There are the locks of blackness.. just as I promised. I was actually taking a picture of me with my fiancee, Steve, and he accidentally was cut from this photo. =( But anyway, I took my hair from platinum blonde streaks and burgundy hair to this black velvet, Priscilla & Elvis wedding hair.
Yeah.. she was my inspiration for this hair color and after looking at my split ends and damage, I figured it was time to put some life back into my hair. I did not use permanent dye, ohh no! The last time I used permanent black dye, my hair came out more damaged than I started out with. I used Natural Instincts by Clairol with very good results. I’ve used this dye before and really love how it conditions your hair.
Yeah.. I did leave a few blonde streaks in my hair just for the hell of it and added a few blonde extensions myself.
I am using a lot of brown neutral makeup with my new hair.. I want to go bold with a fuchsia lipstick and see what happens. I’ll keep you posted.
I think I’ve just about dyed my hair a million times … starting at age 12 with sneaking some bleach on my hair from my mom’s Revlon Frosting kit. Actually, I am thinking back further to a time when I was only 6 or 7 and I was coloring my hair with a scented marker. I really wanted pink hair, and the only place I had seen pink hair was on one of my See Wees mermaid dolls:
Ahh yes.. the colored hair on dolls made me really want to dip my head in a vat of paint. When I was about 16, I discovered Manic Panic and Punky Colours. I was scared to ask my mom if I could do it, so I just did it and hoped she would get over it if she didn’t like it. My first dye job was when I used the gel version of Manic Panic’s Shocking Fuschia. It was a mess.. such a mess, that I ended up dying my hair in the garage from then on. This stuff is a DYE.. it stains really, really bad on skin, clothing, walls, furniture, carpets.. anything it touches! I am going to teach you in this tutorial how to lessen your chances of a disaster.. so listen up!
You are going to need some supplies.. so make a list!
1. Pick your color: I buy all of my bright hair dye from a wonderful little independent website called : AMPHIGORY.com If you click on the name of the hair color, you will go to a page where you can view actual photos of people who have used those products. Normally when you see swatches of hair dye on the web, it’s wayyy off from the actual color of the dye. It all depends on how light your hair is before it is dyed.. the lighter your hair, the more intense and long lasting the color will be. If you dye over your natural color of hair, you can get a really nice sheer cast of the color, of course that depends on the color of your hair and the color of the dye. I find that the darker the dye is in the bottle, the longer the shade will last. Here are a few photos of me with various hair colors:
Ok.. that is a lot of dye and pictures, isn’t it? I can’t even tell you what dye brands and colors go with which photos, that is a span of 9 years of photos. From 1999 to 2008! Crazy. I’ve changed a lot.. now that I am noticing.
Well.. so order your dye (Amphigory is really fast with shipping) and when it comes, don’t open the bottle.. okay?
-PRELIGHTEN your hair…I have already posted a blog about bleaching to white, but you don’t have to have it white for these dyes to show up. I have actually used blonde hair dye from the drugstore to lighten my hair and it worked pretty good when using the purple, pink, red and orange shades. For blue shades, it’s best to get hair as light as possible first.
2. Get your supplies while you wait for your dye to arrive:
-Good Gloves. I buy mine from Sally’s Hair Supply.
-Tinting Brush and plastic bowl and wide -toothed combs. I also get one from Sally’s. I have three different sizes of tinting brushes. One is very wide, maybe 2.5 inches wide for doing large areas quickly. I also have a smaller one that works well for doing streaks in my hair and quick touch-ups. My favorite tinting brush is the blue one below. It is a comb-tint brush combo.. and it works really good for me when I am bleaching my roots. The wide-toothed combs help you comb in the dye since your hair will be moist.
