Hair bleaching disaster to lovely ombre locks!

So my natural hair is darkest brown. I've tried having highlights, dying it purple, red, and medium brown, which all lasted about 2 weeks before I dyed it back to my natural colour (due to dislike). Naturally my hair is curly, thick and unfortunately dries out very easily meaning that if I do want to go lighter, I have to face the fact my hair is going to be soo damaged after. After having the same colour for a few years now, I decided that with the warm weather sticking around I wanted something more light and beachy for the summer, so I decided on ombre. (Photo: Natural Colour)

After watching a few DIY ombre videos on YouTube, I thought "well, what have I got to lose?" Little did I know this was quite literally:
1. Money
2. More money
3. Some of my hair
4. A normal appearance
5. All hope.

Firstly, I picked up 2 highlighting kits (Bblonde by Jerome Russell), Wella developing creme and a pearly blonde toner (not knowing much about toners at this point.)

So, as you do, I copied what I'd seen on YouTube, gradually blending the bleach upwards for a natural two tone look. I wrapped the bleached hair in foil and left it for 60ish mins. I then took off the foils to discover my hair had only lifted to a lovely bright tone of orange. Washing it out, I was hoping that once it had dried it would look somewhat lighter. It didn't. It was a mix of dark brown, orange, strawberry blonde and yellow. YUCK!

(The photos are quite dark, they don't emphasize the grossness)

 But there was still hope. Stupidly, I thought the toner would sort the whole thing out. The toner did absolutely nothing. This is because I bought shade 10/8, and in order for this to work, I needed shade 10 hair which is a very light blonde. I then went to work and got laughed at.

The next day, I tried to solve the copper hue by going over the bleached bits with a blonde box dye. I bought 2 boxes as I have thick hair, covered the bleached parts, and then had a bit of dye left in the bottle. Now, I really don't like to waste things. Idly, I slapped the rest of the dye on the top half of my hair (the dark part) because I thought it wouldn't do anything, as my dark hair has never taken to any lighter dye before.

DISASTER!

I now had patches of gingery blonde from my roots, which then went into a strip of dark brown around my head, which then went into a BRIGHT orange, a strawberry blonde and yellow. I went to work and got laughed at even more.

By this point I knew something seriously had to be done to my tragic mop of hair sat on my head. I went to an actual hair salon.. Best decision I have ever made in my life!!!

The hairdresser dyed the top half back to my natural colour, bleached the part I originally wanted ombre, and then put a toner and a lovely treatment on. I was SO pleased with the outcome. The colour is still quite a warm blonde, however she said to go back in about a months time, and one more go should lift it to the blonde I desire to be. Unfortunately my hair is pretty damn dry, so I will have to have quite a lot chopped, but it will definitely look and feel so much healthier.

So ladies.. ALWAYS go to a professional when bleaching hair, unless you've done it before and know what you're doing!!! 

P.s Watch this space for more updates on going lighter and repairing highly damaged hair.