Creating & Renewing Dip Dye/Ombre Hair at Home

The other day I decided I needed to freshen up my dip dyed locks! As you can see in my last pics, my hair was looking a bit flat as it had gone quite light nearer the roots and the original darker pieces from my previous dip dye had faded to a warm gingery brown - so my dip dye was beginning to look a bit non existant! It seemed a bit unnecessary for me personally to go to the hair dressers as I didn't want to create a dramatic difference, just a little rejuvenation, so I figured I would get hair experimental and have a go DIY style!

I have shed many pennies, tears and hours of my life doing home colour myself, hating it and then correcting it, so it took me a while to convince myself to do it but I finally did and am really happy with the results! I've decided to do this post because I researched around and found some great tips and product recommendations about creating a dip dye look, but couldn't really find many guides in renewing previous dip dye colour by putting a colour on top and on the ends, so here is my post on how I did it in case anyone is hoping to achieve the same :) My aim was to end up with ombre hair like the lovely Alexa Chung!

Firstly, the products I bought were:

1. L'oreal Excellence Colour Creme in Natural Brown. £6.79 After changing my hair colour for many years, I realised I can't really pull of a dark look without tieing myself to constant fake tanning, so thought I would go for this in hope that it would blend with my blonder ends and be a more natural colour.

2. John Freida Lightening Spray. £6.99. In a way I guess you could describe this as kind of a glorified Sun-in product as it's activated by heat! But thankfully without the orangey tinge! I read some great reviews about this product and some awful ones, so um'd and ah'd about buying it for a while, especially as I have naturally dry ends, but it seemed the easiest and most effective way for brightening so I took the plunge! Note: It does contain peroxide etc so make sure you read the instructions and check it is the right product for your hair!

Ok so here is what I did!

1. Applied the L'Oreal Colour to the top section of my hair, starting at my parting first. I then sectioned my hair and applied the dye at the roots, working my way down till about 1/4 of my hair was coloured. As this was the area I wanted to be the darkest, I left it to develop for 10 mins.

2. I then squeezed some more of the dye on to the gloves and patted and massaged it through my hair till about 1/2 of my hair was now covered. As I wanted to achieve a graduated look, I then left this for 10 mins to develop.

3. Finally using a comb, I brushed through the existing dye on the hair to about 3/4 of my hair length without adding any extra dye. I then left this for about 3-4 mins to develop. I then washed all the dye out and conditioned with the lovely L'oreal conditioner provided.

4. Next I rough towel dried my hair so it was still relatively wet. I then sprayed a good amount of the John Frieda spray on the lengths and ends which had not been dyed and combed this through.

5. I then blow dried and straightened my hair as usual, but did not use my usual protective serum as it would interfere with the brightening spray.


And here was the result!



After not intending to create a dramatic look, I was initially a bit taken back by how much my hair had taken to the  L'Oreal colour as it was darker than I expected. But after a few washes with a cleansing shampoo it seems to have settled a bit more and is less bold. The blonde ends I'm happy with as they haven't come out too brassy or orange, and its good to know that if it doesn't lift to your expectations the first time you can re-spray the ends again next time you wash your hair!

Overall, I'm now really happy with it and am chuffed I managed to achieve it at home, especially as my hair felt lovely and soft afterwards and didn't appear to be damaged by the process. (I think this was due to the L'Oreal protective serum included in the dye kit!) I would of course always recommend going to a salon as most of the time it's not worth the money and hassle but on the other hand you can still get great results at home!

What do you all think? Hope this helps a few of you out!