Scarlette
Obsessed with lipstick
I wanted to start this thread because I've noticed a lot of message boards and "How-to" DIY guides really do suck. I am NOT a professional colorist, but I've bleached my hair about a million times in my life (my hair is different than anyone elses, so my methods may or may not work for you) I've also taken some of these methods off of message boards from people who have tried them at home and claim that they also work. I actually hope that someone can help me out with this and suggest better products.
My method:
I have naturally thick red hair, medium length.. each strand is thick, so I can imagine that it's hard for the bleach to penetrate it, but it was pre-dyed with blonde hair dye from the drugstore. I normally have to bleach my hair 4 times to achieve the platinum blonde look, but not all in one day.. I bleach it over a period of about a month.
-Jerome Russell powder bleach (Longs drugs)
-Ms. Kay Liquid Developer 40 volume (Sally's)
-Big tinting brush (Sally's)
-Plastic bowl, gloves, wide tooth comb, plastic cap
I wash my hair the night before so that it's clean, but not damp when I am ready to bleach it. I put on my gloves and dump the powdered bleach into the plastic bowl, I add the liquid developer (in the amount of whatever it says on the bleach package) I mix it with my big tinting brush until it's nice and creamy (I normally like my bleach to be like blue cheese dressing consistency, but without the chunks!) I start applying mixture to the back of my head first.. most instructions tell you to stay about 1 cm away from your roots because the heat from your head will process the bleach faster.. but since I am lazy, I just slap it on. I work my way up to the front and if there's an area that's really light (like the top of my head), I won't bleach that until about the last 10 minutes of the process. I put the cap on and wait about 20-40 minutes (read the package!) and I turn the blow dryer on low-high setting to heat up my hair, don't get too close to the plastic cap or it will melt!
I check the progress every 5 minutes. When it's about the last 10 minutes of the processing time, I add the bleach to the lighter parts of my hair because those normally bleach out in about 5-10 minutes anyway. I keep on with the blow dryer periodically when it seems that my hair is cooling down. I used to foil it , but my hair actually boiled and sizzled inside of the foil. I had my hair bleached professionally at a salon and they boiled my hair in the foil and had to do an emergency rinse.. lol.
So when my hair looks like a pale yellow (everyone says it should look like the inside of a banana peel, but mine won't get that light all over) I hop in the shower and very gently rise out my hair with lukewarm water with my eyes tightly shut. When you hair feels super smooth when rinsing it out, sometimes that means you melted your hair and it's going to fall out. NO JOKE. I haven't melted my hair in years, but I know how it feels. Normally I use a ton of good conditioner right afterwards. I use Pantene Ice Shine or Neutrogena Triple Conditioner (it comes in a jar) and I let that sit in my hair for about 3 minutes and rise with cool water.
Well, your hair is yellow, so you need to get that out now. If your hair didn't get pale yellow, then you will need to bleach it again.. it's up to you when to do it again, but I normally wait about a few days to a week before I do it again. I am scared to tell someone with long and dark hair to keep bleaching their hair, because it could fall out. My hair is short and bleaches uneven all the time, so I have to "spot" bleach it a few times after doing all of this the same day after drying my hair to get rid of embarassing "rainbow" effects.
The next part is pretty important.. TONER. TONER TONER.. I can't keep saying this enough.. TONER!!!!
My hair was the pale yellow.. and I want my hair as close to white as possible. Think Gwen Stefani or Christina Aguliera. I bought this "old lady" liquid toner called Fanci-ful by Roux in the shade of White Minx. I hear there's a color called "Ultra White Minx" which I may buy next time to see if it will help with the yellow tones. This stuff is a purple color, which, if you look on the color chart, purple is the opposite color of yellow, so purple cancels out yellow to create white. I am a purple toner maniac. Here's the products I use to maintain my "platinum look".
-KMS blonde shampoo (It tones your hair with the purple stuff while you wash it)
- Fanci-ful White Minx
- Lots of diff. conditioners.. I am still experimenting with those for a good one
- V05 Hot oil treatment (Not sure if this is any good, I've only tried it TODAY and my hair is still wet)
- Fantasia Straightening Serum (In pink bottle.. I love this stuff)
Now, with the Fanci-ful stuff, I squirt it on and sort of pat it into my hair with my hand then blot with a towel. I do this twice! You can see your hair turning this kinda cool lavender color, but it fades as it dries. After I blot my hair, I use the Fantasia serum, which is really oily, so don't use a lot. I try to look for serums that do not have alcohol in them, there's one that is pretty popular (Farouk?) that actually dried my hair out and it is really crappy IMO. I also try not to dry my hair with a dyer too much ( in the Fall/Winter I have to or I will freeze to death ) but I like to air dry in the Summer as much as posisble. I use a flat iron everyday, it's solid ceramic, which is supposed to be the best (not coated ceramic like most are).
Yes, my hair is dry, and yes I wish that it was more white. I will post a picture as soon as I find that cord that goes to my camera.
If anyone has suggestions on better bleach , hair products and methods.. please post! Here are other methods I've taken from other message boards:
Clairol Basic White bleach (she said to leave on for 90 min!?! Maybe on virgin hair!?)
Wella Color Charm in White Lady or Silver Lady (Works as a toner and you have to buy the developer to go with it at the beauty supply store)
The poster claims this will get your hair white.. I haven't tried this yet, but I know I won't be leaving it on for 90 minutes!
This is what I heard Gwen Stefani uses, it's pretty expensive but maybe worth it:
Goldwell Oxycur Platin Lightening Powder ( Available only to professionals, but I saw it on Ebay and on a website called SleekHair.com - Discount Salon Hair Products )
Goldwell Topchic Pro Peroxide Developer in 30 volume (Not sure why they use 30 volume? Maybe it's strong)
Goldwell ColorGlow in Live Blonde (This is the toner and I hear it's good)
Anyway, please post!
