please help a newbie please?

hi elissa, thanks so much for replying..

the thing is, i DID splurge...
i told the colorist i wanted platinum blonde...

and all he did was bleach once with ultra strong bleach (40%) for a long time (burnt my scalp)
(to a orange yellow)
then he toned with i don't know what.. it was a a platinumish color.. thats abt all. and he was pretty sketchy on the details about doing it (i think he's trying to save the info for himself).

That was my splurge.. and the result was short of outstanding.

So i figured im gonna do it myself.. and just from the net alone, i found out so much stuff abt lots of the "trade secrets" salonists use....

i just am trying to figure out how to get the black/platinum blond intermixed look..., and have various other qns about bleaching...
right now im into my fifth and final bleach, and its finally approaching pale blonde...

im abt to embark on my next step of applying some torrids platinum toner...

but im still not too sure abt how to apply BLACK dye in strips to get that intermixed look..

thanks!

Ok so heres the deal.
1.I wanna go PALE PALE blond almost white.
2. I naturally Black thick healthy hair.
3. SHORT cropped hair. 1 inch long.
4. Already bleached 3-4 times with feria bleach out kit. Hair is now yellowish.

My qns.
1. What is the BEST ONLINE shop to purchase a wide range of stuff? I mainly need, bleach, developer, toner, as cheap as possible. (some shops sell torrids at 7.99 and some at 3.99!) I checked folica but its doesnt carry a wide range...

2. My hair is currently yellow from bleaching. I know the paler the yellow, the better for toning to white blonde. But how pale is pale? mine is kinda yellowish, not orange anymore... should I bleach again?

3. Whats the difference btw (white blonde) toning PALE YELLOW hair, and YELLOW YELLOW hair. Will the yellow yellow hair not be as WHITE as the pale blond hair after blonde toning?

4. How long should i tone for? i heard over toning will result in bluish / whitish color. Will i be able to physically see the hair changing color?

4. Whats the purpose of different values of developer, i know the higher the number (up to 40) gives EXTRA LIFT, and is worse for the hair. What does extra lift mean, and how does it come into play for bleach / dye?

5. Are bleach and lightener the same thing?

6. Whats the purpose of an activator? How come some bleach needs activator while some don't?

7. Is a liquid lightener the same as a powder bleach?

One last FINAL FINAL very impt question:
1. I have short hair (1 inch). I want to get that mixed Black / WHite blonde nice messy color. WHat i mean is that there are random small specks of black and whiteblonde intersperesed throughout.

so when i use wax to mess my hair up, it looks white blonde with black intermixed.

How do i go about doing that?

(From totally black, I've tried selectively bleaching random tufts using a tipping cap, but its REALLY hard to achieve that effect, coz i gotta bleach 4 times to get to yellow, AS WELL as tone with white blond toner. And its impossible to do it all at once with the tipping cap on, and even more impossible to pull out the bleached strands thru a tipping cap. I was thinking FOIL! but my hair is too short... Also, the tipping cap is awful. I get very uneven tufts of blond, rather than a nice interspersed mix.)

2. I was thinking, would it be possible to go totally white blonde, and then TIP my hair black? Is the only way of doing this by just waiting for my black roots to grow out, so my strands will be 1/2 whiteblond 1/2 black...




THANKS A BILLION BILLION to any kind soul who replies... I have been losing sleep over this for awhile!

If you reply, i will be FOREVER indebted to you!

thanks!