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.

Because this is my first post, I decided to blog about something recent. Like most people change their wardrobe when the new season comes around, I like to get a fresh chop! During summer, I opt for an off-the-face style, something I can just push back and leave au-naturel. At first, the loose curls look beachy and summery, but by the end of summer I'm left with a dead mop I can't be bothered to do anything with. So when autumn arrives, I go for something different!

Mess of a mop

Fresh hair!

For this style I asked for a blunt cut with no layers, and a short square fringe which took a bit of getting used to. I'm still unsure on the blunt cut as my hair is thick anyway, and with no layers its almost too thick.

I also refreshed my colour using Wella colour fresh in dark brown (shade 3/0) because the sunlight lightens bits of my hair to an interesting copper hue, which is not a good look on me. I feel a lot more together with this new style and I'm glad I went for a fringe. I like to think of it as a forehead hat.