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| Terribly unflattering old pic, but you get the jist of my natural colour, there will be more of these beauties so keep reading :) |
First Tip: Usually best to go to a salon for this, I did all my colouring at home, and yes I managed to get it white, I did however lose a lot of hair and I am lucky I didn't end up bald.
After making the decision to go blonde I waddled to Sallys Beauty Supply and purchased 30vol cream bleach and a tub of blue bleaching powder. The brands and prices of which I am unsure about as it was a long time ago, but I'm sure the cream bleach itself was just their own make and was no more than £7 for a massive bottle, there will be loads for you to pick from though. I also bought gloves, mixing bowl, measuring jug thingy and an application brush. I hurried home and got to work, all instructions are on the bottles and the powder so you shouldn't go wrong. After the first bleach I had orange hair, after a second it was more of a "melon" yellow, and tbh it took a hell of a lot of bleaching sessions to get it near enough white. During these sessions I managed to put a giant slathering of bleach on one part of my hair and not blend it through, resulting in a nice chunk of hair falling out and slithering down my leg in the shower.
Dying process journey in photographs ( Its not pretty you have been warned)
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| After the first bleach |
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| Second |
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| Third, and yes I did have to go out in public looking like the above |
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| This was the lighest I managed to get it myself, many bleaching sessions later. |
That my friends was the final straw, I couldn't risk making myself anymore bald than I was, so decided to let the professionals take over.
The rest is history, they bleach my roots then tone the entire hair leaving it even and beautifully white/blue :)
Moral of the story is, yes you can bleach your hair at home and get pretty good results, but be extra careful and don't rush it, but if you can afford it, its best just to go to a salon.
Now this leads on to my hair care tips and what I use to keep my hair in good condition now its has been bleached to within an inch of its life.
I use a moisturizing or hydrating shampoo and conditioner which I find takes away the dryness and helps to prevent it splitting and such. The one I am using at the minuite is Herbal Essences Hello Hydration, on offer for £1.50 for the full size bottle at Asda!! Basically you will need to use a shampoo & conditioner specially formulated for dry/damaged hair, there are millions on the market but this is my personal favorite and believe me I have tried them all.
At least once a week I will use a purple shampoo, which helps combat any brassiness or yellow tones appearing in my hair. I will lather this into my hair, often using a large amount, and leave it for 10-20 minutes, if you find a good shampoo this will work a treat to keep your blonde hair cool in tone. I have tried the ones John Frieda has for blonde hair, but they did absolutely nothing for me, the colour was nowhere near purple enough to have any effect on my hair. I suggest using Clynol - Colour Care Reflex Silver Shampoo, now this is a salon exclusive but I'm sure you will be able to find it in a hairdressers near you. It is about £16 for a mamoth 1500ml bottle, and it comes with a handy pump dispenser . If not a much cheaper and almost equally effective shampoo to use would be the Pro:Voke Touch Of Silver Weekly Treatment. The price can vary but its usually betwen £1.99 - £3 for a 150ml bottle, and I have found it available in smaller local chemists as well as boots.
Lastly I use a hair mask once a week to really boost the moisture levels in my hair, the one I have found most effective is the Dark&Lovely Ultra Cholesterol Conditioning Treatment. Again I have tried so many hair treatments in the past, from the "drugstore" products all the way up to high end, and I have found nothing which works as well as this on my chemically treated hair. It is sooooo cheap, I believe this is available at Boots for £1.79 for 250ml. I usually slather on 1/4 of the tub ( I have short hair) and leave it on for as long as I have free time, usually about an hour or so before I have a bath. It leaves my hair so soft, tangle free and full of goodness. I love this product!
So a few added extra's are the usual leave in conditioner, I use a spray called Ion, I believe my mother purchased this for me so sorry I don't know the price, I believe it is available from Sallys though. This is good enough, although when this runs out I will be looking into finding a new one designed for treated or dry hair.
For an added moisture boost on dry hair I will use Dark & Lovely Moisture Plus, again design for very dry and damaged hair. This contains olive oil and I use it on the ends of my hair when they are feeling rather depressed. Another great alternative would be the V05 Miracle Concentrate, which you can see a review on here
The last little extra I use is to help maintain the white/blue colour and this is John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Tone Correcting Mousse. This is a purple mousse which I apply to damp towl dried hair before I blow dry. I know earlier I mentioned I didn't rate their shampoo and conditioner in this range, but I really do think this is a great product, you can really see the difference once the hair is dry and again it helps cncel out any brassiness leaving your hair a nice cool ashy colour.
From the pictures it looks like I have literally lost all my hair, I didn't, I had it cut short. This decision was due to the fact my hair was in such bad condition due to my hap handed home bleaching sessions though. Now I am happy to inform you my hair is in lovely condition and I am growing it again, oh how I do miss having long hair and look forward to the day I no longer look like a boy.
Hope this has been helpful, thank you for reading.
Stay Classy
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