I spent years learning how to perfect the bleaching process on dark curly hair to make it super blonde / platinum for either wearing out or making a perfect base for dyeing a color on top. I just posted the best tutorial I've ever made on YouTube and I hope you find it helpful!
HAIR BLEACHING TUTORIAL!! 3 days, 3 packs of bleach, a jar of semi-permanent dye.
(it’s mostly bleaching, honestly, I just used a deep colour after and didn’t have natural light to take photos in ;__; )
So in the past I have made the mistake of bleaching my hair over and over again trying to get it from brown or black to blond but in the end only succeeding in destroying it completely. While not as bad as some (most?) others, this method also causes a lot of damage, so I’d recommend only doing this if your hair is in good condition to begin with.
I’m not a hair-styling professional and I have literally no formal education or work experience with dyeing hair. This is just stuff I’ve noticed work for me and thought might help other people.
This is really long with lots of pictures, so the rest is under the cut.
What you need:
Hair bleach. I used Garnier Nutrisse Truly Blond in L+++, because it’s cheap and efficient and hair salon stores are scary ;__; My hair was dyed black, so I used three packs, but depending on your hair colour, hair length and whether the colour is natural or dyed, the amount might be a lot less or a lot more. If you have long, dark hair, may your bank account rest in peace.
Hair mask/some super good conditioner. You will need it. I used Schwarzkopf GLISS Hair Repair.
Semi-permanent hair dye in a purplish blue colour. I used La Riche Directions in Neon Blue, so use either that or similar.
A bowl or jar to mix stuff in.
Rubber gloves. The bleach I used came with gloves but those are crap and the semi-permanent didn’t have any. You’ll need a lot of these, unless you’re in the habit of reusing gloves, which I don’t recommend but hey, it’s your life.
(Optional) comb.
(Optional, not pictured) hair dye brush.
Use the first package of bleach according to the instructions on the package.
With black hair and L+++, your hair will look pretty much like this when towel dry.
Take the conditioner and blue dye and mix them in the bowl. I’d estimate the mixing ratio to be 2 parts conditioner and 1 part dye, but I fucked up and put way too much dye in so I can’t be sure.
To fix the situation somewhat, I put about half of the mix into an empty Directions dye jar and mixed some of my normal conditioner in with the rest, as I didn’t want to use ALL of the hair mask with the dye. Shit’s expensive.
Cover your towel dry hair with the mix and leave on for…. idk I watched an anime episode, 20-25 mins is good.
“But hold the fuck up, this doesn’t look much different from the start!”
Yeah, at this point I was like “shitshitshitshit I fucked up” but trust me it’ll work out.
After your hair has dried, it’s time for bleaching number two. (I waited until the next day because it was late when I finished with the blue).
Remember, it’s always best to give your hair time to heal between bleaching it, preferably more than a week, but come on, most of us don’t want to wait and it’s our own shame if we ruin it all :)
Well, shit. It is brown, orange and green.
Shhh, trust me a little~
The first round of blue was a bit too intense for my taste, so I mixed in some of the conditioner that came with the bleach. The blue looked good after two packs, so I didn’t add the third one. (Side note: if the conditioner comes in bottles instead of pouches, don’t throw them away. They’re good containers for conditioner, shampoo and shower gel while traveling.)
Put on the blue conditioner mix and again watch anime let it be for a bit. Then wash out and let your hair dry (don’t use a hair dryer unless you actually want to kill your hair).
Again, this doesn’t look all that good. Tough shit.
Last round of bleach, thank fuck.
The aftermath looks like this. Holy shit, this is actually blond. It still has the yellow tone to it, but come on. What did you think the blue was for? Neutralising, that’s what.
Remember, kids: When dyeing your hair, the colour wheel is your best friend. When your hair is a colour you want to neutralise, use a complementary colour. For a yellow-orange, it is purple-blue. You’re welcome.
Now comes the part where you either use the blue conditioner again or go straight to properly dyeing it, depending on what you want the end result to be. Unless you go for blue or purple like I did, I can’t help you with that much, but I do have some suggestions. Use the colour wheel and see what your hair looks like. A light or mid-brown might be the best natural-looking colour, but red works too. If you want to go for semi-permanent bright or pastel, read on.
I used the blue dye without diluting it but ran out about halfway through due to my earlier fuckup. It was already late so I couldn’t fix it straight away, but the result was basically this.
The next day I redyed the problem parts with some Midnight Blue, Violet and Pillarbox Red, all of which I found more than half empty in my stuff by accident (???idk???) and ended up with the result in the “AFTER” pictures.
“But how does this help me get pastel hair?” Well, it’s not a quick fix, I’m afraid. Let your hair rest for a bit with the bright colour. And by that I’d recommend at least a month. Use a mix of the dye and conditioner to keep the colour bright without having to redye it all the time. It’s cheaper too. After the month or so, you can bleach it again. From my earlier experiences, the hair should be almost white with some traces of the bright dye in pastel. I’ve never actually had pastel hair, so I can’t be sure it’d work, but it probably will? Dye it pastel either using a ready-made pastel dye or just use a mix of conditioner and dye. If you’re looking for a yellow colour (pastel or normal), I’d suggest you use an orange for the bright. Yellow is too light to put on straight after the third bleach. For white or silver, the Neon Blue or a mix of Midnight and Neon. Otherwise follow the colour you want.
Good luck, don’t damage your hair too much ;__; Remember to condition it well after!
