How do I get blonde hair?

[BigFart]

Had my hair done last week. I asked for balayage but said I wanted it really blonde through the ends.
It’s kind of blonde but more of a darkish honey blonde than the bright whitish blonde I wanted.
Why did it end up being so dark? Did they not leave the bleach on long enough?
Is there any way to lighten it myself?

A hopeful bump

Try popping a toner on the ends

I tried leaving a purple shampoo on it. It didn’t take away some of the red undertones but didn’t really brighten it iykwim

It did, not didn’t

Are you very dark / red haired? I've been told by more than one colourist that my natural hair colour ( practically black) will never be able to be dyed blonde without huge amounts of damage. Apparently it has too much red in it ( doesn't surprise me, dB is black haired but with a red beard) and a sort of warm caramel gingery blonde is the lightest I could hope for.

@Bubbletrouble43 not in the slightest! I’m naturally a dark blonde/mouse. My hair usually lifts very well.
I often have blonde balayage but I’ve never had it this not blonde before. I don’t understand what’s gone wrong!

Next time take a picture of the colour you want

@CorianderLord I’ve been using the same hairdressers for 7 years, they know what I want! I just don’t understand what they did differently this time. I can only assume they didn’t leave the bleach in long enough. But I’m not a hairdresser so I don’t really know 🤷‍♀️