-Shampoo and conditioner for colored hair. The only shampoo and conditioner that I like are from the Pureology line. It’s pretty expensive, but worth it since you won’t need to dye your hair as often.I normally use the Hydrate line from Pureology and I get the BIG jug of the shampoo because it lasted me almost a year and a half. This stuff doesn’t smell wonderful or anything, but it’s the best shampoo out there. I like to switch my shampoo every so often and use a clarifying shampoo to remove residue from my hair. Actually, it’s a good idea to use a clarifying shampoo (I like the one from Kenra) before you dye it. As far as conditioners go, I love Pantene, Fredric Fekkai, Terax and Phyto. I switch around all the time with conditioners.
-Shower caps / Processing Caps: I use plastic shower caps to keep the dye on my hair on not near my skin.
-Optional: A heat bonnet. I just got this heating cap off ebay for 30 bucks: (Don’t Laugh!)
It’s actually pretty fun to wear. You can dye your hair and act out a scene from the Star Wars cantina at the same time! The heat bonnet is beneficial in many ways! I use this thing when I am processing bleach, vegetable-plant based dyes (like Special Effects, etc.) and to do deep conditioning treatments. Since the bonnet is also a hair dryer, you can use it to dry your hair when it’s in curlers. How fun is this!?!
-Cleaning supplies: Keeping this dye off of stuff is going to be a challenge. From the minute you take the lid off the product, your chances of getting dye on yourself is about 90%. Get old towels and put them on the floor!
-Baby Wipes: Good ole baby wipes do the best job getting the dye off your skin. I get just the cheap ones from Target. -Magic Sponges: Ahh.. Mr. Clean sure does a great job at keeping my bathroom nice and sparkling. These sponges are really great for rubbing stains off of surfaces. -Spray Bleach: Yup.. your shower stall and tub are going to be a mess every time you wash your hair. I get good old spray bleach from Target.. I think it says it’s a mildew remover, but all it really is.. bleach! I also get a gel bleach for tough stains.. I let the gel sit on the surface stain for 10 minutes and it works really good!
THE PROCESS
Now that you’ve got everything, it’s time to dye your hair!
-Wash your hair with the clarifying shampoo. Do not condition unless your hair is very tangled. Make sure you comb your hair out after you towel-dry it.
-This is all up to you: You can choose to blow-dry your hair entirely or keep it damp. My own personal experience is that when my hair is dry when I apply the dye, the dye looks and lasts so much better than when it’s wet. The only problem is that when your hair is dry, it’s hard to get the dye to reach every hair, you will need to spend extra time working the dye through your hair with the comb and your fingers. When my hair is damp, sometimes it will drip and get stains on the floor.. not good.
-I normally squirt some dye into my tinting bowl and dip the tinting brush in and start applying. If the dye seems too thick, you can dilute it with a bit of water in the bowl and mix it up. I clip my hair up as I go along so that I won’t get dye on my skin.
-Once you are done covering your hair in the dye, immediately put the shower cap on to keep the dye from dripping down. Pat the cap down onto your hair so it sticks to it.
-There are several ways to process your color. Since your hair isn’t going to get damaged from this type of dye, you can leave it on as long as you like. You can let the natural heat from your head process the dye, but that will take about 2-4 hours.. maybe more. I’ve slept in my dye before just so it would last longer.. but I’ve found other effective and quick ways to do it. With my shower cap on, I put on my heat bonnet, on high heat, and process for about 15-20 minutes. If I am doing streaks, I wrap my streaks in foil instead of putting the shower cap on. I tap the foiled streaks with my flat iron for one second all the way down the streak. If you don’t have any of these tools, you can always put the shower cap on and use your hair dyer on different sections of your hair for a few minutes. Don’t let the dryer get too close to the shower cap or it will melt.
- After the processing time is up, you will want to carefully remove your shower cap and throw it in the garbage. I am lucky enough to have a hand-held shower, so I can closely rinse my hair. I put my head down while I rinse out the dye so that the dye doesn’t stain my whole body. You can also rinse your hair outside if you are too scared to use the bathtub. The cold water will make your dye stay in longer, anyway! (Closes up the hair cuticle) I rinse for quite a while, until the water is almost clear. Then I apply a good conditioner. The conditioner helps extra dye come off your scalp, too. Rise that out and put an old towel on your hair (or black towel!).
