My Ombre Experience!
I’ve been doing the whole “ombre” thing since my first semester of college. Granted that was only a little less than two years ago, but that’s a long time with one hairstyle. You’d think that by now, I’d be tired of it, but honestly, I still love it!
My hair is naturally a very very dark brown. People like to say that it’s black, but I promise it really is just a dark brown. If you’re reading this, then you must now how difficult it is to go from a dark brown to any sort of blonde. You’ve also probably heard the horror stories of people’s hair turning orange and god-awful yellows. While none of my experiences have been this bad, I have gotten results that some might think could have been better.
The first time I did ombre, I had to color my hair three times just so that I could get a light enough color at the ends. And that was after already having colored it twice earlier in the summer. I was happy with the results, but as you can see, the “blonde” at the end of my hair has that brassy tint that comes from the warm reds and yellows that naturally occur in dark hair. At this point, I didn’t even know what toner was.
Not that this is particularly relevant, but yes, you might notice that I’ve lost some weight since then!
Blonde Brilliance Kit Review
Sorry.. I think I may be getting a little bit distracted. What you need to know is that when I used this kit, my hair did have a little bit of ombre. It was pretty faded, but my hair was definitely lighter at the ends which made a significant difference in the color my hair turned out. If you’re going from a dark brown, you may want to consider dying with the kit twice. If you decide to use it that is.
The dying process is very simple. People might think that it’s scary, but it’s really not at all. Just make sure that you check your hair every so often to make sure that your hair isn’t over processed. Once your hair looks like the color you want (and keep in mind that hair is darker when wet) rinse out your hair. And if it’s been enough time for the color to process and your hair still isn’t the desired color, then you STILL need to rinse it out. Now, you’re going to have brassiness if you’re going blonde from a dark color. It happens. What you need to do to get rid of that is to use a toner.
I’m not going to pretend that I know everything, so I’ll tell you what I got and recommend that you talk to someone at your local Sally’s or other beauty supply store. The lady I talked to at Sally’s gave me Wella’s T14 Pale Ash Blonde Toner. This basically is a blueish toner that is supposed to cancel out the orange and yellow tones that can be left when color is lifted from the hair.
Does toner work? YES! It worked wonders on my hair. You see the difference? It was definitely worth the extra $7 or $8.
Overall, I was extremely impressed with the Blond Brilliance Kit. It definitely did a better job than the regular Garnier Fructisse Dye I usually use at just a little higher cost ($11). Definitely worth a try for sure!