How to safely bleach/dye your hair at home!!

I dye my hair a lot, so I am very familiar with the sucky process of bleaching. I am also very familiar with the outrageous prices salons have to dye your hair a weird color. SO, I'm gonna give you some tips on dying/bleaching your hair at home safely, without spending a whole bunch of money!!!

        First: Gather your supplies~

For at home bleaching, you're gonna need some things.

1: Powder lightener, developer and toner!

Lightener: I got the PrismLites Blue Tonal Lightener because it tones your hair as it lightens it (meaning it gets out all the brassy yellow, orange and red colors in your hair) I got the big case of the lightener because my hair is super thick and I never really know how much i'm gonna need to use, plus I won't have to keep running out and buying more of it. 

Developer: Now, depending on what your hair color is at the moment, you might need to use a different volume of developer. The higher the volume the developer, the higher the lift will be, but the harsher the bleach will be on your hair. Since my hair is very dark naturally, I use 30 volume developer because it works pretty well in getting my hair light enough. But if you have lighter hair like blonde or light brown, you can use a 20 volume or 10 volume developer and it should do the trick. I would't recommend using a 40 volume just because the 30 works for like black hair and the 40 is so harsh, there's really no need to do that much damage to your hair. I got the larger bottle for developer too because again, I don't really know how much I might need.

Toner: I always buy Wella toner when I tone my hair because it's pretty cheap and it works really really well. The type of toner you buy really depends on the color you're going for. Like I was going for a light, almost white blonde, so I got Natural blonde for my first bleaching session, then Light Ash Blonde for my second. When you go to purchase the toner and stuff, make sure you ask a store clerk to help you find the right tone! (And make sure you get toner, not just hair dye)

(Sally's carries all this stuff plus hair dyes too! If you want white hair, try to look for a purple or blue based shampoo or silver shampoo. Manic Panic also makes a toner called Virgin Snow and it works very very well to get white hair!)

Salon Care PrismLites Blue Tonal Powder Lightener, $11.99 (on sale), Salon Care 30 Vol. Developer, $3.69, Wella ColorCharm Toner, $5.79 All available at Sally's!

2. CONDITIONERRRRRRR!!!!

Conditioning your hair is so, so, SO important after bleaching your hair. You're basically stripping your hair of it's color and natural oils and stuff, so you need to replenish your hair and nourish it because bleaching is very taxing on your hair.  So invest in some really good conditioners and hair masks and treatments because your hair is gonna need it! You can't skip this step, seriously. Conditioner saves your hair from becoming a mushy, thin, dry, clumpy, breaking mess. 

I went to ULTA and got the Redken Extreme Conditioner for really damaged, dry, and processed hair, and I also got the Redken Anti-Snap spray (not pictured). The conditioner works really really well, but you can't leave it in for too long because it can have an opposite effect on your hair and make it feel worse than before, so be careful with this stuff. The Anti-Snap is a leave in treatment for your hair and it's supposed to help stop your hair from breaking off at the ends, and it works pretty well also. At Sally's, they have these little conditioning packets for your hair, so I got the ION Repair Solutions Extensive Care Treatment and the Biotera Ultra Moisturizing Treatment. They work very well also, although you can only use them once, maybe twice since the packs are so small. I also bought Aussie Moist conditioner and Aussie Moist 3-Minute Miracle and girl let me tell you, AUSSIE IS SO AMAZING!! I just got them because I ran out of conditioner and they were really cheap but man i'm so glad I bought them. They're both really thick and they go so smoothly into my hair, and they work wonders on my hair. It's always really hard for me to find a good conditioner with my hair type, but Aussie keeps my hair moisturized and shiny and just great. I even use the regular conditioner as a leave-in because it works so well. So if you haven't tried Aussie products yet, give them a try. I pictured John Freida's Frizz-Ease hair serum in this picture because bleach has a tendency to make your hair look really frizzy or stringy and the serum works really nicely at taming that frizz. I would also highly recommend John Freida's Frizz-Ease Finishing Cream, because it just keeps the humidity away from ruining your 'do. 

Redken Extreme Conditioner, $15.99 (on sale) ULTA, Ion Repair Solutions, $2.59, Biotera Ultra Moisturizing Conditioner, $2.59 both from Sally's Beauty Supply, John Freida Frizz-Ease Hair Serum Wal-Mart, $7.99, John Freida Frizz-Ease Finishing Cream Wal-Mart, $7.99, Aussie Moist Condtioner, $4.99, Aussie Moist 3- Minute Miracle, $2.97 both from Target

3. Dye-brush and plastic/metal bowl~

Some people just use their hands to dye their hair but I find the brush really helpful in making sure you get every part f your hair covered so your dye job doesn't look spotty. And the bowl just makes it easier to apply the dye to your hair~

Brush, $0.79 Sally's Beauty Supply, Bowl (From home but you can get one at Sally's also or the dollar store)

3. Wide-toothed comb and hair pins/clips

The wide-toothed comb is so you can easily comb the dye/bleach through your hair without ripping a bunch of your hair out. The wider the teeth are, the gentler it will be on your hair. Wide-toothed combs are really good to have in general after dying your hair because they won't cause your hair to break off as much as a brush or thin toothed comb would.

