Have you ever craved bleach blonde hair, even though you thought it was impossible? Well, its not. This is a very affordable, basic guide on how to bleach your hair at home. If you can’t afford going to a salon, or you just want to do it yourself, then keep reading.
Is your hair dark brown or black? Mine was.
To be honest, I expected the process to be easy! I thought “I’ve been dying my hair for years! My hair can handle anything!” Boy was i wrong. I researched for weeks before i began anything, I suggest you do the same. But unfortunately, most articles and videos i found, were quite confusing and at the end i decided to put together all the tips i learned and just go for it! Read on and ill tell you exactly what you SHOULD do, in detail. But take into account that all hair is different, and since you’re not going to a salon, you need to be careful unless you want to end up bald!
Step 1:
Before doing any bleaching, deep condition your hair 3-4 times that week. (Basically every time you wash your hair.) This will prepare your hair for the torture!
Step 2:
Buy a BIG bucket of blue bleach from any hair salon. Blue helps to counteract the orangey tones that will appear. It is a little pricey, but you will need that much bleach, if not more, to get your hair blonde. You will also need to buy a bottle of developer. Developer just helps the bleach lift the color from your hair. Which brand? Doesn’t matter. But make sure you get a LARGE bottle of 30 vol developer. It’s extremely cheap. 10 vol and 20 vol wont lift the color enough on DARK hair. Don’t waste your money. 40 vol makes it VERY easy for you to over process your hair and have it fall out!! 40 vol is never necessary. 30 is the perfect number.
Step 3:
After you’ve been deep conditioning your hair for a while, you’re ready to begin!! Section your hair off, any way you find easiest. I do four layers starting from the bottom. Both the developer bottle and the bleach bucket have measurement instructions on it. Use that, or pour bleach in, and then a small amount of developer in (You can always add more), mix it around, the consistency should be the consistency of pancake batter.
Step 4:
Use a hair dye brush to apply the bleach to your hair.
Make sure you wear gloves. Its not the end of the world if you don’t, but it BADLY drys out your skin. Apply the bleach to the ENDS of your hair and up. Don’t do the roots until the last 15 minutes!!!! This is very important. Your roots will bleach EXTREMELY easily compared to the rest of your hair.
Make sure each section of hair is saturated well. You don’t want streaks or patches. After you put the bleach on, wrap a plastic bag around your head. Leave the bleach on for a total of 50 minutes. Blow dry your hair occasionally during this time. Blow drying the bag on top of your head will make it bleach faster because of the heat. At about 35 minutes, remove the bag, do your roots, and put the bag back on.
Step 5:
Once the bleach has been on for a full 50 minutes, wash it all out. When conditioning your hair in the shower, leave it on for as long as possible. This will help. During this whole bleaching process you should take every opportunity to condition your hair. Once you rinse out the conditioner squeeze the water out of your hair, apply hair products (Hair repair products.) Then use a wide tooth comb and brush your hair out.
Step 6:
Your hair is orange, right? Wait a MINIMUM of 2 days before bleaching again. Remember, walking around with orange hair is better than walking around bald!! When you go to bleach your hair again, use the same steps. You will most likely end up bleaching your hair 4-6 times all together. Bleach until your hair is a banana/highlighter yellow color! The last step is TONING your hair. It will get rid of the yellow. If your hair is a light orange, its not ready. Using a toner will be a waste at this point.
Step 7-Final Step:
So your hair is bright yellow? Perfect! Go out and get a toner. You will need to do research about which toner you should get because each toner gives your hair a different shade of blonde! If you want a cool, ash blonde (Most people do), then get a gray/purple based toner! The gray/purple gets the yellow out of your hair. You will need to mix developer with the toner! Read the toners bottle for the measurements. Apply the toner just as you would for bleach, do roots LAST. You will only keep the toner on for about 20-40 minutes depending on how light your hair is. If you hair is nearly white, you will only need about 15 minutes. So, apply the toner starting from the ends. Put a bag on your hair, and at the last 10 minutes (If doing 40 minutes total), do your roots. Keep in mind your roots need the least work since they are the lightest part of your hair. After its been 20-40 minutes, wash it out, condition and YOU’RE DONE!
This entire process took me 3 weeks. And at one time, I did bleach my hair twice in one day……. DO NOT DO THAT. So be patient, its possible!
Enjoy being a blonde bombshell!
