How I achieved blonde hair

 I do have pictures with links that you can go to, but at the end of this I will list everything and where I bought them. That way there is no scrolling up and down. Enjoy ^_^

I had been wanting to do something different to my hair for a while. I have had reds, browns, black even, and I felt like I had been there, done that kind of feeling. So my husband recommended that I try blonde. At first, I told him "NO". I was thinking, my hair will fall out and I would probably look horrible with the color. Even stating to friends and family that I would never go blonde. Nothing against blondes, but it was just not a look I thought I could ever pull off. He continued to mention it here and there and I suppose his repetition implanted itself into my brain, and I finally gave in. I figured, its just hair, it'll grow out or I can just color it over if it turns out bad. I was concerned about the damage that would occur with the bleaching processes. I knew that I would have to bleach more than once.

I started researching. I watched tons of YouTube tutorials, blogs, reviews on products, the whole nine yards. I finally pulled different tips and instructions, and make my own process of how I would do it. I went to my local Sally's Beauty Supply store and there was a sale for Salon Care Quick White bleaching powder for $10. I mean beach is bleach. It will all do the same thing. My grandmother is a beautician and growing up in her salon, I picked up on a few things. I know everyone has their favorites, but they all produce the same outcome as long as you do it correctly.

SalonCare Quick White lightening powder sallybeauty.com 

Then I picked up Clairol's Pure White developer 20vol with soyplex. I had heard great reviews about this developer and read that there are conditioners in it. Which was awesome, considering that I was trying to be as gentle to my locks as I could be. I bought the 8oz bottle, so that I would have enough to touch up roots. If I had not loved the blonde so much then I had it for when I dye my hair (I purchase my hair color at Sally's as well). For 8oz, the price was $3.49, with a Sally's card $2.99. It does come in 4, 16, and 32oz. My hair is just above my shoulders and sort of fine, so I knew I wouldn't need that much.

Clairol Pure White Creme Developer 20vol sallybeauty.com

 This developer is awesome! My hair felt so soft rinsing out the bleach, I couldn't believe it. I was able to run my fingers through it when I was rinsing the bleach out. I only used 20vol. I didn't want to be to harsh to my hair. It also makes the consistency of the bleach mixture very creamy, which made the mix easier to apply. I will be using only this brand from now on. Very good buy and cheap!

Okay, before I did my first bleaching, I had to strip the color that was already on my hair. I had done a really vibrant red at the end of the year, and went back to a dark chocolate brown about 3 months ago. I knew that it would take many bleaches to take that dye out and lift my dark brown color. I chose One N Only Colorfix. It was around $13, which is a little high for me, but I knew that if I was going to do this, I need to do it right. This stuff does not smell that well, and it lingered in my hair until I did the first bleach, which was two days later. You have to shampoo the mixture out and you want to make sure there are enough oils on your scalp to protect it from the bleach. Trust me, you don't want irritation. I ended up with some of it on my forehead and it felt like a sunburn for 4 or 5 days, you could tell a difference in the appearance of my skin. It did go away, but still, why put yourself through that.

One n only colorfix sallybeauty.com....I'm really starting to like this brand name :)

Back to the point. Again depending on your hair, will determine how much you will you. I didn't even use all of it and have enough for another time. Of course I don't know why I would need it again, but you never know.

It definitely stripped the color and left me with an ashy dishwater blonde color. The great thing was that it never stripped my natural color on my roots. I definitely was able to see how far my hair had grown. It wasn't a pretty picture. If you do have color in your hair, I would really recommend you strip it first. Trust me, it will pay off.

After I stripped my hair, like I said I waited 2 days. Then I did my first bleach. I did have my grandmother apply the mixture. I would have not been able to do it efficiently enough for the time needed. Now I recommend applying it to the ends first and the roots last. This being because the roots will lift faster due to the heat coming off your scalp. When you do the ends first, they get a chance to lift while the bleach is being applied to the roots. My grandmother is up there in age and was kind enough to do it for me, so I did not complain when she applied the mixtures to the sections completely. So my roots are still lighter then the rest of my hair, but its no biggie and I actually like the graduation from white to a light blonde. Then after she was done, I put a processing cap on and sat under her hair dryer. I know not many people have that option, so I'm sure a hairdryer, or even sitting out on a sunny day would do the trick.

I left the bleach on for 50 minutes, and knew that I would have to bleach again. I rinsed the bleach out, shampooed, and put the argan oil mask for 15 minutes, then rinsed.

The first bleach took my hair to a very gold yellow color. What was funny is that I got a lot of compliments on the color. I was very adamant on babying my hair for 4 days before the next bleaching. I used One N Only Argan Oil Restorative Mask everyday. I have a review on this product below, so feel free to check it out. I also did not use any heat on it for those days either. 

After 4 days, I did my second and last bleaching. My hair was a little dry, but I have a very oily scalp, so I loved the fact that in those four days my hair did not look oily. I know that may seem backwards, me wanting dry hair, but it was nice not having to worry about it.

I completed the second process, the same way as I did the first. My hair turned to white roots and a light to pale yellow on the rest. I loved it! I knew as soon as I got rid of the brassiness it would look gorgeous.

I had purchased Wella Color Charm toner in T18, Lightest Ash Blonde (it no longer says White Lady as they have recently changed some names). I mixed the toner with the same developer and applied it like hair color. I don't think I left it in long enough and I definitely knew I had missed some spots. The color turned out wonderfully where I did it right. I will be toning it again soon, but now I'm just trying to give my hair a rest from all that it has been through. It did not turn my hair purple as some have said. Which is probably why I think I didn't leave it in long enough.

The toner was around $4 or $5 at Sally's again. I was really lucky because this was the only bottle they had left in my store. I suppose its a very popular product.

T18 White Lady at sallybeauty.com

Okay, so those were the products I purchased. My grandmother had the rest, so I can't think off the top of my head the brands of tools I used. I used a bowl and tinting brush and vinyl gloves. The processing cap I used looked just like a shower cap and she already had a ph balancing shampoo.

For the conclusion of this long (probably everywhere) list of what I did to achieve blonde hair. Here is a picture below of the blonde and the before is my profile picture. I do need to get my hair trimmed up and sooner or later it will be the white blonde that I was trying to get. I did know that white hair would take time and I didn't want my hair so far damaged that there was no hope for repair. I'm definitely okay with that. If I left anything out please let me know. I didn't really do this as organized as I hoped.

• SalonCare Quick White lightening powder $10 on sale (not sure if the sale is still going on) Sally Beauty Supply
• Clairol Pure White Creme Developer 8oz $3.99 ($2.49 with sally's card) Sally Beauty Supply
• One N Only Colorfix $13.99 ($12.99 with sally's card) Sally Beauty Supply
• One N Only Argan Oil Restorative Mask 8oz $9.99 ($8.99 with sally's card) Sally Beauty Supply

Oh a really great shampoo I recently started using was Organix Cherry Blossom Ginseng shampoo. This was on sale at WalMart for $1...I think, I got it back in March. This stuff is great. I have yet to find a shampoo that lets me run my fingers through my hair while I'm rinsing it out. Absolutely great. I went to their website, because I assumed if all of these were on sale then Walmart may not be carrying them anymore. I am really wanting to try their Argan Oil line (I've really become addicted to this stuff). Anyways, I'll list their site. They have a lot of different ones to choose from.

Organix Beauty Products

I know, goofy smile, the battery in my camera is dead so I had to rely on good ole' webcam :). Also sorry about the broken blood vessel in my eye, it sticks out like a sore thumb