Sometime last week, I got a text asking if I was interested in trying out Azta Urban Salon's new Ombre Color Technology service. Because I'd been meaning to get my DIY ombre (which I'd haphazardly done with a bleaching kit at home, out of boredom) fixed for quite some time, I said yes in a heartbeat. So last Friday, I visited Azta Robinson's Pioneer to finally get my caramel macchiato ombre, which has been my dream hair for a long, long time now.
Inside the salon. I was surprised to see that this branch was much smaller than most salons I've been to, but that wasn't really a problem. I arrived at around 4 in the afternoon, but because of a slight mix-up with the schedules, my appointment was delayed by a bit. Not a problem either, because I only had to wait around 10-15 minutes. While waiting, I was well taken care of by Ms. Maricel and the rest of the Azta staff, who were all so friendly and nice!
When it was time for me to get my ombre, senior stylist Mr. Louie Cruz talked to me about what I wanted done, and showed me some hair swatches to choose from. The colors I chose for my hair were a nice, warm brown on top (7NW, I think?) and a super light blonde at the bottom.
Louie and senior stylist Wendy simultaneously working on my hair. This was part 1 of the process—bleaching the lower half of my hair. The process of bleaching seemed really complicated.. when I did it by myself at home I just assumed all you had to do was get all the parts I wanted lightened covered with bleach, but this was different. They carefully spread the bleaching solution on small sections at alternating lengths, and had a particular way of spreading the bleach on the strands so that my ombre looked more like a gradient instead of just a sudden horizontal change in color. Parts were also left without bleach to achieve the effect I wanted.
Some parts of my bangs were also bleached, because Louie wanted to. He says it's so my bangs don't look too overpowering.
Looks like I have a fish ready to be grilled on my head, haha!
Part 2—dyeing the upper part of my hair. I think I was becoming restless at this point. Getting the ombre that I want took a looong time. (Almost 4 hours, I think?) But I was told that because my hair was already pre-lightened, the time it took for me to get my hair done was much less than what it normally takes.
Part 3. After the bleaching + dyeing, I got a Lycopene hair treatment, which I so very badly needed. At this point my hair had already been shampooed twice, so a lot of it had given up and died ;_____; The hair treatment helped make it look healthier, and helped prevent any more breakage from occurring. It was my first time getting a hair treatment, and I really liked it. This one in particular was mentholated, so it felt really good on the scalp!
After the whole process, this is how my ombre turned out:
Creamy, coffee hair! I like it a lot! I really do. It's so pretty!
Thank you so much to Azta, especially to Ms. Meg, for giving me the opportunity to try this service out. I'm really, really happy with my hair now! But of course, a lot of my gratitude goes out to my stylist Louie. If you're ever in the area and want to get a dye job or ombre done, I recommend checking out Azta Robinson's Pioneer and asking for Mr. Louie Cruz :) To know more about Azta Urban Salon and their Ombre Color Technology service, visit their Facebook page here.
DISCLAIMER: The service mentioned in this post was offered by Azta Urban Salon in exchange for a review, but the opinions expressed here are 100% my own. Financial compensation was not received for this post. Please see my full disclaimer for more information.