- I towel dry my hair really good and apply some hair products on to help tame frizzies and stuff. I normally air-dry my hair when I first dye it, but you can dry it with a hair dryer, too. I try to stay away from hair dryers since the heat fades the dye.
Wow.. it seems like you are done! Did I miss anything?
MAINTAIN
Every 4 weeks, I touch up my roots with bleach and reapply my dye on the roots and my whole head. If you want to change the color, sometimes you can just dye right on top of what you had before if the colors are close enough. It’s easy to go from orange to red or from red to purple, but a lot harder to go from purple to orange.. know what I mean? If you really want to change.. you are going to need a color removal product called EFFASOL.
You can find this product at Sally’s. Read the directions on Effasol very well. You can use it with water or bleach, and I feel like the water method works well for removing those vegetable based dyes. This stuff can also (with bleach) remove black hair dye, which can be very hard to remove.
I also like to give myself a conditioning treatment with my heat bonnet every two weeks or so.
Anything else you would like to know? Comment below!! Hope you enjoyed this.
Updated on July 24, 2010.
NOTE: A lot of people find this blog through search engines while searching for “Why did my bleached hair turn yellow”? YOU NEED TO TONE YOUR HAIR. Read on….
I am going to post something that a lot of people have trouble finding: info on how to bleach your hair to white or platinum. It took me almost a year to find good information! So with my findings, I’d like to share my experience with you all! Please note, I am not a licensed beautician. I never went to school for hair, so what may work for me may not work for you. If you have experience in bleaching your hair, these tips will help you give your blonde that extra lightening that you want and reduce the yellowing. A lot of people think that buying a box of blonde hair dye at the drug store is going to make their hair blonde.. unless your hair is already a light shade of blonde, your hair will turn ORANGE if you attempt to use a box hair dye!
You need to bleach your hair first, then tone it.. this is what this post is all about! I am still experimenting with bleach and heat (yikes) so let me do the experimenting and hair melting all on my own!
First off.. you gotta grab your purse and go shopping. You can order online (I love getting packages!!) or shop in-store at Sally Beauty Supply (www.sallybeauty.com) after checking out their website and printing out my Wish List. Yeah.. you heard me.. WISH LIST. There is a cool feature on Sally Beauty’s website which allows you to save items that you need in a nice tidy wish list. I will post mine here: I suggest when you shop in the store, to request a Sally Card. It will cost you probably about 5 bucks or so, but in the end, it’s worth it! Especially since you will be touching up your roots every few weeks!
