Danielle Burkleo

in case you haven’t heard enough about ombre yet…

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it has months and months that i have been wanting my hair to look liked it was dipped in bleach. and the day has finally come, my friends.

ombre, or having 12 inch roots, is somewhat in style now a days… or so i think. please, don’t correct me if i’m wrong.

why do i find this attractive? i don’t know. but it makes me weak in the knees.
weak.in.the.knees.
i am little hair obsessed, if you will. so when i saw this picture on pinterest, it was all over for me.
all the wishing, hoping and dreaming had come to an end and i was taking immediate action.
instead of forking over a ton of money at the salon i decided to DIY it.
after a few minutes of debating getting bleach and developer or a highlighting kit i decided on the bleach, because, well, i like to live on the edge. i had no idea what level of developer to buy so i bought 30… too strong? not sure but was willing to take the risk. it’s not like my hair, or lion’s mane as some like to call it, isn’t long enough to chop half of it off if i mess up, right?
$14 dollars later i was out of the store with my arms full of blue powder bleach, 30 volume developer, a little brush, comb, gloves and quite the sense of accomplishment.
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here are some cell phone/photobooth pictures to walk you through my journey.
1. debating developer
2. please take note of the size of saran wrap around my hair. seriously.
3. the saran wrap is getting old. my shirt is getting bleached anyway so why even use it?
4. results from the first go around… need.more.bleach.
5. slept on it the night before. still in my pajama shirt.
6. curled and loving it.
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ombre hot off the press. deer in the headlights. there’s that pajama shirt again.
my best instructions for getting ombre hair are:
1. apply bleach as far up as you want it.
2. once that is lifted to almost the color you want it to be, apply some more and go up a bit higher so it blends better with the darker top of your hair.
3. wash it out and viola!
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please love what i used to measure the ounces of developer. ameda breast pump attachment thing. breastfeeding mamas everywhere rejoice. i don’t know why they will rejoice over me putting cream developer in it instead of breast milk but, i am sure they will. i knew this thing would come in handy again one day.
back to the process… i reapplied the bleach like 17 times because at first i was scared i was going to fry my hair off. then i snapped out of it. but i kept wanting it a little bit lighter. there was also a point in time, around 11:30 pm that i was shouting to my husband to get the bleach out of my eye. fun times. he thinks i’m crazay. but he loves my ombre. what now.
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i have also accomplished a life goal of mine. the rats nest on top of my head is now blonde.

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holla.
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Comments

  2. I didn't realize this was so easy; it looks great on you! Even though my hair's only 5 inches long right now, you totally have me considering doing this : )

  10. Nice hair!!salon care is lovely product, I like this, thanks for sharing such a great information…

  12. Haha this is such a great post, and your hair looks beautiful!!! My current hair goal is to grow it as long as yours! Long wait ahead of me…

  14. Your hair looks great and Jesus, I'm glad you didn't fry it off because once you've bleached your hair and washed it out you are not supposed to re apply bleach to that hair because it can fry it off. Somehow you've managed to keep yours looking healthy – you must have tough hair! But I wouldn't recommend to everyone to go reapplying bleach to previously bleach hair, it can end up a disaster – I saw it happen while I was at Cosmetology school! Yikes! But your's is beautiful!

  16. @ Alaythea… really!?! all the tutorials i read about and you tube videos i watched said to reapply it as well.

  18. I will admit Ive not seen or heard of ombre. In fact, Ive seen the opposite(dark dark hair underneath and on the bottom layers). Your hair is beautiful and you certainly can pull it off. Happy day:)

  19. i've always thought this was cute on other people, but now i might be willing to try it on myself! too cute. great!

  23. It looks adorable!! It suits you and great job on doing it sans salon! 🙂

  25. I love it! Being a hairstylist I was a little nervous to read this post once I saw you were doing it yourself but you did great! I'm glad you used cream developer and not clear, if you want your blonde to stay blonde or go blonder use purple shampoo.. also if you ever do it again and have questions about developer the levels just determine time more so then lift.. so you can lift with 40vol in say 5 min vs. 20 vol in 10.. get it? =) soooooo cute, lovesya! xoxo heather

  29. You are gorgeous! So glad I found your blog on Pleated Poppy!

    Ask the Duplex

  33. you're so brave to do this on your own, I love the look but could never do it myself! true DIY'er you are!

  34. love it! im a hairstylist and i love the ombre look. i've been waiting until summer is over to do it. but since my hair is hilighted as it is right now, ive gotta do a two step sorta thing… its complex. lol. love yours though, so glad it turned out well!

    thestyleprojects.blogspot.com

  37. totally meant to be friends. i have been trying to get brave enough to do this to my hair for months. thanks for the DIY, that makes me one step closer to actually doing it…

  39. you are too cute and it looks hot!! Can't wait to finally hug you at Blog Sugar!

  41. this looks AWESOME!! when I have longer hair, I might just have to try it. your curls are amazingly gorgeous as well.

  44. you are rockin' the ombre!!! you even make me wanna try this….but I don't think I could pull it off as well as you!

  45. I must say *TOTALLY* jealous here. I shelled out $200 to have this done at a salon in Louisville. 5hrs. later (longest salon visit EVER), my hair was FRIED. My hair cuticles opened ALL the way up, my hair curled up at the ends & started breaking. I am now 10wks. past having this done. The salon "in order to make it right, vs. refunding my money"… gave me weekly chemistry treatments to repair my hair, and they had to apply a boring FLAT DARK DARK brown hair color to "fix" the problem. The girl who did this was WAY over her head. When she saw me the next day (fried hair and all), she cried and said how sorry she was.

    My hair is slowly repairing… HATE the color right now, so seeing your "DIY" job makes me GREEN with envy. LOVE LOVE LOVE this hair color.

    SO, long story short to simply say, "You GO with your bad "gorgouse haired" self!" 🙂

  47. Every thing you do, you do it well! I love it! And I admire your bravery for doing this on your own.

  48. darn it! i just typed a whole big long post and it got deleted! BOOO. anyway- to recap- you have some balls to try this yourself! however, it looks awesome!

@danielleburkleo