The clips are so you can easily section your hair to bleach it, instead of just putting it all over your head. (You might miss spots of your hair and clumping it all together can cause breakage!) I didn't want to use any of my hair clips because they're too cute to get bleach all over lol, so I just used some bobby pins. Bobby pins are really annoying to use though, so i would suggest getting some clips.

Wide-toothed comb, $2.99 Target, Hair clips, Dollar Store

ALSO: YOU'RE GONNA NEED GLOVES!!!! VERY IMPORTANT DON'T FORGET THE GLOVES OKAY THANK!!

Second: Mix the junk together!!

(I didn't take any more pictures from here on out lol, so the pictures I use for the next few parts don't belong to me, I found them on google so yeah)

So you're going to mix the powder lightener and the liquid developer together. I know you're probably supposed to measure it or whatever, but I never do. And depending on what you're dying, how thick, and how long your hair is, you're going to need different amounts. I just pour the powder in first (like maybe almost half of the bowl pictured above) and the pour in the liquid developer (not as much as the developer, like I pour a little bit, then I mix it and if I need more developer i'll pour more in) You want the result to be a thick-ish creamy mixture. (Not liquidy!!!! and not super thick and chunky!!!) 

So it should look like this:

Third: Section your hair if necessary! 

You're going to want to section off your hair. It doesn't really matter how you do it necessarily, but if you have really long hair or really thick hair, you might want to do more sections so its easier. Since I have really short hair now, I don't section my hair off, but it's very helpful if you do.

Like this for example:

Doing this makes it very easy to get all of the hair you want to dye without missing anything~

Fourth: Apply the dye!!!! (Finally)

Okay now you can start applying the dye. Put some on your dye brush (not a whole lot, try to evenly apply it to your hair) going root to tip. If you're dying your roots also, leave them for last because the roots turn lighter a lot quicker than the rest of your hair will. (If you don't wait, you might end up with white roots and yellow hair lol) If you aren't confident in your dying skills, have a friend or family member help you!!!! My mom dyes the back of my hair~ P.S. If this is your first time bleaching your hair ever, i'm telling you now, the bleach might burn and itch. Like a lot. So if the pain ever gets too much for you, wash it out immediately!!!

Ok so this is me because I couldn't find another picture to use~ (Dye your hair in an old shirt, because you will probably get dye all over it)

Fifth: WAIT

This part sucks and is really dumb and boring and stupid. Go read a book or watch T.V, paint your nails, clean your room, or whatever for about and hour or so.

Sixth: Wash the dye out~

After about an hour or so, wash the bleach out of your hair with cool or luke warm water. (You CAN leave bleach in longer than this and I have done this before and my hair's been okay, but just know that you're damaging your hair more by leaving it in longer.) Now after you wash it out, look at the color and decide if you like it the way it is, or if you want it lighter. If your hair is an orange or and yellow color and you plan on dying it dark pink or red, you can just apply the dye directly to the color, you don't even really need to tone it if you don't want to. 

My hair after dying it using Beyond the Zone Color Jamz Candy Apple Red mixed with Bubble Head Pink (This was dyed over dark yellow hair)

But if you want like a blonde, white, blue, green or any other lighter color and your hair came out yellow, you are gonna need to bleach it again. I know it sucks, but the lighter your hair, the brighter and more vibrant your hair color results will be. DON'T BLEACH YOUR HAIR TWICE IN THE SAME DAY!! If you plan on bleaching your hair again, you need to give your hair a breather. Condition, condition, condition it. Leave in the conditioner for hours, use a blow dryer with your conditioner, condition it like 5 times a day, doesn't matter, just make sure that hair is moisturized!!!! And then after about a week or so you can bleach it again if you want. 

(And remember, you're gonna use toner afterwards, so if your hair is a little yellow, that's okay, the toner will take care of it)

Seventh: Apply toner

After you've bleached your hair to the desired color, you can apply your toner now~ (After your hair dries from washing the bleach out) Mix the toner with your developer, and apply it to your hair like you did with the bleach. Wait again for an hour or so, and wash it out~ (You may have to repeat the bleaching/toning process multiple times before you reach your desired color) And keep conditioning your hair after this as well!!!!!

Eighth: Style and enjoy your new 'do!   

I don't really have any normal pictures of myself uh

I hope this was helpful to those of you looking to try something new and dye your hair!

Good luck!