We get a lot of requests from customers asking for “ombre” hair and usually, they’re looking for something with 3-tones or shades of colors like our 4/27/613 X-Pression Pre-Stretcehed hair extensions. However, the word “ombre” doesn’t actually mean 3-tones.

having a pattern in which colors or tones fade into one another:

What Does Ombre Mean? The Adjective

According to Merriam-Webster, Ombre is both a noun and an adjective. However, the adjective part is relevant to us as the noun aspect has a completely unrelated meaning. It’s of French origin from the word “Ombré” and to quote the direct definition, Omber is “having colors or tones that shade into each other”. This means ombre describes the blending of colours so that one tone/color slowly transforms into another color in a, for want of a better word, smooth manner.

For instance, in the 33/30/39 shade of the expression braids don’t have the three colors stopping abruptly such that you can distinguish where one starts and another ends but rather are sort of blended at their merging points to create a seamless look. This trait isn’t seen in just 3-tone hair pieces but in 2-tone sets such as the T1/27 braids. Fun fact, a rainbow is technically ombre if you look closely enough because the 7 colours fade in and out of one another!

So What’s the Correct term?

Let’s get this out of the way; We’re not here to police grammar and how people use English. Colloquialism and neologism happen when people start to use words for things they were not intended for or in different contexts and that’s how words can take on new meanings in different contexts. That being said, it’s helpful to understand things for what they are and avoid confusion when possible. So let’s say you’re trying to order some “ombre” hair, what would you say? Simple, either call it by the color scheme or <# of colours>-tone. Eg, T1/35 is a two-tone color, the aforementioned 33/30/39 is a three-toned braid.