To consider bleaching my hair myself?

[MumblingRagDoll]

Well am I? It's naurally a pale brown colour but for years I have dyed it a darker shade of brown. I have been steadily going grey since I ws 17 and my roots when they appear are terrible...almost a solid white line. I am 34...I dont want to go grey....I just don't!

Surely if nature has decided that I can pull of white/grey hair then I can also pull off a cool blonde?

I have googled and found a v good website which gives instructions about DIY bleaching....pre-lightner is applied (first to a bi of hair which you snip off) then you wait and see how lon it takes to lighten....then once you have that time correct...you put the pre lightner on your hair....apparently this is where people go wrong...they often remove it too soon as they panic when they see the hair changing....also you need an assistant to make sure that it is not patchy...if there is a patchy area, you have to re-apply it...after all that then you apply a blonde dye...

I just cannot afford a salon job...they're SO expensive and the two which I cisied to enquire were unsure about the final cost....which I cannot risk a on a tight budget.

So AIBU? This dark hir just doesn't suit me anymore!

Thanks Garlicbutter and disco...thanks everyne for tips.

I've used the ColourB4 stuff.

Naturally very dark hair with probs 20% grey...was using a warm choc brown hair dye and wanted to remove it as my shoulder length hair had gone very, very dark on the ends.

It does/did work on my hair...the only problem is that even a dark brown dye has some bleach in it to make the dye take to your hair (if a permanent coulour) so when the dark brown bit of the dye is remove my natural very dark hair was orange due to the mild bleaching of the dye.

I then had to use a 24 wash colour over the top of my orange hair in an ash based light brown to blend the orange glow away. The Colour B4 people recommend using a wash in wash out toner to calm down the orangey effects....I did that and it didn't work.

The instructions even warn you about the orange look....so be warned have a 24 wash ashy colour in reserve just in case.

Good Luck!

I have done it myself and my hair is naturally red. Took a couple of boxes of dye to get it right but it didn't go orange/green.

If you go ahead and do it, and it goes wrong, can you post a picture up?

I have white blonde hair and yeah, it is a faff. After 10 years of dying it, I really can't be arsed any more, but I've almost always done it myself.

If you do it yourself, make sure you buy everything you might need first so you don't have to dash out to the shops with weird hair.

Pre-lighten it (I use Jerome B stuff with 40% peroxide), then use another blonde on top (something like "ash" in the name not "honey" - the honey ones make it go ginger). You might need to do one of these steps twice to get it a nice colour. Then, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use Manic Panic Snow White semi-permanent dye, or else your hair will be brassy and yellow and grim.

By the time you've bought all of this stuff, you're more or less better off just going to the hairdressers and getting them to do it to be honest!

I have used ColourB4 to go from Red to Golden Blonde and it worked.

I reviewed it on Style and Beauty a while back, I'll show you the link in a minute.

Do be careful about using semi or permenant dye on it for 7 days and 3 washes - previous colour can reoxidise, meaning you are back to square one. It is better to use a wash in wash out for 1 week to tone down the orange.

You will go orange. This is because there is some peroxide in even brown dyes which lift your hair, but you don't know because the colour pigment of the brown obviously "fills it in". Once you remove these pigments, you are left with orange.

But you will be left with a much lighter colour and will need to bleach for less time which is kinder on hair.

Once you have your desired base shade you can use a permenant or semi permenant "blonde" shade to reach your desired colour, like "light ash blonde" or "medium beige blonde" or whatever.

Here's my review

Oooh thanks for that Tatty! Very helpful....I wouldn't have thought about buying 2 boxes but glad you mentioned it as my hair is thick and long....it's been dyed ark brown for years and there must be a lo of build up....really glad you explained about not putting a colour on for 7 days....

Nooo don't do it yourself! I made this mistake as a teenager and my hair went ginger/green and snapped off... had to have it all cut off and expensive to fix!

I've learnt my lesson, my salon does 40% off days and I just get a T section done :)

I've been dark brown and black, bleached it to a very light blonde each time. It goes patchy, then you do it again, no prob. Use deep conditioning treatments after though, it worked with mine! Best pre-lightener is definitely without a doubt, (and I've tried 'em all) Schwarzkopf Live Color Blonde Absolute Platinum. It's easier to apply than the other dyes, doesn't go patchy as easily and goes 2-3 times more quickly than the others I've tried.
Strippers, in my experience, have no effect and can be more damaging than just using a lightener.

www.superdrug.com/permanent-colour/live-colour-xxl-absolut-platinum-00a/invt/113816/

Available for a bit cheaper (£3.99) in Wilkinsons and Savers, and found in pretty much every supermarket.