how to: dip dye/ombre hair

In this post I'm going to go through how I dip dye my hair step by step. I know that the whole dip dye/ombre look has almost been slightly overdone now in the blogging world however I don't really care because I think it's a really nice way to dye your hair if you manage to do it right. Hopefully the following steps will help any of you out that are hoping to try out the look!

My hair has already been dip dyed a couple of times but the last time was around 6 months ago so I figured it was time to refresh the colour with more blonde through the ends.

For the first layer of dye I used the decolour stripper to remove he natural dark pigment in my hair. A couple of days after I'd let my hair have a rest I then used the same routine again with the Schwarzkopf blonde dye. The reason I dyed my hair twice was so that I could both achieve a lighter colour and to have a mix of caramel and light blonde shades going through my hair. I found that both dyes worked really well and didn't leave my hair orange toned as I feared. If you are apprehensive about using blonde bleach on dark hair then one coat of the Decolour stripper would be the best option for you as it promises to be ultra kind and gentle to your hair. It's also worth keeping in mind that bleach will probably effect the condition of the hair that it is used on so you will probably want to nourish the ends of your hair with oil regularly after using it.

I find the best way to achieve a natural look is to pin back the top layer of my hair so that I only dye the sections underneath my hair. This means that when the top layer falls back into place it will cover any marks of where the blonde dye starts so you will end up with flashes of blonde rather than a block of colour. Backcombing small sections before applying the dye also helps to create a more natural look and means the dye will blend better with your natural hair colour. I got this idea from Four hair Salon in London when I had my hair dip dyed there just over a year ago.

Once you have mixed up your hair dye properly it's time to apply it to the sections of hair. It's easiest to backcomb a section, then apply the dye and wrap in tin foil bit by bit as it takes less time than doing each step separately. Wrapping your sections of hair in tin foil will help the dye to develop better and also makes it less messy whilst you are waiting for the colour to set in.

As you can see the blonde blends with my hair nicely and there are no noticeable signs of where the colour starts and ends, which is key in creating a natural looking effect.

dip dye hair

I've had dip dyed hair for about six months now but hadn't got round to doing a proper blog post on it until now. Basically my method was by backcombing the ends of my hair so that only about half of the thickness was left exposed and then I applied a blonde bleach in small sections, wrapped them in tin foil  and left the dye on my hair for 20 minutes. If you remember to do the backcombing step this means the dye will blend a lot better with your natural hair colour rather than looking like a stark difference between the two colours. If you want to go even blonder then you can always dye it again but make sure not to make the mistake of trying to make it too blonde to begin with or it may come out looking silly or making your hair damaged. But also keep in mind that using bleach will probably dry out your hair and make it frizzy so be sure to take care of it by using hair oils and good hair conditioner. My dip dye has faded now as it was a few months ago since I last used blonde hair dye but I slightly prefer the natural look that my hair has now and think the ends look sun-kissed rather than a fake looking blonde. If you daren't try your hand at dip dying at home then I highly recommend popping to the Four London Salon who did my first dip dye last Summer.