As my hair is ombre I decided to buy the light ash blonde hair extensions from Foxy Locks and dye the top half of them a dark blonde in order for it to match my hair. It is a lot easier going darker than going lighter.
So far I have dyed the top half of the hair extensions once, however because of how light they were to begin with they are still quite light compared to my darker blonde hair on my head. I don't think I will be able to get the hair extensions to match 100% but if I can get it quite close I will be satisfied as long as it blends well.
The dye that used the first time and will be using again is the Nice n Easy Dark Cool Blonde/Natural Dark Blonde as these are the colours I normally dye my hair to create the ombre look when I went ombre the first time and second. I normally use either one of these because they are very close to each other and they turn out basically exactly the same.
First attempt:
(I forgot to take a photo of my first attempt!)
I had already worked out which extensions went where before hand so I knew what extensions needed to have more dye on than the others. Before I started each layer of extensions I put it up to my head where it would be clipped in and measured where I needed to put the dye. I used Nice n Easy Cool Dark Blonde. I started off by dying the higher up extensions as they would need to be the darkest, I then worked my way through the higher up extensions until about a couple of inches from the top of the extensions had been covered in the hair dye. I left this on for a bit and then added more starting from where the hair dye ended. I kept on checking this with my hair as I wanted it to have the gradient effect that my hair had, so it would match my extensions a lot better. I did this for all of the extensions until I was satisfied that all of the hair that needed to be covered was.
I then left this on for about 30-40 minutes and washed it off after. I also used some purple shampoo to tone the light ash blonde as my hair was a tiny bit lighter/whiter than the hair extensions. I left the hair extensions to dry naturally.
The next day I clipped them all in to see if they looked ok, there was still a colour difference. The hair extension bits that were dyed did look a lot more ashy/grey than my hair turns out to be, but this is just because of how light the hair extensions were in the first place. This is the same as to what happened with my own hair. When I first went ombre over a year ago my hair was all over a very light blonde like my extensions. I put on a dark blonde and it went a ashy/grey colour, I then put on another hair dye to make it darker which worked. It is just because the hair is so light to begin with that it will obviously come out as a much lighter colour than the colour on the box. So therefore it needs to be dyed twice in order to get the darker colour that I wanted.
Second attempt:
Today (22nd Jan) I decided to dye my extensions again. I put my extensions on a plastic bag on top of a towel and mixed up half of the dye. I thought I brought the Cool Dark Blonde but it was Natural Dark Blonde Nice n Easy. I normally go between the two as they are quite similar and they turn out basically the same colour. At the moment the hair dye is on my extensions as I am typing this. I did exactly the same as before, however I didn't go as far down with the dye as they were a similar colour to my hair it was just the tops of the extensions that needed doing.
So far I have dyed the top half of the hair extensions once, however because of how light they were to begin with they are still quite light compared to my darker blonde hair on my head. I don't think I will be able to get the hair extensions to match 100% but if I can get it quite close I will be satisfied as long as it blends well.
The dye that used the first time and will be using again is the Nice n Easy Dark Cool Blonde/Natural Dark Blonde as these are the colours I normally dye my hair to create the ombre look when I went ombre the first time and second. I normally use either one of these because they are very close to each other and they turn out basically exactly the same.
First attempt:
(I forgot to take a photo of my first attempt!)
I had already worked out which extensions went where before hand so I knew what extensions needed to have more dye on than the others. Before I started each layer of extensions I put it up to my head where it would be clipped in and measured where I needed to put the dye. I used Nice n Easy Cool Dark Blonde. I started off by dying the higher up extensions as they would need to be the darkest, I then worked my way through the higher up extensions until about a couple of inches from the top of the extensions had been covered in the hair dye. I left this on for a bit and then added more starting from where the hair dye ended. I kept on checking this with my hair as I wanted it to have the gradient effect that my hair had, so it would match my extensions a lot better. I did this for all of the extensions until I was satisfied that all of the hair that needed to be covered was.
I then left this on for about 30-40 minutes and washed it off after. I also used some purple shampoo to tone the light ash blonde as my hair was a tiny bit lighter/whiter than the hair extensions. I left the hair extensions to dry naturally.
The next day I clipped them all in to see if they looked ok, there was still a colour difference. The hair extension bits that were dyed did look a lot more ashy/grey than my hair turns out to be, but this is just because of how light the hair extensions were in the first place. This is the same as to what happened with my own hair. When I first went ombre over a year ago my hair was all over a very light blonde like my extensions. I put on a dark blonde and it went a ashy/grey colour, I then put on another hair dye to make it darker which worked. It is just because the hair is so light to begin with that it will obviously come out as a much lighter colour than the colour on the box. So therefore it needs to be dyed twice in order to get the darker colour that I wanted.
Second attempt:
Today (22nd Jan) I decided to dye my extensions again. I put my extensions on a plastic bag on top of a towel and mixed up half of the dye. I thought I brought the Cool Dark Blonde but it was Natural Dark Blonde Nice n Easy. I normally go between the two as they are quite similar and they turn out basically the same colour. At the moment the hair dye is on my extensions as I am typing this. I did exactly the same as before, however I didn't go as far down with the dye as they were a similar colour to my hair it was just the tops of the extensions that needed doing.
The two end pieces on the right hand side is the colour that my hair extensions were with the first lot of dye on, the other ones have the second lot of dye on with the dye developing.
Other parts of the extensions with the dye on, these are the higher up extensions which have more dye on them.
I always use a mixing bowl when doing my hair now, I never mix it in the bottle as I find it easier applying the dye with a tinting brush than from the bottle itself. This also means that I can mix up as much or as little of the mixture as I want to. It is a lot easier to do this with hair extensions as well! I brought the tinting bowl and brush from Boots a while ago it wasn't that much at all probably about £4ish?!
I plan to leave the hair dye on for about 30-40 minutes, the dye is defiantly coming through a lot darker than before but it will lighten when I wash it off. I shall wash it out with my normal shampoo Aussie moisture shampoo I think it is called that I using at the moment. I shall use the conditioner that comes with the hair dye and I will leave it on for about 30 minutes to deep condition them. I shall then let them air dry and hopefully test them out tomorrow!
If I do find that they do need dying again I still have half of the mixture left that I did't mix together. I can easily go over the bits that need redoing, but I am hoping that they won't need redoing! Fingers crossed.
The result:
My fringe needs a trim!
(23rd Jan) I am wearing the extensions in the photo above, it gives me about 6 inches plus extra length which is why I wanted them. I waved them slightly so it would blend in better with my hair and pinned up two sections of hair from the side to the back. I do this when wearing extensions so if it is windy my hair is securely pinned down so the extensions shouldn't show. As you can tell you can hardly see where the extensions are compared to my own hair. The extensions turned a lot less grey/ashy more to the colour of my dark blonde.
Overall I am very pleased with how they turned out. I even got a compliment from my mom who has never liked me wearing extensions saying that my hair looks nice, which I was totally shocked about. I laughed after because she didn't even realise I was wearing extensions, I don't see how because my hair is loads longer but still! At least I know it looks natural and blends really well.
