Hello everyone! Since I posted my hair update last year I kept thinking to make another hair update, but then I got caught up with stuff and apparently it's been a year. I had several hair color changes within a year lol. And many people request me to make how to bleach tutorial and also how I got light blonde hair. I've been saying "yes I will" but only now I can spare some time to write a post on my hair.
As you can see, I've tried and changed to different shades of blond in a year. Mainly cause I get bored easily and trying which shade suits me the most. For people who ask me how I got platinum shade, unfortunately I couldn't take step by step pictures while I was bleaching my hair. Simply because I was underhanded and I had nobody at home that could help me with bleaching or take pictures. So I'm going to try to explain how I got it and which products I used.
I started when my hair turned brassy orangey and yucky with growing black roots. I have jet black hair that's very difficult to lift, and to top it off, I also have dry sensitive scalp so I can't really use any strong bleach / developers. Some hair stylists and colorists have been telling me to give up blonde hair because it's difficult (for them) with my hair and scalp condition. So I was like okay that's it, I'm gonna do it my own. I started to research some good bleaching powders and developers. And in Indonesia it's really hard to find the perfect bleaching powder and developer in general stores to make black hair into blonde hair.
The best thing I could find was Manic Panic bleaching kit that I pre ordered but never came cause apparently it's not allowed anymore here. And basically I can't get any bleaching kit/powders from overseas so I gave that up and started to find any that's available here.
Wella Blondor is the best thing that works on my hair. It lifted my hair faster than others I've tried before. It doesn't turn jet black hair into platinum blonde though. It turns my black roots to brown orange ish shade. I know many would suggest Loreal Quick Blue but unfortunately it's not available here. And I heard it damaged hair pretty bad? Fortunately Wella Blondor doesn't do that to my hair.
Matrix V-light is another bleach powder option. It works great though in my opinion not as lifting as Wella Blondor.
For developers these are what I used:
There are actually 4 types, 10 vol, 20 vol, 30 vol, and 40 vol. I tried 40 vol last year and it's supposed to lift hair very quickly but hurt like hell. So I always use 30 vol now. Loreal Oxydant Creme 30 vol works best with Wella Blondor from my personal experience. It's like dream combo for bleaching my roots everytime. There's occasional stinging but it is never bad, doesn't make me cringe or gasp for air lol. But I guess people without dry scalp problems can use 40 vol developer just fine like my friends Ashley and Catherine. Both have beautiful blonde hair and healthy scalp and they use 40 vol developer when bleaching.
Another option is Matrix Cream Developer. There are also 4 different types, again I have and use the 30 vol. This also works nice with Wella Blondor, giving me the same result of light brown with a hint of orange. But honestly this stings a bit compared to Loreal Oxydant Creme. I only use it when my scalp is doing better or when I run out of Loreal developer.
So basically:
1. Pour the bleaching powder to the coloring bowl.
2. Add the developer and mix them until they blend. I don't really measure but I always make sure the mixture isn't too thick or too liquidy, so the perfect one for me is in between.
3. If it's just touching up black roots, I use tint brush and apply the bleach on the black hair and wait about 50 minutes. But if it's the whole hair, I start from the bottom and work my way up.
This is the result of my first time bleaching my roots to half of my hair on my own. Still not quite even cause well, who does on first attempt? I was still happy cause it turned okay without frying my hair though and I managed to get rid of most of my black roots. So I tried again, but only on my brownish area around my roots and even it with the rest of my hair color.
I didn't leave the bleach for 50 minutes like my first attempt though. Simply because my hair was already brown and I didn't want to damage my hair more. So I just left it on my uneven roots around 20 minutes. Still not even but it's way better than before. Then I also bleach some lower hair that was brownish too.
And after the first bleach attempt, whenever I wash my hair, I always use silver shampoo to eliminate brassiness and to make my blonde hair more silverish.
The silver shampoo I use is from Schwarzkopf. It's Bonacure Color Freeze Silver Shampoo. I found mnay positive reviews about this product so I just tried it out and couldn't be happier with the result. The shampoo is more like toner actually and it's purple. Purple is known to be the best in eliminating yellow/orange color so it does its job well. I use this shampoo after my normal shampoo and only leave it sit around 2-3 minutes max then rinse my hair until it turns clear. It smells wonderful too! The only downside is it makes my hair really dry after rinsing it. So I always make sure to apply conditioner (and a lot of them lol) to make my hair silky again after the silver shampoo.
The last 2 pictures are taken last week and the turquoise turns dusty green now but the hair is still platinum with ashy tint. My roots are growing again now so it'll be time for another touch up. I'll try to make a step by step guide video next time.
So basically from black hair to platinum blonde, I need 3 tries, also with the help of silver shampoo.
Tips: If you've never bleached your hair on your own before, please do a strand test first before bleaching your whole hair, just to be safe. Don't leave the bleach for over 50 minutes or your hair will snap (it happened to me once cause I didn't time how long I've put my bleach on). And it would be best if there's someone else to help you out for the first time.
Tips 2: What works for me, might not always work on others, so always test it out or ask professional's help for first timers ^^
You can also check Obviobsessions blog post on how she bleached her hair to a lavender shade. Hope this post answers some of your questions and until next time :D