DIY Ombré Hair: How To Lighten-Up For Summer (without ruining your locks)

Khloe Kardashian may be the poster-girl for sun-kissed hair but you don’t have to be a reality star to lighten up this Summer. I’ve been a fan of this ombré look for ages but the idea of dropping the equivalent of a week’s salary to get it professionally done is always a bit of a turn off.

Especially considering I’ve coloured my own hair for years and I can get four regrowth touch-ups out of one $20 home hair colour.

So when a selection of new LʼOréal Paris’ Préférence Wild Ombrés landed on my desk recently I couldn’t wait to give them a go. I’ve always been scared to lighten my hair at home – touching up grey regrowth is one thing but going lighter? Well let’s just say I’ve heard all the horror stories and have never been brave enough to go there until now.

But after weighing up the cost and convenience of doing it myself versus spending a small fortune to get it professionally done, I decided that I didn’t have much to lose.

While ombré or balayage, as it’s also known, has been around for a while, the new look ombré is more subtle than ever before – it’s more sun kissed than dip-dyed.

This look works on any hair colour and for me it’s great for adding a little interest to my hair without the commitment (not to mention the expensive upkeep) of going fully blonde.

I found the kit really easy to use – it’s very much like an ordinary home hair colour except you’re only applying it to the ends of your hair and you use a small brush-like applicator.

During the process you can actually see your hair changing colour so you know it’s time to wash the product out when it’s reached the shade you are wanting.

It’s that simple really. The hardest part will be choosing which of the four fab colours to go for. I went for Ombré #2 and it gave my hair a lovely warm caramel tone.

Above: LʼOréal Paris’ Préférence Wild Ombrés, $

This cute vid from Kiwi bloggers Ellen & Tara from Shop Style Conquer shows how easy it is to use. They’d never dyed their hair before and managed to create a cool ombré effect with this kit. Check it out below.

This was the little how-to video I watched before using the kit myself.

Above: I’m loving my new ombré colour.

Do you colour your hair at home? I’d love to hear how many of you actually do in the comments below.

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