How to get ombre hair at home for a tenner - DIY beauty tips to help you get a salon look

Ombre hair is probably our favourite colour trend right now. As celebrities like Lily James, Anne Hathaway, Perrie Edwards, Victoria Beckham and Sarah Jessica Parker prove, adding graduated lighter tones to the ends adds life and texture into any hair style.
Thing is, we’ve always assumed it was an effect we’d need to do at the salon. We and our grey bits are huge fans of DIY hair dye, but we’d always thought it was just for all-over colour or root retouching.
That was until Michael Douglas, Coty’s colour & styling ambassador, challenged us to think outside the dye box.
"What you buy in shops basically works the same way as salon colour," he says. "There are easy techniques you can use at home to get salon-style creative effects like ombre."

After - get the ombre look at home (Photo: Catherine Harbour)

Using Clairol nice ‘n easy (we were gobsmacked to discover it’s celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year), Michael showed us exactly how to copy the effect at home. It’s usually on ‘buy any two shades’ deals at Boots and Superdrug so you can easily recreate this for effect for £10 or less. Here’s how he did it..

nice'n easy Permanent Colour Creme in shades 5G and SB2

• First, Michael gave our model an all-over colour refresh using nice’n easy Permanent Colour Crème in shade 5G, a medium golden brown. Her hair was then rinsed and dried.
• Next, Michael mixed up a high lift blonde (nice’n easy Permanent Colour Crème SB2) for her ends. He needed to use such a light shade because colour doesn’t lift colour. If you already have permanent colour on your hair, using a high lift blonde over the top will only lighten by a shade and a half max. As you can see, it gave our brunette model nice toffee and caramel tones - think 2016 update on the 90s Rachel.
• To create the ombre effect, Michael took layered pieces and applied the high lift blonde dye onto a few inches at the ends.
• The colour was then smudged up the hair for another inch. "That way it’ll graduate softly and you won’t get a harsh line," he says.
• This isn’t meant to be an all-over ombre - you want a lighter, more scattered effect. "Aim to colour about 60% of your ends," says Michael.
• To stop the dye transferring and to help the hair lighten, wrap the coloured areas in foil or cling film. Leave on for the full development time, before rinsing and conditioning the hair.

Fancy giving it a go yourself? Firstly, don’t forget to do a 48-hour patch test to reduce the risk of an allergic reaction. You might also want to do a strand test to see what result you’ll get from putting a high-lift blonde dye over your current base colour. (Don’t forget, the shade result guide you see on the back of the box is ONLY accurate if you’re applying it onto totally uncoloured hair.)


It’s also worth knowing it’s simple to reverse the effect if you want to - dark dye always takes easily over previously lightened hair.

Charles Worthington Colour Enhancer, Josh Wood Colour Care Glossing Mask and Wella EIMI Perfect Setting

In terms of post-colour care, you can use a tone-boosting shampoo like Charles Worthington Colour Enhancer, £5.99, and add in an intensive conditioning treatment like Josh Wood Colour Care Glossing Mask, £10. And always use a heat-protection spray, because irons fade colour in a flash otherwise - Michael used Wella EIMI Perfect Setting, £9.90.