Dos and donts before bleaching hair

If done incorrectly or carelessly, bleaching can lead to disastrous results. (Think: breakage, burning, and discoloration.) To ensure your hair isn’t damaged by the bleaching process, you’ll need to start preparing your hair months in advance.

Because bleach works best on virgin, or unprocessed, hair, experts recommend not processing your hair for at least three months before bleaching it. Your hair is more susceptible to damage if you dye it and undergo intense hair treatments, like straightening treatments, then immediately bleach it. For most people, the best plan of action is to avoid dyeing the hair for several months beforehand, and then reduce or stop using a curling iron, hot rollers, flat iron, blow dryer, or other heating tools for at least a week before bleaching your hair.

For a lot of people, going blonde is the most radical way to change up a look. You look fresh, exciting, and even a little intense! Here, we’ll teach you how to bleach your hair to achieve that perfect, icy hot ‘do.

If you don’t know how to bleach hair, we will guide you through every step of the way. Essentially, this is all you need to know:

Bleaching hair is a process of stripping the colour away from your hair through oxidation. Bleaching involves bleaching powder, toner or red gold corrector, and tools like a tint brush, a bowl, a plastic wrap, and gloves. Once you’re all set, you make your solution, brush the bleach into your hair, cover and wrap up those tresses, and wait for the bleach to turn those dark locks into a lighter shade.

Of course, this is a simplified version. Keep reading to get a more detailed explanation of the process of getting bleach blonde hair.

RELATED: 10 Grey Hair Colour Styles

Should I Bleach My Hair?

A lot of folks worry about the negative effects of bleaching your hair. In order to understand what really happens to your hair when you bleach it, you first need to get acquainted with the science behind bleaching.

Hydrogen peroxide is the agent most commonly used for bleaching. Heavily bleached hair appears bigger and fuller because hair literally swells when your cuticles open up. This is also why bleached hair appears to be coarser than normal hair.

With open cuticles, the chemicals responsible for oxidation can now get to the core of your hair and dissolve the melanin, or the stuff that gives your hair colour.

Okay, so what do you do with this information?

Basically, opening up cuticles makes hair strands thinner, more sensitive and more prone to breakage. That’s why bleached hair is crunchier and more brittle.

So, yes, bleaching is damaging, but there are many ways to ensure that you don’t further damage it afterwards. There are shampoos for sensitive and damaged hair, and there are gentler ways to style and even dry your hair.

Some may suggest keratin treatments, but because applying keratin needs heat and that might further destroy your already brittle strands, you’ll need to hold off on it for a few weeks.

All of this may sound daunting, but if you’re still wondering, here’s an important reminder: hair grows back. When you bleach blonde your hair, you’re damaging hair that can be grown out and cut off eventually. Sure, it’ll take a while, but it’s often worth the wait. Especially when the trade-off is an awesome platinum blonde look.

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Is Bleaching Safe?

Regardless, bleaching is a relatively safe process when done with enough care and proper guidance. Safety equipment like gloves and brushes are imperative in lessening the chances of damaging your skin.

If you’re a first-timer and you’re really worried about messing up your hair, it might be best to visit a salon and have an expert do your first bleach job. That way, you can also watch how they do it and get tips for when you feel confident enough to DIY.

The Shade

Brown and black-haired folk, you might think that bleaching hair blonde results in one colour only. But there are actually many different shades of blonde hair, from dirty blonde to platinum blonde. There are colour charts on the internet that you can use as a reference. Here are just a few examples of the different shades of blonde:

Platinum Blonde

This is the lightest shade of blonde, it looks just like white hair. The platinum blonde look tends to look great on anyone, as it’s a neutral tone. Because it’s such a striking colour, it really changes the way you look. Consider Kristen Stewart, who is really a brunette. She died her hair platinum blonde (it’s practically white hair) and even went for a short, shaved cut. Factor in her dark eyebrows and some smoky eyeliner and she looks amazing!

