First there was the Ombré. I first noticed it on Chloe Kardashian a few years ago. I thought to myself, “Oh My God who wants to look like they have 8 inches of dark roots? It’s trailer park chic? They look like they have needed color over over a year now.” Truly, I thought it was hideous.

Over the years this color process was perfected and eventually I started to see them done well. Now I was on board.

As I started to perform them regularly a trend grew. Blondes were no longer for white folks. I have a very large clientele of Asian women, not to mention, African American and Hispanic clients.

Come on, I live in Florida. We are the mixed bag of nationalities, races and colors. These women started bringing in photos of Ombrés and the only shades that worked with their skin tone was platinum blondes or very ashy colors. To get their hair Platinum called for bleaching the heck out of their hair. This is risky and even though the color looked good, it left the hair damaged and porous. Platinum blonde against black hair looks fierce but usually only a younger client could pull this off. As we age we all need to soften our look.

Along came the Sombré……My hero.

The Sombré is an Ombré that is over toned either with a permanent color or a semi or demi permanent, to mesh perfectly with darker brunettes. It looked good against that olive or darker skin tone that so many of my clients had. (Do refer to the photo.)

If your have that olive skin tone and dark brunette hair and are considering an Ombré, I beg you to to bring in photos to your colorist of the Sombré. Even when calling into the salon to book your free consultation, use the word Sombré. If they don’t know what that is, or have to question someone about the process, think twice about your choice of salons.