Trend to Try: Ombre Hair

One of this season's hottest trends is ombre, and it's showing up all over the place: purses, clothes, nails, even hair. If you haven't seen it, ombre is a darkening or lightening effect in a color pattern. Let's say you have an ombre top. At the top it's light blue, but darkens to deep navy at the bottom. Women all over have fallen in love with this trend, from Lauren Conrad to Drew Barrymore and others. What we're seeing a lot of is ombre hair, particularly with celebrities. Katy Perry recently debuted her royal blue-and-black ’do, and LC sported pink tips in her blonde hair. The trend is easily wearable, and you can tone it down or really make the look pop. Most women keep dark roots and lighten up the bottom third or so of their hair, though you can certainly use crazy colors like Conrad or find another way to make the look your own.

A good example of well-done ombre hair is Camilla Alves in the picture below:

Ombre hair is probably best done in a salon with a pro, but you can DIY it if you want to. Simply purchase two hair colors in the two shades you want, and only color your hair in the areas you want the color to be. It's pretty self-explanatory. The upkeep on this style isn't too bad as long as your root, or darker color, doesn't deviate much from your natural root color; if it does, normal coloring upkeep rules apply there.

Since I had short hair, I've been scared to try this trend. Seeing Alexa Chung's version of this style completely changed my mind! Her bob is cute but classy, and the ombre effect adds a little bit of edginess to it. After seeing her picture, I'm inspired to try this trend myself (though I have to admit it'll probably be with some crazy color, like Kelly Osborne's lilac). That's my own personal taste, though.

A few other people have tried the trend with unnatural but beautiful colors: here's a girl sporting a blonde, pink, and teal combo.

The ombre trend is really taking off, but if you're uncomfortable with dying your hair this way, you can always try it out on your nails or your next dress! If you want to try a temporary version of this look, try chalking your hair for a more subtle, definitely temporary kind of ombre. Simply run damp chalk over your hair, or dry chalk over wet hair.

Wherever you decided to go ombre, it's sure to be on-trend and glamorous.