Stephanie Fung: Purple Ombre

Purple Ombre

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Hello! I wanted to experiment with my hair this summer and after countless decisions, I decided to opt with ombre.

Hair history: I've been dyeing my hair on and off for the past 4 years with colours ranging from dark brown to ginger. I've never bleached my hair so this was the first time I was bleaching it. My hair isn't the healthiest however it wasn't too damaged either. Also, I am not hair professional, I am just a girl who likes to experiment with my hair.

Process:

Day 1: My roots were about one inch long whilst the rest of my hair was a dark ginger.

I decided to try Superdrug's new dye to get rid of the roots but the colour didn't turn out as dark as I wanted it to be. The colour I obtained was so much lighter than on the box... so I definitely won't be buying that dye again. I only covered the top of my hair whilst blending out to the mid sections.

Day 2: I bleached the ends of my hair whilst avoiding the crown of my head. I used 40 vol developer with the bleach and left it in for 45 minutes. This only managed to lift my dark ginger hair to a light ginger.

1 week later: I waited for my hair to heal for a week (by applying less heat to it and doing deep conditioning hair masks) before applying the bleach again. This time I used 30 vol because I didn't want to damage my hair as much as the 40 did.

In the end it lifted the ginger to a golden yellow colour. Hence, I waited another week before bleaching it again with another 30 vol.

My hair is very stubborn, it still didn't lift it to the blonde I wanted. I think it's because the ends of my hair has had so much colour build up from previous dyes that the bleach didn't work at its best. By this time, I didn't want to bleach my hair anymore because it has been through so much.

After 3rd time bleaching: I used T18 wella charm toner after the 3rd time and it did manage to tone it to less brassy colours. However, toners tend to work better on pale yellow hair and not on golden yellow hair.

Then I waited a few more days for my hair to heal before using Directions in Violet. I left it on for 2 hours. I also mixed it with conditioner but as a result the colour was less vibrant.

The next day: Being impatient as I am, I dyed the top of my head black and redyed the bottoms of my ends with Directions violet and lagoon blue without diluting it with conditioner.

The results were definitely more prominent when I didn't dilute the dyes.

I made the decision to dye the top of my hair black because I felt leaving my hair brown would make my hair look too much. I felt that the ombre with black-blue-purple was a better transition than brown-blue-purple.

And yes it is not healthy to put my hair through so many chemicals within 2-3 weeks but I made extra effort to maintain the hair's condition with hair oils and hair masks.

Overall, I am happy with the result and ready to flaunt it for the rest of the summer I have left. The directions dyes are semi permanent which means they will wash out in a few weeks. Hopefully they won't stain my hair ://

Some tips for bleaching asian hair:

If it is you're first time doing it, do your research first. I spent countless times watching youtube videos and bleaching tutorials before even buying the products.
Bleach will damage your hair but it's not too bad if you take care in maintaining your hair's condition.
DEEP CONDITION each time you wash your hair. Bleach is stripping the colour of out your hair, it will open the hair cuticles thus it will make it dry and more susceptible to breakage. By using hair masks you can restore some nutrients and oil that the bleach has stripped out.
The bleaching process will go from black-brown-dark ginger- light ginger- gingerly yellow- pale yellow. REMEMBER DON'T GO PASS THE PALE YELLOW STAGE. You can easily neutralise the yellow tones by toning your hair.
And yes, if you have asian hair, you may to bleach your hair a few times before reaching the pale yellow stage. Do it in moderation, make sure your hair condition is healthy before bleaching!
Virgin hair will always bleach faster than hair that has been dyed many times.
The colour of the most toners are purple or blue, don't freak out if you think your hair will turn purple because it won't.
If you're too scared to do it by yourself, go to a professional hairdresser. Yes it may cost more but they are more likely to be able to lift your hair faster, which may be less damaging.