CHOOSING COLOURS BASED ON THE CURRENT COLOUR

Laura (@xnocturna) has been dyeing her hair for many years in a large range of colours! This means her hair has a lot of colour history in it. As you see in the beginning, she's started off with the faded remnants of a pink, purple, green, blue and black ombre from her previous look. She also had a part at the front that she often sections off and dyes a different colour (see: Trick or Treat look with orange bang).

So for this look to be successful, we had to choose pigmented colours that would cover up and not interfere with the base colours. We ended up going for Proud UV pink on the front section, and the rest would be an ombre of Loved pink, Wicked purper, Dramatic purple, and Daring black from top to bottom. These are all very pigmented and dark colours, and close to her current undertones on the colour wheel (all cool tones).


THE PERFECT BASE & LAURA'S BLEACH TIPS

Since Laura last fully bleached her hair about 2 months ago, she didn't want to damage it further by bleaching over her faded colours. This is why she only bleached her roots and the front section that would become bright pink to give that perfect level 10 base. When bleaching, she alo gives the tip to mix some shampoo into the bleach to dilute it a bit, give it a smoother consistency making it easier to apply, and ensure it doesn't dry out too fast. Also always choose the lowest volume possible to prevent excess damage. Here, she used the 20 volume Ghosted Bleach kit and diluted it with some Holyplex Shampoo.

While bleaching, always take very small sections using the back of the brush to separate them. The smaller the sections, the more even coverage you get and you have less chance of a patchy outcome. Additionally, don't be afraid to apply too much. Too much is better than too little! Consistently cross-check to ensure every strand is covered. Laura does this by applying in horizontal sections, and later making vertical sections (so perpendicular to how they were applied) to check the coverage.

If you're scared of taking too long (or have long hair that takes a while to cover), you can always do one half of your hair first, rinse, and then the other side. This gives you enough time to saturate each hair and cross-check to get an even application. This also prevents one side processing for much longer than the other and getting uneven results.

Every 10 minutes, we checked how far the hair had processed by scraping away some of the bleach and looking at how light the hair had become. Because her natural hair (roots) were already a level 8, it took about 20 minutes until it was a very pale yellow and we could wash it out. She used the Holyplex shampoo while washing out to remove the bleach residue and cleanse the rest of the hair in preparation for the dye.


APPLYING THE COLOURS & OMBRE EFFECT

Once her hair is towel-dry, Laura starts off dyeing the front section using Proud pink. The rest of the hair is clipped away and she uses an applicator brush to get the separation at the roots very precise. Once each strand is meticulously covered, she uses her hands to massage in the colour and make sure it is evenly distributed.

The rest of the roots are covered with the dark pink, Loved. Laura uses the brush again to ensure no mixing with the bright pink section, and applies the colour in small sections, and later massages everything again to get full coverage. Once finished, she uses her hands to apply Wicked purple to the middle section of her lengths. The ombre effect is achieved by vertically rubbing the area where the two colours meet and blurring them together, often mixing the two. This is also why Wicked was chosen, because it is the perfect blend of dark pink and purple, thus achieving the best ombre from Loved to Dramatic.

Afterward, Dramatic purple is applied to the bottom parts of the hair with the same blending technique as earlier. One way to achieve a more natural ombre and to prevent a harsh line, is to have some strands have the change in colour higher or lower. In this case, Laura had some pieces where Dramatic started at the last 20 cm of hair, while in other places Wicked continued and Dramatic was only on the last 15 cm of hair. At the end, she used Daring black on the tips of all the Dramatic pieces to add some more depth to the ombre, and blended again with her fingers. Finally, she used her fingers to massage and comb through all of the hairs to ensure no spot was missed and everything blended nicely. You can also use a brush to comb through and blend the ombre.


RINSING AND STYLING

After at least 45 minutes, she washed all of the dye out using lukewarm water until the water ran clear to ensure there was no dye residue left. She applied the Holyplex finishing spray to lock in the colour and close the hair follicles, leaving it healthy and less likely to wash out quickly. She blow dried it with cold air and used a low heat curling iron to style it. The goal is to use as little heat on the hair as possible because this opens the hair and can strip the dye, especially straight after dyeing. Finally, she dressed in her favourite Punk Rave Valentine's dress and Restyle Fedora Hat for the final photoshoot!


Photography & videography by Psychara