Pink, blue or green – the choice is yours and you can pretty much pick from the entire spectrum of the rainbow to dye the tips of your hair.
The paint-brush-dipping effect, which can look anything like you’ve literally been held upside down and dipped into a paint pot, to slightly more natural gradual lights, is sweeping across hair salons around the world as fans of the style get dyed.
However, despite the recent buzz around dip dye, or ombre lights as they’ve always been known, they are actually nothing new and salons have been dying hair like this for years.
What’s made the trend so much more fashionable now are the likes of Lauren Conrad’s pink tips and Gabriella Ellis’s multi-coloured tones which have bought dip dye back into the glossy magazines and therefore into our lives.
And it’s not just luminous clashing colours either as natural ombre lights, a la Nicola Roberts and Kate Beckinsale, are just as popular.
So what is this half and half dye and why is everyone raving on about it so much? I decided to find out for myself and headed to Kell Scott in West London to find out.
On entering the salon I was asked if I wanted dip dye or ombre – after a blank look my lovely hair stylist Alex explained that ombre describes a more natural look where the ends of your hair are subtly dyed in a lighter colour – think Alexa Chung locks.
While on the other hand dip dye is the name that’s been trending in the past year or so and is what’s made salons like Bleach London so popular. It’s a much bolder style with bright colours dyed into the ends of your locks.
Being a bit of a wimp, I went for natural looking ombre lights but as my hair was a weird, rather dull brown, Alex put a semi-permanent dark brown dye in the top half of it to create a greater contrast with the blonde on the ends.
Although it can work in any length of hair – it’s best in longer locks and if you’re going to get it done it will look a lot better in textured hair, so unless you’re naturally blessed with wavy or curly hair – make sure you have a good pair of curlers.
While the process happens, the key to getting a good natural look, rather than a blunt line of colours, is backcombing the hair before adding bleach. But again this depends on the kind of style you want as if you’re looking for bold lines this won’t be necessary.
Across London there are salons waiting with open arms to dip dye hair and can meet pretty much any requirements you have. You’ll need to have a colour meeting first, so you can get the right look, and expect to pay around £60 for the whole thing.
Our favourite salons to dip dye:
It’s expensive but worth it and you are pretty much guaranteed they’ll do a good job. The salon is also well suited for comfort and all the staff are very friendly and welcoming, and more importantly – there’s homemade brownies on tap.
Where the celebs are heading for bold, quirky cuts and dye. Good if you’re looking for something drastic, it’s £80 for bleached ends and expect to do some good celeb spotting.
A lovely little salon in Shoreditch, it’s unpretentious and welcoming and the stylists know what their doing. Everything is professional but unassuming and the staff are very friendly.
DIY:
Don’t want to fork out for lights in a salon? There’s always the option of DIY dip dying and Crazy Colour is a type of permanent dye ideal for dip dye. There’s a choice of 26 different shades to choose from and there’s full instructions on how to DIY.
Make sure you read these CAREFULLY and have a friend on hand for help before you attempt it yourself. Also remember if it does go horribly wrong you can always head to a salon for salvation, or just get the ends chopped off.
Image: Bleach London
