how do you bleach???

Well, this is why I try to repeat as much as I remember to that I'm not a pro, and I always tell the person to do a test strand to make sure they don't kill their hair based on anything I may say.  Others of us on here are also not pros (though some are), and that is why the hairboutique rules of the forum suggest you consider taking everything you read with a grain of salt.  I am only trying to help, and if I ever say anything that someone else perceives to be bad for another person, I hope that someone does correct me, as you did. So, do you think the high lift after bleach would really be worse than the high lift after repeated high lift use?  When I did my hair platinum, I used high lifts only and no bleach, so I thought it would actually be better for the hair to use them for a short time only and weakly after bleach instead of after high lifts.  If I am wrong on that, I will be very happy if you let me know.  The basis for my suggesting that a dye be used instead of a toner is because often people complain of their platinum going yellow and not staying white.  When I kept my hair platinum, I never had any problem with the whiteness fading to yellow because I used the dye instead of toner.  

Edited by Susan W

Are your roots actually a different color than the rest, or is it all different shades of yellow? You could run into problems if some is still orange. If it's all yellow, you'll be fine with a violet based dye.

Ok, heres an update. I used the bleach for 10 minutes and everything came out awesome...except...the fact that my roots are wayyyy blonder then the rest of my head....is it ok to dye it tomorrow?????? none of my hair broke and it's still really shiny, strong and silky....

Do a test strand on a piece of hair on the underside where no one can see it. If the test strand gets too damaged, then you'll know not to do it. You do not need to wait.

littleroo, I'm not sure what you're expecting to fade. That orange is the result of lightening brown or black hair. It lightens to red, then orange, gold, yellow, and pale yellow. What you managed to do with the box dye was lift to the orange state, and it's going to be orange until you do something. The only way you're going to go lighter is bleach. A colorstripper isn't going to help much, either, unless you used a really dark blonde.

There are high-lift dyes out there, such as L'Oreal Hi-Color. If you're not into bleaching, you could try Hi-Color with 30 or 40 vol developer (depending on how dark you hair is...darker hair needs a higher-power developer). If you choose to bleach, get something like Wella Speedlite and 20 vol developer. It's easier to keep an eye on things using a lower volume (like 20), and you'll be less likely to melt your hair off.

Once you've got pale yellow, a violet-based toner or semi-permanent dye will knock out the yellow.

Always do a strand test, and always read all the instructions for the product you buy...they're not all the same. And read this: http://web.archive.org/web/20030430220712/http://www.knaresboroughsatellite.com/bleaching4.htm

I did the same thing the first time I was trying to dye mine white. If you choose to bleach, go to Sallys and get stuff made for hair....when I was 14 I tried household bleach and its really really not worth what happens! You will never be able to go white after using household bleach until all that damaged hair grows out and gets cut off, trust me.

After you get "hair" bleach (from Sallys or other beauty supply shop) and use it, you will get yellow hair, and you will then need from Sallys a high lift blonde dye with a violet base and a 30 volume developer to mix it with...then follow the instructions on the dye. The violet base in the dye is important because it will counter the yellow (which your hair will be after you bleach it with "hair" bleach).

Please do a test strand of everything on a hidden strip of hair so you know how long to leave things in and you won't damage your whole head if you go too long....also do an allergy test, putting the stuff on the inside of your elbow a day or two in advance to make sure you're not allergic.


Edited to say: After your hair is white your going to need major conditioning. You might want to pick up a hefty conditioner when at Sallys....Pantene is also good, you will need something with silicone that helps glue splits together, because dyed white hair is always somewhat split. You will also have to trim your hair more frequently for the same reason.

I'm guessing from what you've written that you have dyed hair, and you tried to do a box blonde hair color over that. Is that correct?

Bleach does not generally remove dye from hair. Box hair color is designed to lighten your hair two shades, so it has some bleaching effect. What you did was to remove some natural color from your hair, but left the dye. Colorfix might remove this, but you should do a strand test to make sure it won't do more damage to your hair. Then you might need to bleach to get it lighter. In any case, you'd need to use a toner to achieve a natural-looking haircolor.

I know you don't want to see a colorist, but at this point it's the safest thing to do. If you decide to go ahead with the project, you should follow the directions on the labels of the products you are using rather than asking us to guess what you should do with them.