Hello dolls!
This post is long overdue.
Ever since I first featured my Turquoise Ombre on Instagram, Twitter and the Blog last year I've had countless ladies asking me all about it. They want to know who did it, how, what colour(s) I used, is it easy to maintain? I'll answer all these questions and more in this post!
But first, Turquoise hair is truly gorgeous. The colour itself is dreamy, mythical and enchanting. I initially Ombre'd or Dip Dyed due to an odd dream I had last year, where I was a mermaid living in Dubai! The sea had spilled over on to the streets and I was doing these weird somersaults in the water. My hair was coloured in a mixture of turquoise and blue, and as soon as I woke I thought: 'I have got to do this!' So here I am, with nymph-like hair!
So Who did it then?
Me: DIY baby!
In this post I will go through what I did and each product that was used to bleach the hair, colour it turquoise and also I'll add in a little mini FAQ. I'll mention the various dyes I have used along with photos of how they looked on my hair.
Here we go!
Left to Right: La Riche Directions in Turquoise, Crazy Color in Bubblegum Blue, Manic Panic Amplified Formula in Atomic Turquoise, Jerome Russell Bblonde Cream Peroxide 12% 40 Vol, Jerome Russell Bblonde High Life Powder Bleach and a tinting brush.
Please do not be alarmed by this long line-up of products! In a way it's a bit like cooking: it looks it's going to be so complicated because you've got loads of ingredients, but once you get into it you realise how easy it actually is! Besides, I didn't use all of the dyes at the same time!
THE BLEACHING PROCESS
As my hair is very dark, black verging on dark brown, I purchased 12% 40 VOL peroxide in order to lift out as much of the natural pigment as I could in order to apply the dye.
A little run down on the types of peroxide out there on the market:
6% Peroxide or 20 VOL - Lifts hair upto 1 to 2 shades lighter
9% Peroxide or 30 VOL - Lifts hair upto 2 to 3 shades lighter
12% Peroxide or 40 VOL - Lifts hairs upto 3 to 4 shades lighter
The higher strength the peroxide, the more damaging it can be to the hair. I approached three different salons who all declined to bleach my hair as they were worried bleaching would damage it badly. The last thing they want is to be sued by an unhappy woman with clumps of hair randomly breaking off, ha! So if they weren't prepared to do it, I'd have to do it myself. DIY style!
Fortunately I do have a bit of a background in hair dressing, particularly colouring, so I drew on all of my acquired knowledge. As my hair is fairly short, I only used one packet of bleach and one bottle of the peroxide. If your hair is longer, you may want to consider using more.
Now onto how I bleached it. You empty the contents of the powder sachet and peroxide bottle into a bowl and mix it all together until the granules have dissolved.
Next, I popped on some old unwanted clothing (don't want bleach ruining your good clothes!), wrapped a towel around my shoulders and slipped on the gloves that came with the Bblonde. This will make sure your skin is protected from the harsh, stinging bleach. Then I sectioned my hair, starting from the back, painting the bleach/peroxide mix from the mid-lengths to the ends with the tinting brush. Once each section is complete, create another section and repeat. There's no need to be precise about where you begin from on the mid-lengths, in fact for the best results, you need the opposite of precision! A clean Ombre is a boring Ombre!
Once every section was now covered in the mix, I'd check the development every 15 minutes to see how much has lifted. What you're looking for is a pale yellowy-blonde colour dominating your hair, this is the optimum colour for applying the dyes. After 15 minutes, my hair was a murky orange colour and it wasn't until the 90 minute mark that my hair reached the desired colour (also bleach stops working after 90 minutes anyway).
So after 90 minutes, my hair was mostly a pale, yellowy-blonde but there were still some little patches of orange and canary yellow dotted around. Don't be precious about this, once the dye is applied to these patches, they will be covered and actually add a bit of extra dimension to the look!
I then jumped into the shower and rinsed, rinsed and rinsed again to remove all traces of the bleach.
THE MYTHICAL PROCESS
First turquoise dye I ever used was La Riche Directions in Turquoise.
After rinsing, I towel dried my hair before giving it a blast with the hairdryer. In my experience, applying dye onto dry hair really intensifies the colour so I want mine bone-dry!
Next, you'll need to pop the towel back over your shoulders and the gloves back on your hands. Again, take your hair in sections and begin applying the dye to the bleached ends.
With Directions I've found the formula is quite thick so you don't need to use as much as you would with Manic Panic which is a little runny in comparison.
Once the dye is on, you leave it on as long as possible. Some hairdressers will say you only need to leave it on for a couple of hours, but personally I like to leave mine on overnight. If you want to take a leaf out of my book, make sure you cover your pillows with a towel otherwise they'll be a different colour when you wake up! Even with a towel, some dye managed to make it's way on to the pillow, but this mermaid wannabe wasn't bothered: I was just too excited to rinse out the dye first thing!
However long you choose to leave it in for, once you're ready just jump into the shower to rinse the excess dye off and voila!
