The faded look

[#1]

Hi! I have shoulder length, thick, blackish brownish hair, (sometimes it looks black and other times it looks brown). I have had the same booorriinngg hair all my life and I want to grow it out and add some color to it, I was thinking of having it fade from my natural hair color down to like a light brown maybe? But i've read somewhere that it just looks like your hair is growing out and your roots need to be touched up ASAP! So now I'm thinking maybe just some highlights or something. What is everyone's opinion on the faded look?       

P.S the most action my hair has gotten in a while was me moving my part from the side to the middle so please help lol

EXAMPLE:

My color will be diffeent but this is the effect i want. 

[#2]

When done right, the ombre look can be quite stunning, Drew Barrymore is a staple when it comes to this hair color look.

If you do decide to go for this look, stick with the obvious natural tones that your hair falls into. In another words, you say your hair is blackish brown, so stick with those two shades rather than do a drastic jump to honey blonde and brown for example.

Also, since this look is all about "looking like there is regrowth", pick what shade your hair is more of and let that me the root color. So if your hair is more black with a brown cast to it, don't jump to dying your roots a strong brown and the rest black, instead, have the roots be the darker portion and the ends be lighter.

I would advise getting this done at a salon as with blending colors you don't watch a botched job, or even try looking to see if there are any beauty schools in your area that need folks to train/practice on for styles that could possibly offer you a discounted dye job rate but will have folks backed with skill rather than working blindly and with no experience.

Rachel Bilson and even Ashlee Simpson have had some hair color looks with dark browns, just Google "ombre hair" and have a look. The key is seamless blending and even having layers cut in to help the illusion of the colors blending more so into one another.