Ombre Hair
I wouldn’t describe myself as trendy. If I ever do jump on a bandwagon it’s typically three seasons later with my rendition less than Vogue worthy. One trend I tried a few months ago for the second time was ombre hair. I didn’t like it the first time, I loathed it the second time, so why did I try it again? I tried it because in theory the concept seems great, the execution, however, not so much. I remember the first time I laid eyes on the trend, it was in a beauty magazine and all I saw was cascading ripples of gorgeous golden blonde hair with beautiful, gradual darkening towards the dark brown roots.
I loved it! It embraced the dark roots and made no apologies while saying “no, I’m not a natural blonde but who cares.” The idea of low(er) maintenance seemed fantastic and I immediately jumped in. So, I will say that both ombre attempts were done exceptionally well by my colorists, it’s the look that did not work for me. You see, after years of dying my dark brown hair various shades of blonde I knew one thing…roots were the enemy and any darkness around my hairline meant I should avoid all pictures and social situations until the problem was resolved.
To rock the ombre look meant I need to showcase this faux hair growth and it felt so wrong. I looked in the mirror and had a flashback to my late teens when my sandwich shop minimum wage jobs left me often looking the same way. I simply couldn’t do it, so I went back begging for bleach and walked out feeling much better. Fast forward to this year, I’m sitting in the salon listening to the client next to me explain how she’d like rose gold hair with pastel purple on the underside while my stylist arranges her foil to weave my hair AGAIN for what feels like the 6th time this year. I ask if she has any suggestions for keeping me light but lessening my maintenance. As she’s talking another stylist walks over with the most amazing buttery blonde hair with a halo of caramel and yes, you guessed it… beautiful chocolate brown roots.
It looked effortless yet stunning. She confirmed it was just a simple, basic ombre. I agreed and while she gave me exactly what I asked for I decided that from then on, I should appoint power of attorney to someone else when it came to my hair coloring decisions; as clearly, I was not in the right frame of mind to consent. My husband, bless his heart, said I looked great. I got several complements and my stylist did, in fact, do a great job. The issue was that I just could not pull off the look. Period. Maybe I’m too old, maybe it’s my features, maybe it’s because I still order some of my clothes from grandma catalogs but I looked ridiculous. I became obsessed with my roots and would look at them constantly, visualizing a high lift color saturating every strand and saving the day.
I basked in my misery for a couple weeks until I couldn’t anymore and went back in like a scolded child asking politely if she could completely undo what I clearly asked for weeks before. She obliged, and weaved in ribbons of cool blonde leaving me feeling much more like myself. So, while I can still admire a beautiful ombre when I see it I leave it there and remember that sometimes tried and true trumps trendy.
