How can I safely bleach my 17-year-old son's hair at home? Photo

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My son would like me to bleach his hair as light as possible- ie white!

He doesnt care if it all goes wrong and he needs it shaved off - i have warned him of this!

I just dont want to hurt him.

Online is very confusing. Can i buy stuff in boots and do it for him? He' 17.

try and talk him out of it

I wouldn't do it. Hairdresser or leave it.

Ds did same at this age. Used a 2 part bleach from superdrug and then purple shampoo to get rid of the yellowness. It looked a bit crap but he liked it (i obviously didnt say it looked crap but i did offer to go over the bits hed missed homself which helped a bit).He then dyed it dark blue...... then added some purple. Then he got bored and shaved it all off.

Its only hair and will grow back.

Recommend buying a brush to apply... lots of conditoner and helping him out so he doesnt miss any bits...

Hes now 19 and has brown hair again.

Another one to say 'don't do it at home!'

Worst case scenario isn't him needing to shave his head. It's him getting chemical burns on his scalp, face and eyes!

A hairdresser will be able to do it safely.

You can buy something and do it for him. The main problem will be trying to ensure it doesn’t go orange rather than white-blonde. His hair is v dark, so it will be difficult to do this effectively. You may need to do it twice (leave à gap, otherwise you’ll burn his scalp).

I don’t know if it would be as light as he wants but I’d try the john frieda go blonder spray. I wouldn’t be willing to do any more than that at home- bleach is a really harsh chemical and best left to the pros.

Tell him that when I did this I ended up having such bad blisters on my ears from where the dye had been in contact with them that I needed medical help. (I have naturally the same hair colour as him and used two box bleach dyes one after the other). I then had to spend £130 at the hairdressers correcting the colour - which was orange. I appreciate this won’t be relevant to him if he’s prepared to shave it all off but the ears bit will. Ouch.

He has great hair. Don’t do it! Show him the photo of the 1998 Romanian football team with bleached hair.

Either pay for him to get it done properly or don't do it at all.

Dont!

It will go orange

Would he settle for hi lights ? You can buy a kit and less chance of burning his scalp.

Go on you tube and watch as many brad mondo videos with the name bleach in as you can
Not just the ones where he's watching someone do it wrong, the instructional ones, too

And that was done by hairdressers

The Bleach London kits are pretty good if he’s determined to go ahead. My hair is possibly a little darker than your son’s and I’ve used it lots of times with no issues at all. The ones I used were Total Bleach then the pearlescent toner for a slight pink effect. They do other toners though.

This ^

Do not try and do a DIY job. He needs to go to a hairdresser who knows what they’re doing!

Nah. Pay a hairdresser to do jt

Maybe a highlighting box kit to start with to see how he finds it?

Yes you absolutely can! He’s already said he doesn’t care it it’s not perfect.

You’ll probably need to bleach it two or maybe even three times till the orange tint comes out. Loads of bleach kits in boots, I think I used to use the bleach London ones but have tried a few, all essentially the same. I’ve got naturally dark brown hair too and used to bleach it white loads when I had a pixie cut. Easy peasy at home, just need to be prepared to bleach it a few times, not just once.

Loads of videos on YouTube as well if you want reassurance on home bleaching.

You can, but it will take several goes before it goes blond. There are some rather garish orange tones to get through first.

I did my sons at that age with a kit from boots, we did it twice as was orange after the first go. His hair is a similar colour to your ds.
I just followed the instructions on the box, did it consecutive days iirc, worked well, no dramas. He enjoyed it for a few months then had a buzz cut.

I bleached my 16year old son's just this week as it was dyed pink and he wanted silver for his prom. I used a Jerome Russell maximum blonde bleach kit that had 40volume peroxide(he's dyed his hair a lot over the past year or two) surprisingly it only took one round to get it to a very light white blonde when I was expecting to have to maybe do it twice considering it was quite a bold pink that needed lifting

He has gorgeous healthy looking hair! Please beg him not to do it. If he insists, it must be done in a salon. I’d also make him pay for it himself (in the hope that would put him off!), unless you think that would just make him try it himself.

Watch some YouTube bleach fail videos, Brad Mondo...Hair Buddha. I reckon it'll take two rounds of bleach to get pale enough , then he'll probably need to tone it.

Bloody Hell! Of course it will lighten up quickly when using 40vol. 😳

You should NEVER use anything higher than 20 vol on a scalp bleach otherwise you risk chemical burns to the scalp and a long stay in A&E!!!!