I have seen a lot of ombre hair colors lately which makes me super excited because it is a trend that I am in love with and it's safe to say that it is here to stay! I like to think ombre hair color got it's start from those natural beach babes who spent all summer in the sun, when winter came the sun bleached hair would grow out creating a beautiful ombre hair color. Despite what you may believe, the girl who was too poor to get back to the salon and had harsh lines of demarcation was not the trendsetter. There is nothing I hate more than a bad hair color. To make sure you are not the one walking around with a horrible ombre hair color, here are three things to tell your stylist.
1. Work with your natural hair color and go lighter
I love ombres because of how natural they look and how low maintenance they are. I have seen a lot of people dye their roots darker than their natural and ombre from that point... This is a mess! Especially if you want to change it later on down the road or if you can't make regular salon visits. My advice is don't use a darker color at all and just go lighter from your natural hair color. If your hair is dyed or bleached lighter than your natural hair color, have your stylist weave in a color that is the same as your natural, leaving out the ends.
2. Don't just lighten the ends
In order to get a beautiful ombre color that melts into itself and blends, you need a few fine slices of lighter color that goes all the way to the scalp. How many slices of color you'll need depends on the thickness of your hair. If it's fine, opt for 5-10 slices of color throughout the head. Thicker hair could probably do 15-20 slices. Also, the best ombre hair colors weave color in the ends versus just lightening every single strand on the ends. Doing this will also make it easier to maintain the health of your hair.
3. Start out subtle
This is more of a preference for me as a hairdresser. But the reason I say to start out subtle is to maintain the health of your hair, to make sure you like it, and to get the absolute best and most natural results. The best ombre colors are not achieved in one salon visit but instead 2 or 3 visits allowing your own natural color to grow in, then having it blended into beautiful light shades on the ends.
I hope this all makes sense. Feel free to ask questions or to have me elaborate on anything. In most cases, your hairdresser should understand what you are wanting.