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Clairol Professional Creme Toner. #323 Extra Light Platinum – I used this on damp hair right after bleaching. This translucent, pastel violet toner is used with 20 or 30 volume creme developer, depending on how yellow your hair is. |
| Shimmer Lights Original Conditioning Shampoo By: Clairol Professional - I use this shampoo once or twice per week to maintain the platinum color. This shampoo tones yellowing hair after one wash. If the color is too intense, you can dilute it with your favorite shampoo. I do not recommend the Shimmer Lights Conditioner. | |
| Clairol Pure White 30 Volume Creme Developer – This is the only developer brand I will use. I use this with the Clairol and Wella toners and dyes, as well as use with my bleaching powder product. I purchse this quite frequently, so I usually buy two at once. | |
| Clairol Pure White 40 Volume Creme Developer – I use this strong developer on my root touch-up only! This is stronger than the 30 volume, so I do not use this on any hair that has been bleached previously. I use this on new hair growth or spot touch-up hair that was missed during a bleach session. | |
| Kaleidocolors Tonal Powder Lightener Blue 8 oz. By: Clairol Professional- This is my powder bleach. The blue toner is built into the bleach itself and is ideal for dark hair. It will lift up to 5 levels. I recommend purchasing the large 8 oz. tub as it will save you money in the long-run. |
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| Manic Panic Classic Formula Semi Permanent Hair Color Cream - This herbal and protien-based dye contains no harsh chemicals. If my scalp is too sensitive to use a peroxide-based toner, I will use this. This is basically a pastel-colored conditioner. I use on damp hair with 10 minutes heat. | |
| Color Charm Liquid Permanent Hair Color #1210/12A Frosty Ash – This is another toner that I like to use which is an alternative to to Clairol #323. This toner has never given my hair a purple tinge to it like some creme toners have. I have only used this to do a touch-up toning a few weeks after bleaching my roots with a 30 volume peroxide. I place this product on my roots first, wait 30 minutes, then mix more product and comb through to the rest of my hair for about 10 minutes. |
Removing Color
I went from dyed black hair to white platinum blonde and it wasn’t easy. If you have dye in your hair, whether it’s black, red or blue, You need to use a color remover like L’Oreal Effasol, to get rid of the hair dye first. You can’t just put the bleach over your dyed hair. Here is a chart to help you with your lightening process:
Yes, your hair will turn orange when you use the Effasol color remover. Yes, you will have to deal with orange hair for quite some time, but it’s worth it in the end. I left the color remover on for an hour, and I went to a dark reddish color that went from bright orange at the roots, to dark red at the tips, a rainbow effect. This could have been minimized if I would have only applied the color remover to the tips of my hair first, but I was alone, impatient and tired! If you can get a friend to help you, that’s great.. they can help you with your lightening process!
Below are photographs of my hair when I decided to place a rather large chunk of blonde, removing black hair dye using Effasol, bleach and then the Manic Panic Virgin Snow toner. I did have to cut the orange ends off of my hair since they were resistant to bleach. I HIGHLY recommend about a 3 inch or more trim after you bleach. Not only will your color look more even, but your ends will be healthier than what was there before. I trim my hair every month or so.
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Bleaching
So, I am going to cheat and link you to a YouTube video made by a girl who has the perfect white blonde platinum hair and has been maintaining it for several years… and no, it’s not Gwen Stefani. This fabulous Youtuber uses some of the same products that I do and her method of bleaching hair does work for me. Please check out her video.. your life may never be the same! YouTube Tutorial : White / Platinum Hair This video explains it all and the lovely creator of the blog will also help answer questions, too.
Basically, when I first bleached my hair with 30 volume peroxide mixed with Kalidecolors bleach, I was very careful and tried to bleach the ends first and work my way up to the roots. I left the bleach on for about 30-40 minutes, with 10 minutes of using a heat bonnet, checking it as I went along. You want to get your hair to that very pale yellow stage, like the color of the inside of a banana. If you don’t get it light enough, the toner will NOT work. If you need to spot bleach parts of your hair that stayed orange after your first bleaching, you can do so, I used 40 volume peroxide on areas that I needed to touch up quicky.
You want to give your hair a rest for about a week or so if you want to bleach again. Orange – yellow hair may be unsightly to some, but I rocked it ! You can wear your hair in a top bun or something cute until you give your hair enough time to gather up natural oils again. Bleaching strips your hair of natural oils and you want to leave it alone for a little while!
It took my hair probably two bleachings and two spot bleachings until I got it to a shade that I liked. I still had to keep cutting inches off my hair to remove the orange tips.
