Trendspotter: You Ombre, I Ombre

By Cynthia (Guest Blogger)

If you are a fan of the current trend (any trends!), I am assuming you must have owned at least one peplum top or dress or skirt. You could also most probably rehearsed the Oppa Gangnam Style of dance secretly in your bedroom. And of course, you must be researching must about the latest hype in the beauty scene - ombre hair and the many ways to achieve this look. I can't resist not trying out to see what's so great about having a head full of colors too and joined on the bandwagon of the International Ombre / Dip-Dye Society =P

Ombre and Dip-Dye: What's the difference?

I have no idea too that both are different until I stumbled upon some blogs that shows the differences. Ombre style means that the hair color is toned gradually by having parts of it bleached to create a darker to lighter shade in the hair.

Gradual toning seen in Ombre process

Dip-dye process is when you have the bottom of the hair being dipped and dyed into any random colours Not literally dipping into pots of colour, but merely adding a quick layer of bright colours at the bottom which often means that it won't last long.

The bold bright colors more often used in Dip-Dye process
(The picture on the far right is none other than Australia's fashion blogger of Not So Naked!)

Michelle and I head on to Point Cut Saloon and decided to give it a try on whatever you call it - ombre or dip-dye. Michelle of course did her research and have been enveloping worries for the past one week and actively saving 568 pictures of something that she wanted. And I, went with nothing in mind.

(speaking in Chinese)
Stylist  : Do you know that animal that look like a rooster but with colourful wings?
Me      : Huh? What are you talking about?
Stylist  : That animal.. like a chicken but comes with colourful backside
Me      : Erm... you mean a peacock is it?
Stylist  : Ahh! Yeah, I am already doing that for you ;)

Haha! And that's how I got the colour for my dip dyed hair.

my 'peacock' inspired dip-dyed hair

Michelle's pink dip-dyed strands!

Ombre - Dip Dye 101

I am sure most of you know how does the Ombre hair processes are. But to those of you who have no clue why do they call it dip-dyed (I have no idea too!), this is what we went thru to achieve the hair above ;) As we opted for bright colours, it will only be achievable if we bleach our hair to a lighter tone than our current hair shade. Originally my hair was fully dyed with light shade of brown and Michelle's in an almost blonde brown shade, but it's still not light enough for her to achieve those shades of pink that we can see in blonde's model because their hair is naturally blonde!

This is what Michelle had in mind

The bottom of our hair are being bleached to rid off the natural color 

to give a lighter base for the new color to set in. 

In my case I had my roots bleached too because I needed to re-touch on the brown base.

I think we have reached the ombre stage here! =D

Dip-dying in process. These are my bowls of purple and blue dye ;)

Dipping like a diva with so many hands on her hair =D

As we each had 2 sessions of bleaching done before the coloring and the setting, it took us about 2.5 hours to go through the entire process. Not too long a time if you make yourself occupied with a lil bit of reading or bring a friend along to do so that you can chat non-stop Like A Boss =D

Took me a while to get adjusted and loving the new colour!

Michelle in her dip dye / ombre, whatever you call it hair =D

For those of you residing in Klang Valley, head on to Point Cut Saloon, in Old Klang Road - famous for their side cut and dip-dye of course. Prices are pretty reasonable. You may want to quote that you saw their dip-dye from YSK and perhaps deserve some sort of discounts =D

DIY Dip-Dye

With the recent craze of using hair chalk, I googled and realised there are some of these hair chalks that is made from Mungyo - a pretty famous brand of colored pastel chalks. I have a regular sized box of Mungyo pastel chalks which I have kept since my studying days doing Architectural Engineering like 13 years back?  

This is my hair a couple of weeks after the peacock inspired color faded 

and hello to my Mungyo pastel!

It's not that difficult to try painting your hair, but it's a dirty job! Basically, you need to section your hand and wet those portion that you wanted to put on colour and rub the pastel stick on the wet strands. As pastel colour are made of some coloured powder densed into a chalk form, when it' dried, it turns flaky. Hence, definitely not a long term thing to do. And make sure you don't wear black as you will have flakes of coloured powder on your shoulder and back once it's dried. You can try set the colours with a hot iron or spray with hair spray as what most vendors recommend. I have never tried that personally though ;)

the different strokes or color  I tried on =P

Which one do you prefer? The DIY one or the saloon based one? =D

And if you prefer none of this, you can always opt for something more out-of-the-world like what Michelle sometimes does!

Michelle is the blue-est of a synthetic wig with makeover 

inspired by Robecca Steam from Monster High!

If you love dressing up, don't forget to join the giveaway organised by YSK and sponsored by Mattel for a chance to win yourself these super cute and fashionable dolls from Monster High by Mattel.

Read here for more information on how to participate:

~YSK-MATTEL GIVEAWAY: MONSTER HIGH DOLLS~

Happy Shopping!

Cynthia Lee (a.k.a Guest Blogger for YSK)

Edited by YourShoppingKaki :)