My method:
I have naturally thick red hair, medium length.. each strand is thick, so I can imagine that it's hard for the bleach to penetrate it, but it was pre-dyed with blonde hair dye from the drugstore. I normally have to bleach my hair 4 times to achieve the platinum blonde look, but not all in one day.. I bleach it over a period of about a month.
-Jerome Russell powder bleach (Longs drugs)
-Ms. Kay Liquid Developer 40 volume (Sally's)
-Big tinting brush (Sally's)
-Plastic bowl, gloves, wide tooth comb, plastic cap
I wash my hair the night before so that it's clean, but not damp when I am ready to bleach it. I put on my gloves and dump the powdered bleach into the plastic bowl, I add the liquid developer (in the amount of whatever it says on the bleach package) I mix it with my big tinting brush until it's nice and creamy (I normally like my bleach to be like blue cheese dressing consistency, but without the chunks!) I start applying mixture to the back of my head first.. most instructions tell you to stay about 1 cm away from your roots because the heat from your head will process the bleach faster.. but since I am lazy, I just slap it on. I work my way up to the front and if there's an area that's really light (like the top of my head), I won't bleach that until about the last 10 minutes of the process. I put the cap on and wait about 20-40 minutes (read the package!) and I turn the blow dryer on low-high setting to heat up my hair, don't get too close to the plastic cap or it will melt!
I check the progress every 5 minutes. When it's about the last 10 minutes of the processing time, I add the bleach to the lighter parts of my hair because those normally bleach out in about 5-10 minutes anyway. I keep on with the blow dryer periodically when it seems that my hair is cooling down. I used to foil it , but my hair actually boiled and sizzled inside of the foil. I had my hair bleached professionally at a salon and they boiled my hair in the foil and had to do an emergency rinse.. lol.
So when my hair looks like a pale yellow (everyone says it should look like the inside of a banana peel, but mine won't get that light all over) I hop in the shower and very gently rise out my hair with lukewarm water with my eyes tightly shut. When you hair feels super smooth when rinsing it out, sometimes that means you melted your hair and it's going to fall out. NO JOKE. I haven't melted my hair in years, but I know how it feels. Normally I use a ton of good conditioner right afterwards. I use Pantene Ice Shine or Neutrogena Triple Conditioner (it comes in a jar) and I let that sit in my hair for about 3 minutes and rise with cool water.
Well, your hair is yellow, so you need to get that out now. If your hair didn't get pale yellow, then you will need to bleach it again.. it's up to you when to do it again, but I normally wait about a few days to a week before I do it again. I am scared to tell someone with long and dark hair to keep bleaching their hair, because it could fall out. My hair is short and bleaches uneven all the time, so I have to "spot" bleach it a few times after doing all of this the same day after drying my hair to get rid of embarassing "rainbow" effects.
The next part is pretty important.. TONER. TONER TONER.. I can't keep saying this enough.. TONER!!!!
My hair was the pale yellow.. and I want my hair as close to white as possible. Think Gwen Stefani or Christina Aguliera. I bought this "old lady" liquid toner called Fanci-ful by Roux in the shade of White Minx. I hear there's a color called "Ultra White Minx" which I may buy next time to see if it will help with the yellow tones. This stuff is a purple color, which, if you look on the color chart, purple is the opposite color of yellow, so purple cancels out yellow to create white. I am a purple toner maniac. Here's the products I use to maintain my "platinum look".
-KMS blonde shampoo (It tones your hair with the purple stuff while you wash it)
- Fanci-ful White Minx
- Lots of diff. conditioners.. I am still experimenting with those for a good one
- V05 Hot oil treatment (Not sure if this is any good, I've only tried it TODAY and my hair is still wet)
- Fantasia Straightening Serum (In pink bottle.. I love this stuff)
Now, with the Fanci-ful stuff, I squirt it on and sort of pat it into my hair with my hand then blot with a towel. I do this twice! You can see your hair turning this kinda cool lavender color, but it fades as it dries. After I blot my hair, I use the Fantasia serum, which is really oily, so don't use a lot. I try to look for serums that do not have alcohol in them, there's one that is pretty popular (Farouk?) that actually dried my hair out and it is really crappy IMO. I also try not to dry my hair with a dyer too much ( in the Fall/Winter I have to or I will freeze to death ) but I like to air dry in the Summer as much as posisble. I use a flat iron everyday, it's solid ceramic, which is supposed to be the best (not coated ceramic like most are).
Yes, my hair is dry, and yes I wish that it was more white. I will post a picture as soon as I find that cord that goes to my camera.
If anyone has suggestions on better bleach , hair products and methods.. please post! Here are other methods I've taken from other message boards:
Clairol Basic White bleach (she said to leave on for 90 min!?! Maybe on virgin hair!?)
Wella Color Charm in White Lady or Silver Lady (Works as a toner and you have to buy the developer to go with it at the beauty supply store)
The poster claims this will get your hair white.. I haven't tried this yet, but I know I won't be leaving it on for 90 minutes!
This is what I heard Gwen Stefani uses, it's pretty expensive but maybe worth it:
Goldwell Oxycur Platin Lightening Powder ( Available only to professionals, but I saw it on Ebay and on a website called SleekHair.com - Discount Salon Hair Products )
Goldwell Topchic Pro Peroxide Developer in 30 volume (Not sure why they use 30 volume? Maybe it's strong)
Goldwell ColorGlow in Live Blonde (This is the toner and I hear it's good)
Anyway, please post!