Pink Ombre Hair! DIY Tutorial

We're all pink on the inside, right? I love that quote. But I love my new pink hair even more. I had been going back and forth on dyeing my ends in some whacky color for months but FINALLY I took the plunge and went for some proper Grunge/Proenza Schouler hair! 

AND I'll tell you how I got my look.

1. Start with: 

 I had prelightened my hair of course, since my dark brown, almost black hair wouldn't show a lot of color after dyeing. I started out with my ombre hair which I had just touched up myself by backcombing sections of my hair and bleaching the tips for a good gradient effect. My hair looked like this before going pink: my natural dark brown color on top and gradually lighter towards the ends with the lightest bits being blonde but the overall ends being more like a light brown/ginger. If you want a brighter, lighter end result you will need to bleach the hair some more, especially if you want your ends to be blue or another cool color. Warm colors take well on my ginger ends, and I wanted the result to be subtle and natural so this was light enough for me.

2. What You Need

I bought one of those professional hairdye brushes at my local drugstore (Kruidvat!) for like 1,30 euro or something, and I ordered Carnation Pink Directions hairdye at Beeunique.co.uk for maybe 10 euro (shipping included). Other things you need are a dirty old towel, plastic/rubber/latex gloves, a plastic bag, a hairclip and someone to help you with the back of your hair. If you play it smart like me, you'll have your accomplice do your entire head of hair instead of just the back, HA!

In my case, that accomplice was my sweet boyfriend who had to force his hand into some way too tiny gloves (actually bought them my size, haha) and kept stressing over screwing up my hair. He would be the worst hairdresser ever as he keeps going "oh no I think this will not end well", but he always works really careful so I totally trusted him.

3. How to Dye Your Hair

I divided my hair into sections: first I let my boyfriend dye the lower third of my hair while clipping up the rest. He just used the brush to grab the dye from the container and brushed it onto my ends, trying to cover all of the hair. When one layer was done, we jammed it into a plastic bag that I held in place to allow my boyfriend to dye the next layer easily. Not a necessity, but easier. Other methods would probably work better so just be creative! Be sure to cover ALL the lighter patches as a gradient from dark brown to light brown to pink just looks weird most of the time unless you have very long hair.

When all the hair is covered in dye, put it into the plastic bag and hold in place with a big hairclip or a rubber band. Again: be creative. A shower cap would work too. I sat in the sun for a while with my hair like this to allow the heat to amplify the color taking to my hair, but this is not necessary. You could use a hairdryer as well.

4. The Result

I left the dye on for about an hour and a half and then I rinsed it out with cold water. I poured some vinegar over the ends to get the color to set properly and then I rinsed again (my hair still smells a tiny bit vinegar-y but not too much :-D). And this is the result! SO PINK AAAAAA I LOVE IT

But after drying and styling it a bit (which in my book just means I combed my hair) it looks very subtle, almost like "natural" pink, and quite sophisticated. I love it to bits.

The color will fade over the next weeks and you will be a witness to that process.

Next up: I'd love to try out more weird colors now as this pink hair totally tickles my fancy. Maybe some orange or bright red? Or maybe a dark blue? ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE PEOPLE

If you have any questions, just ask!


PS:
GUYS! River Island is having another student night, and all you students are invited! This time there will be even more gift vouchers to win (one every 15 minutes rather than 2 every hour), a best outfit of the night will be picked (winner gets 250 euro worth of vouchers) and of course the entire collection will be available at 20% off! SO! Print out those flyers, bring your student ID and come on over to River Island on the 28th of september from 18:30 until 21:30! 
Extra treat: there will be free beauty advise from Kiehl's professionals!


Here's the facebook page, register if you're going to visit! :-) I'll be there, please say hi and we'll have loads of fun!