Do you bleach your own hair?

[Tootootoot]

My hairdresser charges me just over £100 for my haircut and highlights. She's very good but I now have a pixie cut so it grows out quickly- I have to get it done every 6 weeks give or take or it looks a mess. I'd now like to go to the hairdresser for a haircut only and do the colour myself.

My hair is naturally a light, mousey brown with gray in it. I like to wear it blond. So I'm looking to bleach it then use toner. Could anyone recommend good products to use please? I've read reviews but they're all over the place. Also my sister bleaches her hair but is avoiding telling me what she uses - I think she doesn't want us to end up looking the same!

I bleach my own hair (or rather my very lovely DH does the foils for me) and use the following products:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Schwarzkopf-BlondMe-Bond-Enforcing-Powder/dp/B06Y2DDV2W/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=blondme%2Bschwarzkopf&qid=1686404048&sr=8-5&th=1

This needs to be combined with the correct strength developer. I'm naturally a dark mousy blonde and use the 9% / 30 vol developer to achieve a bright platinum blonde.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Schwarzkopf-Supreme-Quality-Premium-Developer/dp/B0113A0BZO/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3G7D0VXFDIVR0&keywords=Schwarzkopf+Developer+9+30&qid=1686404497&s=beauty&sprefix=schwarzkopf+developer+9+30%2Cbeauty%2C81&sr=1-3

Depending on how deep your natural hair colour is and how light you want to go, this may or may not be strong enough for you.

After bleach, I use Redken Shades EQ toners. Lots of pictures online (have attached an example) to show which formulation you need to use for your desired shade. They are very easy to use and produce beautifully natural-looking tones. I've had a fair few random strangers ask me which salon I use, so the results must look decent enough.

To protect my hair (it's shoulder-length hair and I use heated styling tools a lot), I also do a stand-alone treatment with Olaplex No. 1 & 2 the day before bleaching, but with a pixie / if you're intending to keep your hair short, you'll probably not need this.

Thank you so much @TwoRedKittens those colours look beautiful, particularly on the bottom row. Impressive your DH does foils - mine would probably be willing in theory as I cut his hair with trimmers but we wouldn't have the first clue how to do it. I think I'll try an all-over colour first and go from there. I bet your hair looks lovely 😍

@TwoRedKittens
wow. You really know what you’re doing - I’ve had a tinker into Shades EQ but find it a bit mind boggling.

Nice n easy sb1 or sb2. Easy and ready prepared.

I first talked DH into colouring my hair during lockdown and he did such a good job that, to his great dismay, he's now stuck with it. He's generally good with his hands and quick to pick up all sorts of skills from mainly watching Youtube videos (like PCB soldering, fixing mechanical watches, bikes, amps and electric guitars, woodworking, sewing etc.), so I figured he'd probably be able to learn some foiling techniques as well.

I used to spend around €200 and three painfully boring hours at the salon every couple of months for a result I was actually less happy with, so I'd much rather stick with the DIY version now.

If your DH is willing to give it a shot, I can highly recommend the foiling videos by a hairdresser on Youtube named Jamie Dana. She does great step-by-step explanations and also has a video for highlights on a pixie cut. The colour in this one isn't quite my cup of tea, but her technique is sound and fairly easy to follow.

If he doesn't, I'm sure you'll be just fine with all-over colour as well - looks really nice and fresh especially on short hair, IMO.

JMAngel1, thank you, I looked at lots of pictures and wrote down the formulations for the ones I particularly liked (many hairdressers share these on Instagram). You soon end up with a core group of shades (the same letter combinations repeating themselves) that will at least come close to producing the colour you want. This copy-and-paste approach certainly works for different (lighter) shades of blonde if you're working with bleached hair as you will always be starting from roughly the same very light yellow-white (inside of a fresh banana) colour. Darker shades with more variation in the starting point colour will be less straightforward, I think.

To fine-tune shades it does help to understand the Shades EQ colour system. It is a bit confusing at first but actually does make sense. Look at one of their large colour charts and read up on what they call the 'background colours'. I found this explanation quite useful:

https://kristinarussell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Guide-to-Formulating-Glazes-and-Root-Shadows-with-Redken-Shades-EQ-1.pdf