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Light Ash Blonde

This colour is platinum blonde’s silvery cousin. As the name suggests, the colour is ashy or nearly grey. Lady Gaga sported ash blonde hair on the red carpet and she looked brilliant!

Strawberry Blonde

This colour is more reddish and can be confused for red hair sometimes. It’s actually a perfect in-between colour for those who don’t want to go full red yet but are eager to see what they might look like with ginger locks. Nicole Kidman is a great reference for strawberry blonde hair.

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Buttery Blonde

This shade looks like a kind of creamy yellow colour – yes, very much like butter. Carey Mulligan has sported the look, making her look as warm and sunny as ever.

Dirty Blonde

Though the name might not sound so pretty, dirty blonde is a darker shade that looks more natural. It also gives you that just woke up like this, no fuss vibe. January Jones’ dirty blonde and tousled waves give her that easy, breezy charm.

How is Hair Bleaching Done?

Now that you’re familiar with your shade options, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. Let’s learn how to bleach hair!

Tools Needed for Bleaching Hair at Home

First of all, if you’re bleaching your hair at home, you need to buy the proper tools. Don’t think you can get away with makeshift tools. Anyway, these things can be purchased from most chemist’s. For bleaching hair at home, you’ll need a tinting brush, a plastic bowl, plastic wrap, lots of towels, and gloves.

Products Needed to Get Bleach Blonde Hair

For the products you’ll be using, you’ll need to buy blonde powder bleach, creme developer, toning shampoo, and balancing shampoo.

Preparations and Precautions

Before you dive into bleaching, there’s one thing you need to keep in mind. Your hair needs to be virgin or almost virgin, meaning it has to be uncoloured or unprocessed. This is because twice coloured hair has a tendency to get very damaged.

The Process

Step 1: Setting Up

Wear an old shirt so that you don’t damage any new ones. Put on your gloves, wear a barber’s cape if you need to, and set aside a lot of towels. Partition your hair in sections so you can work on it part by part.

Step 2: Mix Together Your Bleach Powder and Developer

It’s two parts developer to one part bleach. Keep stirring until the mixture is consistent and has no clumps.

Step 3: Apply

With your tinting brush, go for your tips and mid-section first and leave your roots for later. Once you have all of your hair covered (save for your roots) let the bleach sit for about 20 minutes. Get a friend to cover your roots because you wouldn’t want to have a botched bleach job on the top of your head.

Step 4: Cover and Wait

Wrap up your hair in cling wrap or use a plastic shower cap, then wait for about 30 to 45 minutes. Fair warning, bleach gets warm on your scalp and it may sting a little. Don’t be alarmed if this happens.

Step 5: Rinse and Apply Toner

When your time’s up, rinse off all the bleach from your hair (keep the gloves on, please) and shampoo with your balancing shampoo. If you want to remove the orangeness of your newly bleached hair, apply a toning shampoo afterwards.

That's it!

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Other Important Reminders

Remember that bleaching is permanent. It’s not like hair dye that fades back to the natural hair colour. If you want to get rid of your bleached hair, you’ll have to wait for it to grow out and then you can snip away.

Another thing to remember is that you can get your hair bleached by a professional. Obviously, this will cost you more money, but you’ll at least be assured that it’ll come out right. When looking for a professional hairdresser to bleach your hair, make sure they are really trained in colouring, and they know what they’re talking about.

One more upside to getting your hair bleached by a professional is they can dye your hair after bleaching. If you want to go for a creamy blonde, a strawberry blonde, or a dirty blonde, a professional stylist can help you find the colour you’re looking for.

Conclusion

For some people, getting a new hairstyle is a form of ushering in new beginnings. Found a new job? Time to get a clean cut. Experienced a breakup? Change up your hairdo! But that’s not to say that you need an occasion to trim those tresses. Sometimes it just feels good to sport a brand new look. And in the age of self-care, it’s all about making sure you allot time to making yourself look and feel good!

How do you prepare your hair before bleaching it?

How dirty should my hair be before I bleach it?

Is it better to have clean or dirty hair before bleaching?

Is it OK to have product in your hair before bleaching?