! And please, please follow the directions that come with your product!

 Follow the directions to mix your bleach. It will probably come as a cream and powder that you need to mix until there are no lumps...









                                                      ...like this!







Apply the mix to each section using a tint brush or your fingers, making sure that it is covering all the hair, not just the outside. Wrap each section in clingfilm as you go. I also added a thin streak to my fringe.





Once each section is done, cover your whole head with a carrier bag (or shower cap). This will stop you getting bleach everywhere and hold in the heat, which helps it develop. Leave it for the recommended time. What an attractive picture...

You can check the colour you've achieved by removing a little of the bleach after the development time. If it isn't light enough, cover it back up and wait another 10 minutes - following your pack directions. My pack came with a conditioning shampoo so once I'd rinsed it out I washed it with that, and this was my result...






You can see the line isn't harsh, thanks to the backcombing. Yellow ombré anyone?















How hard is taking a picture of the back of your head?












Now you want to add your purple (or whatever other colour you want!) There are hundreds to chose from, and I like LaRiche Directions, choosing Plum (I also use their Pillarbox Red for the top section of my hair) but there are so many colours to chose from. I got mine from Hunt or Dye, but any beauty supply should have it or something similar, or head to ebay. This is a semi-permanent dye and wont damage your hair, and in fact is quite conditioning. You can even mix it with conditioner to tone down the colour.

Now you want to repeat what you did with the bleach with this, but you don't have to be as precise. If you want to tie your hair back into ponytails you can, but it doesn't matter if you go a little higher. In fact, as long as all the bleached parts are covered you'll still end up with an ombré.

You will get some on your skin, GET IT OFF QUICK! A flannel and tea tree face wash is good!












Wrap your hair in a plastic bag again, and then a towel, as again, heat will help.











Guess who had a hole in her glove?












Because this is a semi-permanent, conditioning colour you can leave it on as long as you like. I left mine for around 2 hours, which gives you plenty of time to get the purple off of EVERYTHING YOU OWN.

Next it's time to rinse rinse rinse! You'll never get the water to run clear, but a good 3-5 minutes rinsing should do the job. You can apply conditioner if you like (and if you've bleached your hair will want it) but I used a leave in conditioner and an oil, and then a serum before blowdrying and styling. And tada! You should be left with a stunning purple ombré! If your colour is a bit patchy, you can fill in the gaps so to speak with any left over colour (you can keep any left overs in the tub, it doesn't have to be used straight away, mix a bit of conditioner with it to top up every few washes).

And now, queue 11tybillion pictures of it, because I just love it so much (OK, and because I'm a teeny bit vain ;) )

What do you think? I love it (apart from when I went swimming with the boys and it went neon blue...) Is it something you'd try? I hope I've inspired some of you! Where will my rainbow hair journey take me next...

Hx

PS If you've got funky hair, share! I want to see!

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