DIY OMBRE: BODY SHOP HAIR CHALKS

HAIR CHALKS BY THE BODY SHOP IN 'FALLING FOR BLUE' AND 'TICKLE ME PINK' - £5.00 EACH

You just have to change things up every now and again, right? I haven't coloured my hair in years. I used to be that girl in high school getting put in detention for having bright red hair. When I had to dye it brown to cover up the colour, I brought out those awful rainbow clip-in extensions. When they threatened to kick me out of school, I dyed my hair blonde to be ironic. Or to look like Courtney Love. Either way, my shot at irony by having the 'popular girl' hair colour kind of stuck. And left me with majorly damaged hair in the process. So I guess they won in the end.

I had a sudden realisation a few days ago that I haven't done anything "new" with my hair in a stupidly long time. That's when these hair chalks came in. They are the perfect way to get wash-in, wash out colour. I stay away from semi-permanent dyes because of the tinge they can leave in your hair, especially when it's light. It's taken years to achieve this shade of blonde and I'm not planning on messing it up any time soon. Although, changing up the colour is definitely addictive. I'm quite liking feeling like Clementine from the Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. And reliving my goth girl days, crazy hair, chokers, leather jackets and all. Maybe this is my late-teen crisis kicking in?

But onto the actual product. Application is really simple; you simply section your hair and glide the product over it with a cosmetic pad to keep the colour off your hands. It also helps with getting the most of the pigmentation as pressing the pad against the product allows you to pick up the maximum colour. It does get quite messy so be prepared to put a towel over your shoulders unless you want whatever you're wearing to get ruined. But once the product is set I haven't found that it leaves marks on anything.

Everyone knows that hair chalks are drying on your hair. I already have dry hair so I deep condition before using this and prep my hair with a good serum. You have to set it with hair spray which dries it out even more. I finished the look by adding texture spray to my roots, the lengths were a no-go given how dry it already felt. Then I added another layer of serum on top - it needed it. So cons? The dry texture, but that's a given. The idea of hair chalks isn't for daily use - it's for those ones where you want to make an impact. So they are great for one-off occasions, festivals, parties etc. Plus, at £5, you really can't complain.

Overall, I really like this product and I'm glad I picked it up. I achieved the more purple look in the photos by layering the blue and pink over each other to get the super cute mermaid hair effect. I love it. But the block pink and blue looks awesome on its own. You can definitely have a lot of fun with these!

Would you try these? What do you think of this DIY look? 

Lydia Rose,

xoxo