DIY Hair Dye Can Work At Home. Here’s Some Tips From Bleach London’s Alex Brownsell

Ever wondered why 70% of the female population of under 25's in this generation choose to color their hair with crazy colours of the rainbow instead of classic browns, blondes and blacks? This is no coincidence and it wasn't started by a catwalk trend either.

Bleach Londonwas the salon that pioneered the editorial style session hair for the high street honey. And it's now a trend that has become part of every day life for girls from both Dalston to Daytona. But how to do hair dye at home without ending up with walls splattered in lilac hues? Or towels destroyed by bleach? We asked the woman behind Bleach, Alex Brownsell for some top tips:

Go on then - give us your three top tips for home hair dying?

What are the mistakes girls make when home dying that are big no no's?

When you're doing your roots, overlapping bleach or a tint onto the mid lengths and ends of your hair when it’s not necessary is really bad for the condition of your hair. If using bleach it will cause damage and breakage and if using tint it will start a build up of colour that will be hard to budge if you want to change the colour.

What's the worst hair fail you've seen?

What's known as a "chemical cut" or "chemical mullet" - unwanted layers caused by breakage from too much bleaching. Great if you want to look like Stevie Nicks; not great if you want a one length blunt bob.

Why choose bleach products over any other brand?

Our Super Cool Coloursare thicker than other brands and are so easy to massage into the hair and spread through to the ends. They're also made with a rich conditioning mask so will make your hair feel soft and shiny rather than brittle.

And what's the best technique for getting it to look like it's straight out of a Vogue shoot?

I have a technique called 'smooshing' which is a way of massaging product through to the hair to create a blended, soft line.

So we know that every girl from Grimsby to Dalston is rocking rose and mermaid hair color right now but what colours are coming up as new trends for next season?

One trend I've seen emerging is Root Glow. This is when you have mid coloured or dark hair but you just bleach the roots and then do a pastel super cool colour on top. You can either let it grow out into a Colour Splash through the hair or continue bleaching your roots when you get 6 weeks regrowth and gradually go blonde from the roots down. It's like a reverse dip dye and looks really cool.

**And what about if you've got dark hair?

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Colder colours like blues, greens and turquoises work well for the Oil Slick trend that looks great on dark hair. It can be on a dip dye or fringe and looks really shiny and cool.

What's your favourite Bleach London product available to buy and why ?

Swamp Spritz (£6, Boots) and Everyday Dry Shampoo(£6, Boots). I prefer my hair maybe 3-4 days after washing when it’s messy and has some volume. If I use both these products after washing my hair so I can recreate that mussed up look.

**Do you find it hard running a business and being a super creative person too?

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I get to channel creativity through my session styling work on a day to day basis and then when I'm in the salon I have fresh eyes when I do colouring so I can still be creative there. The salon has grown organically with people that really want to work for Bleach so I'm lucky that I can do my session work and have the salon as a base but rely on my staff for the day to day running of things.

Who's hair would you love to get your hands on?

I would love to do Dolly Parton's hair. She was so good at Glastonbury...

And what's next for Bleach?

We have just launched Bleach London Colour Crayons (£4, Boots) - temporary crayons to colour your hair for one night and then they wash off. We are also in discussions to open another salon in South London but that's still a secret for now. Ssshh!

Follow Louby on Twitter @loubymc

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.