The results:
(Ignore the blue strip down the middle, I had La Riche Directions in Midnight Blue on. You can see the Turquoise on the sides)
Hello you mythical creature! - as Laa Laa would call me ;)
Directions' Turquoise is a stunning sea green. It appeared quite teal-ish on my hair, not quite as a true turquoise. The longevity of this is fantastic compared to Manic Panic, it lasts just under 2 weeks before it starts to fade, bearing in mind I shampoo my hair regularly.
When it does begin to fade, it progresses on to a cool-mint sort of colour. But when it fades even further, my hair starts to look like this muddy grey-ish green! DISASTER.
I did not like this at all so I headed for Affleck's Palace in the Northern Quarter of Manchester. I spotted a woman in the CyberDog store who has the most gorgeous, stunning bluey-turquoise hair. I was like: Who and where did you get the dye from?! She introduced me to Manic Panic's Amplified Atmoic Turquoise. I bought it right there, hurtled home and slopped this onto my hair!
This is the Amplified version of Manic Panic's Atomic Turquoise. Apparently this is meant to last 30% longer than the original Manic Panic, but I haven't used that so couldn't comment.
As I said above, this is the most stunning turquoise colour I have ever come across! It's more on the blue side of turquoise which was just what I needed. It translates onto the hair as a strong, deep turquoise blue. The colour is far brighter and much more vibrant than Directions with a lot more depth to the colour.
The only downsides are the price (Purchased mine for £14!) and the longevity: this lasts over a week until it starts to fade, but it's a kind of fading I don't mind. It fades into this lovely pastel blue colour with a hint of green which looks quite nymphic.
Anyway, enough rambling, the results?
Who does she think she is? Pffft ;)
I don't know about you but I definitely prefer this over Directions in Turquoise.
The problem is the price, it's just so expensive in comparison. I did a little experimenting though and found that mixing in a bit of blue with Directions' Turquoise really enhances the colour, making it much more blue!
To get that colour enhancement I mixed these two colours together. The end result is something resembling the Manic Panic Atomic Turquoise, but in all honesty it's not quite as awesome. As this mixture begins to fade it becomes increasingly minty but doesn't quite get to the muddy green stage that the Turquoise does on its own.
I've complied a mini FAQ of Questions I've been asked and questions some of you may have:
What colours did you use for the Turquoise?
I use either Manic Panic's Atomic Turquoise or Directions' Turquoise mixed with Crazy Color's Bubblegum Blue. I prefer Manic Panic though as the faded colour still looks pretty good, whereas Directions' looks like pondwater!
Does bleach damage your hair?
Yes, it does! Bleach opens the cuticles and strips out the pigment from your hair. Salons refused to bleach mine as my hair is quite dark. It can be done at home but you need to be extemely careful whilst applying and you need to check the progress frequently. If you are unsure of how your hair will react to bleach, do a strand test on a tiny section of your hair.
Why does your hair look lighter in some pictures?
The dyes have either faded or I've been using Manic Panic's Atomic Turquoise which is more a lighter Turquoise. On some occasions it can appear darker as I've applied the dye again whilst it's just beginning to fade. Putting dye upon dye, it all builds up thus making it look darker.
Is having Turquoise hair high maintenance?
I think it is and it isn't.
The colour will fade quickly as opposed to when you have a natural hair colour (such as chocolate brown or ash blonde).The colour will need to be topped up every few weeks. Hence why I like to use Manic Panic, I personally think the faded colour looks lovely! So in that sense, it's not high maintenance?
Also you need to start caring for your hair and it will most probably be damaged from the bleaching. Lots of conditioners and oils will need to be used!
And expect towels, floors, bed sheets & pillows to be stained! I have been as careful as possible, but this stuff really does transfer onto anything.
How do you care for the hair once it's been coloured?
With me, I struggled to get a comb through my hair. I purchased Johnsons No More Tangles Detangling Spray and a wide toothed comb which helped an awful lot. You need to be gentle with the hair, the last thing you want is major breakage!
Obviously using Hairdryers, Straighteners, Curling Tongs or any other heat-based styling tools doesn't help your hair. But I can't help but use them! After all, I've gone to all that effort to colour my hair beautifully, why shouldn't I straighten and blow dry?!
So what I find does help is slathering my hair in Coconut Oil the night before I shampoo, and leave it in over night. Then in the morning I rinse out the oil and shampoo as normal. Also, another little trick I find is to use hair oils for blow drying. It makes hair look mch healthier than it actually is! I quite like Macadamia's Healing Oil for blow drying, or Coconut Oil.
And of course, condition, condition & condition!
How can you make the colour last longer?
As much as it pains me to say it, shampooing less frequently.
However, if like me, you still want to shampoo often, mix in a bit of the dye with the shampoo and conditioner. With the deep conditioning masks, I've premixed dyes with the conditioner so everytime I'm deep conditioning, the colour is already in there.
Also in terms of shampoos, I've found that using an SLS free shampoo helps an awful lot. The colour seems to fades a lot slower when using this. I quite like L'Oreal's EverPure Colour Care shampoo, because I'm worth it. *cringe*
Heat styling doesn't help much either. But with the advice above, you should be ok.
And there you have it!
Apologies for the über long post, I've received lots of e-mails regarding my hair, and wanted to cover as much of it as posible.
If I've missed anything or if you have any questions, let me know!
