This is me and my hair now....
And the red in the front of this photograph is the colour I started with. I had been dying it red at least a year before attempting the blonde, and under that was also plenty of brown dyes. I knew when I started that I may not get the colour I was hoping for and always had a red dye in the cupboard as back up in case of any major drama.
One of the main things I learnt on this hair journey was that when you bleach hair you are stripping off all the colour (obviously). BUT, hair can never be bleached to white! The keratin in the hair is naturally yellow in colour and it is impossible to achieve a white blonde from bleach alone. The only way is toner, and that must be applied when the hair is at its palest yellow for the desired effect. Also, there is no way of doing this without some level of damage. Even if you wait in between bleaching sessions.
Okay, so step one is to go out and buy lots of bleach. I suggest buying from a hairdressing supplies online and getting a big tub of bleach and a large bottle of peroxide (30vol) as it will work out much cheaper than buying from the drug store. Also a tint bowl and brushes to mix and apply the bleach, and gloves to protect your hands as the bleach will burn the skin. Mix the bleach and peroxide following the instructions on the bleach and then its time for application.
Bleach is very thick and it can be difficult to do the whole head without getting a patchy result. You might want to ask someone to give you a hand. You should start from the ends of the hair as the hair closest to scalp will lighten quicker from the heat of your head. Apply to all of your hair and leave for the recommended time. If the bleach starts to dry on your hair and go crusty wash it off, dried bleach will no longer have a lightening effect and will just be damaging the hair. Jump in the shower and wash out all the bleach and use a good conditioner.
ORANGE HAIR! Obviously, what did you expect? You will have to go through the ginger stage no matter what. Now wait as long as you can stand the ginger to give the hair chance to recover and use plenty of hair masks and oil treatments.
When you're ready it is time for another bleaching. keep repeating this process over time until you finally reach yellow blonde like this...
What a horribly unflattering colour!
Once my hair was at this stage I bought packet blonde dyes from Boots which were 'ice blonde' or 'frozen blonde'. Something along those lines which tone down the yellow slightly but still had high levels of peroxide to lighten my hair further. I was still waiting along time in between dying as my hair was quite unhappy.
To achieve a white blonde to then turn silver I needed to get rid of all the yellow tones in my hair. TONE, TONE, TONE!! I can't stress that enough. La Riche dirctions toners in Silver or White are the best you can use at this stage because they are a conditioning hair colour with no peroxide in them. It is a temporary colour but will really help to banish the yellow and you can get them for £3.50 on ebay.
This is the silver toner on my hair before washing it off. As you can see it is blue which works against the yellow to make the hair white.If you feel your hair isn't taking very well to the toner you probably need to bleach again. Maybe just spot bleach patches which are darker than others to even out the colour.
The best product I can recommend to you is 'Fudge clean blonde violet toning shampoo'. It is the most pigmented silver shampoo I have come across, it stains your hands when you wash your hair because it is that strong. This helps to maintain the silver colour in your hair. I only need to use it once a week now to keep my hair how I like it and this is the only product I use in between bleaching my roots as it is strong enough to not need a toner. I hope this helps some of you out because I used to search all over the internet when I was doing this and found it very difficult to find information. Remember not to bleach the hair too often and use plenty of restorative masks and oils to keep your hair at its best. I am not a hairdresser, this is just what I did and I am sharing my experience with you.
The orange hair will budge eventually, stick with it and be patient. It will be worth it in the end!
Thanks for reading. If any one has any tips please leave them in the comments.
Charley Rose x
