So you’ve colored your hair black for awhile and now you’ve decided it’s time for a new color. Can you get the black dye out of your hair without your hair falling out? Most of your friends and hair experts will probably say no or they will tell you that you need to go to a salon to have it done. A salon will charge you insane amounts of money to do a “corrective color”� on your hair but with some pre-planning and some common sense you can get the black dye lifted enough to recolor your hair.
The longer you’ve been coloring your hair black the harder it will be to strip the black color from your hair. It’s important that you don’t have unrealistic expectations of the stripping process. You won’t be able to take your hair from black to white in one treatment but it can happen eventually if that’s your goal. You might want to have a big hat or a scarf to wrap your head in between treatments though because chances are your hair will look a little wacky.
The best way to begin is to pick a date that you want to start the process. Pick a date at least a week away. Make an appointment with your hair stylist and have the bottom 2-3 inches of your black hair cut off. Chopping off the ends will help with the stripping process because the ends of your hair are notoriously hard to lighten.
Once your hair has been trimmed there are steps you can take to start lightening the color and preparing your hair for the bleaching process. Wash your hair daily with a clarifying shampoo like Suave Daily Clarifying shampoo and use hot oil treatments like V05 hot oil tubes. These will both begin to strip the color from your hair. Also make sure that you use a really high quality conditioner daily. I like to use Aussie 3 Minute Miracle. Keep a bottle of it on hand, you’ll need it after bleaching your hair.
The day before you’re ready to bleach you’ll need to get a few things from the beauty supply store. Go to the beauty supply store, like Sally Beauty Supply, they won’t have these things at the drugstore. Here’s a shopping list to take to the beauty supply store:
Bleaching kit like Manic Panic Flash Lighting Kit or Jerome Russell’s Bleach Kit – Make sure that you get a bleach kit that uses a level 40 developer. A 30 will not work, you need the 40.
Kits are very convenient because they usually come with gloves and a tint brush but if you need to you can buy a packet of bleach and a bottle of level 40 developer if they don’t have a kit. If you are dying your hair a light or pastel color you will need 2 bleach kits.
Latex or rubber gloves – you will need more than just the one pair that comes with a kit so buy a packet that has several pairs.
Small plastic bowls- these will hold the bleach and later the hair color.
Tint brushes- get a few
Processing caps- these come in a package of 3 or 4 for about $1. You’ll go through a bunch so get two packages.
Hair clips- you’ll need these to make sure that you apply all the dye and bleach evenly.
Toner and new hair color- If you want to change your hair color from black to a much lighter color you will need to bleach your hair, then tone it, then recolor. Manic Panic makes a great white toner called Virgin Snow that has a nice iridescent quality to it. If you are not going to dye your hair a much lighter color you may be able to skip the toner but you will need to get at least one bottle of the new color.
You will also need an old tee shirt or sweatshirt and several old towels that can get ruined with bleach and dye and some white vinegar.
Getting started
Ready to get started? Great. Put on the old tee shirt or sweatshirt and drape one of the old towels around your neck and pin it or clip it so it stays put. Section out your hair using the clips. Put on a pair of gloves and mix up the bleach and the developer according to the directions. With a tint brush apply a thick layer of the bleach to the top and bottom of the hair in each section. Start with the ends and only apply the bleach about halfway up the length of the hair. Don’t use all the bleach mixture, you will need the rest to do your roots.
Stop before you reach the roots! The roots will be much easier to lighten so do those last. When you have applied the bleach about halfway up the length of your hair tuck your hair up into a processing cap and wait. Check on the progress of the color every half an hour or so but it may take up to two hours before your hair starts to really lighten.
When the ends and the middle of your hair have turned an orange red then take off the cap and apply the rest of the bleach mixture to your roots. Make sure that you don’t get bleach on your scalp! Tuck all of your hair back into the processing cap and wait. It may take another hour for your hair to be the same reddish/orange color all over.
Dying Your Hair Another Dark Color
Once your hair is all the same reddish/orange color you can rinse the bleach out. Shampoo with the clarifying shampoo after all the bleach is out of your hair but DO NOT CONDITION it. Towel dry. At this point if you are just going to color your hair another dark color you can apply the new color according to the directions on the package. Leave the color in for at least an hour in order to get a better result. When you rinse out the dye in cool water follow it with a rinse of white vinegar. Leave the vinegar in your hair for about a minute and then rinse again with cool water. That will help keep the new color in for longer.
Dying Your Hair a Light or Pastel Color
Once your hair is at the reddish/orange stage you should rinse out the bleach and let your hair rest. Apply a conditioning pack or use some Aussie 3 Minute Miracle every day for at least 2-3 days to heal your hair. You will have to go through the bleaching process again but you need to let your hair heal for a few days. Since you will need to live with that reddish orange color in your hair while the hair heals you might want to plan on doing this process when you don’t need to leave the house.
When your hair is healthy again you will need to bleach it again. Follow the same process, starting with the ends and letting the bleach work on the ends and then doing the roots. This time after you rinse the bleach and wash your hair with the clarifying shampoo towel dry it and apply the toner. Let the toner sit in your hair for an hour or so and then rinse it out but don’t condition your hair unless absolutely necessary. Towel dry.
After you’ve toned your hair then you can finally apply the new color. Follow the directions on the bottle but let the dye sit on your hair for at least an hour if you want to get a really vivid, long lasting color. After rinsing the color out of your hair use the white vinegar to rinse your hair. That will help the color last longer. Rinse out the white vinegar and then apply a good conditioner and let it sit in your hair for at least five minutes. Rinse the conditioner and Voila! Your hair will be done.