Toning
I use several different toners depending on how my hair is looking or how much time I have. Right after bleaching, if my scalp feels sensitive, I’ll use the Manic Panic Virgin Snow since it is free of chemicals and will not burn my scalp. Virgin Snow will only work if your hair is perfectly within the pale yellow stage. After bleaching, rinse out your hair VERY well, shampoo and pat dry. Do not use conditioner or the toner will not penetrate well. I dip my tinting brush right into the jar of toner and quickly dab it on all of my hair. You can already see the yellow starting to “disappear” as you work the toner into your hair. The scary thing about the toner is that it may turn your hair purple. I only leave it on for about 10 minutes, with a conditioning cap on, with heat under my bonnet. If you do not have a heating bonnet, you may wear the conditioning cap (it’s like a very lightweight disposable shower cap) for about 15 minutes and rinse well with cool water. If you find your toned hair is a bit too purple, you can step right back in the shower and shampoo gently and condition again until you get the purple out. Sometimes even if my hair looks slightly purple, after it dries the purple goes away. My secret is to take a small mirror into the shower and check out how the toner turned out.
If after I bleach and my hair looks really yellow, I’ll use the peroxide-based toners (which chemically lift your hair color a level or two) and I always mix a TINY amount of the Clairol or Wella toners with peroxide and touch it to my scalp to see if it will burn or not. Sometimes it does, sometimes not… sometimes I just grin and bear it and the burning goes away within a few minutes. I leave these toners on (full head application on damp hair) timing depending on the directions on the box.
If you just want to touch-up your hair if it is yellowing a few weeks after bleaching and toning, you may tone your roots first (30 min – but read the directions first for timing) which will not turn blonde since you are not bleaching, but doing this WILL lighten your roots a few levels and make them less noticable. Then, after the 30-40 minutes is up, you may comb through and apply more of the toner to the rest of your hair and wait about 10 minutes and rinse well, condition and style. You may experiment around with different toners, some people prefer Clairol’s Creme Toners and some prefer the Wella line. It’s all about experimentation. If you are too scared to apply a toner to your entire head, you may do a test spot (I test about a 2 inch across chunk) to make sure it’s a color you can live with.
Maintenence
Root touch ups can be a pain in the ass and sometimes takes me a few hours to complete. Currently, I use 30 volume peroxide for the back of my head, working my way to the crown and switch to 40 volume peroxide. I try not to get any bleach on my scalp, but it’s very difficult. I place a small strip of foil over the area I bleached and move on to the next section of hair. I place a conditioning cap on and use heat for 10 minutes, then set the timer for about 70 minutes — NOTE that this timing will be different for everyone!!! With almost a year of bleaching my roots every month, I finally know how long it takes to bleach my roots to pale yellow, and this timing is a lot longer than most since my hair is naturally dark red.
To maintain my hair, I use the Shimmer Lights shampoo here and there.. maybe once per week. I’ve heard other toning shampoos like Schwarzkopf Bonacure Color Silver Shampoo are really good too.
Conclusion
Bleaching your hair is a long and experimental process, and sometimes I have to bleach my roots twice because I didn’t process them enough. Anyway.. have fun experimenting, I’ve never found a salon that will bleach hair to white, so you may want to try it on your own and start out with streaks first. Start with streaks in the front and work your way to the back, taking more chunks of hair as you go.
I had dyed black hair before, as mentioned above. It took a really long time to actually get my hair white, and it takes a lot of patience. It doesn’t happen overnight. It doesn’t happen in a week, either.
Just for my own reference, I finally perfected the timing and development of my roots. It takes 70 minutes to bleach my roots, with Kaliedecolors, and 30 vol. developer. I used a heat bonnet for about 5 minutes. My scalp did have a little red spot on it (maybe heat for less time?) Update: If you have read this blog before and notice some things have changed: I no longer use the violet shade of Kalidecolors bleach. I use the BLUE Kalidecolors bleach which lifts a little bit lighter than the violet does. I also switched to 40 vol. and 30 vol. peroxide for the roots. I am still experimenting with the heat timing. I no longer have to bleach my roots twice when I use the updated products. I no longer use the Special Effects Toner since they have changed their formula to a very crappy dark purple color, I also stopped using Wella’s White Lady toner since it left my hair too gray.
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