Keila Sone wrote:
Go to a colorist and spend the money have it done right,I been a colorist many years and I will not attend to do application y myself.You will spend more money having some color correct your hair or worse you could burn off

I feel confident enough to color my own hair, even with bleach. I've done it many times over the years as I always prefer to cut and look after it myself. I just feel its cheaper, and i trust myself to be gentle with my hair.

This will just be the first time I've used bleach on a previous color. I know going to a salon is usually the most safe method, but I'm willing to take the risks of doing it myself, which is why I'm trying to arm myself with all the proper knowledge.

A-M-P wrote:
If you insist on doing it yourself

Bleaching over colored hair will require to double process, Specially if you had any sort of red pigment before you will also need a toner afterwards.

Yeah, this is what I'm expecting to happen, that I might have to do this gradually and process it a second time. I have a few options for toners. I have one by Wella that I purchased, but I was also considering making my own using some purple and blue dye I have from past hair adventures. I'm not sure what I want to do yet.

Fashion Follower wrote:
I just went white myself and I can't believe I waited so long, I love it. Anyway, I would definitely get it professionally done, at least the first time. Take mental notes and ask a lot of questions. And then next time, start doing to roots yourself.

I did a lot of research online and tried to do it myself the first time and just couldn't get it light enough (did get it to a meh shade of yellow, though). I eventually sucked it up and went to my hair stylist and have gotten the roots done a couple times since. Eventually, I'm going to give it a go on my own (for time and money's sake), but I'm definitely enlisting someone to help me do the back.

Yeah the actual act of bleaching hair isn't particularly new to me, just in my experience it's always been on virgin hair. I'll most definitely do a strand test first so I know how light it will go and so on.

I'm mostly interested in just saving money, like you said. Good plan to just look over the roots once the hard core stuff gets done. I don't particularly enjoy going to the salon because it is just very expensive, even for touch ups. And I've been unlucky enough to get hairdressers who were very rough with my hair. If I go again, I'll just skip the styling process, because I don't like brushing hair when it's wet. I always let everything air dry before touching it.

Makeup Hair by Dani B wrote:
If you insist on doing this yourself (and I agree with other professionals, this is not even remotely wise) and you are, as you have stated, willing to take the risk, then the best thing we can do is prepare you for a lovely shade of yellow or apricot, which is what you will likely end up with along with rather fried and damaged hair. This has nothing to do with the fact that professional hairstylists "always" tell people to go to professionals and everything to do with science. There is no way, in an internet post, that you can be educated on all the necessary information and science to do this safely to yourself and get the desired result. I'm not trying to be unkind, I just want you to understand why you are getting the responses you are and why everyone is telling you to go to a pro. Lifting red that has so recently been dyed at home is unpredictable at best. The mixing and application of chemicals is a subjective art as well as science; even a pro would have to look at your hair in person before they decided what proportions of which products would achieve the end result you desire. And, as already mentioned, it's not as simple as bleaching your hair. You will need toner, perhaps more than one application. And it may require more than one treatment over time, not something done in a single day, to achieve the look without damaging your hair. Good luck.

Thank you, I understand the concern, I know it's not meant to be mean. I just want to be able to do this stuff myself for a lot of different reasons. Would it help if I mentioned what products I was going to use?

J Strath wrote:
So, maybe this isn't the right place to ask this question. I'm asking this for my own personal benefit, but I figured I'm active on a site where there are people very knowledgable about hair, why NOT ask here? If this is considered off topic, then I suppose this could at least be used as an open discussion for special bleaching techniques?

ANYWAY, so I'm planning on dying my hair soon, inspired by Rogue from X-men. Dark brown hair, with platinum/white bangs around my face. I've bought all my supplies (waiting for them to come in the mail) but I'm starting to get nervous about the bleach.

The reason why I am nervous is because, currently, my hair is a faded auburn color. I've bleached my virgin hair a good number of times without problems, but never on dyed hair. I dyed it with a red dye from the box a little over a month ago during an impulsive trip to Target. How hard is it going to be to bleach over dyed red hair, to get a platinum or white color? Any advice or tips for this?

Also, have any of you hair stylists heard of putting coconut oil in the hair before bleaching? It's supposed to help protect the hair from some of the damaging effects of bleach. I'm assuming by protecting the cuticle. I've heard nothing but good experiences on that method, but figured it doesn't hurt to hear more opinions on this.

Coconut oil in the hair wont do jack for the hair..
Bleach is like a juggernaut it will go right through the coconut oil..
Just make sure it does not over process when processing..

I've been doing hair for 20 years... I was also a Joico technical advisor..

Maybe put some oil on the scalp (BUT DON"T RUB IT IN!)
Put in on the scalp gently..
Any irritation to the scalp then when you put bleach.
Your scalp is going to burn..

Philipe wrote:
Coconut oil in the hair wont do jack for the hair..
Bleach is like a juggernaut it will go right through the coconut oil..
Just make sure it does not over process when processing..

I've been doing hair for 20 years... I was also a Joico technical advisor..

Maybe put some oil on the scalp (BUT DON"T RUB IT IN!)
Put in on the scalp gently..
Any irritation to the scalp then when you put bleach.
Your scalp is going to burn..

Yeah, thats what I was thinking as well regarding the coconut oil. When I first heard about it, all I thought was, "What the hell does that accomplish? The bleach is still penetrating the hair and removing pigment. Does it just dilute the bleach or something?" But there are so many raving reviews for that, it sparked my curiosity. I might run an experiment in a strand test just to know for my own experience. Good tip about putting it on the scalp though, I didn't consider that!

J Strath wrote:

Yeah, thats what I was thinking as well regarding the coconut oil. When I first heard about it, all I thought was, "What the hell does that accomplish? The bleach is still penetrating the hair and removing pigment. Does it just dilute the bleach or something?" But there are so many raving reviews for that, it sparked my curiosity. I might run an experiment in a strand test just to know for my own experience. Good tip about putting it on the scalp though, I didn't consider that!

The oil will just get in the way..
just apply on the scalp gently..
Jojoba oil works good too..

Just understand its better slow and safe, than to bleach it all at once in application..
Meaning lighten to the what you can get it too..
(It maybe a light orange or dark yellow)
Rinse (but try not to rub the scalp)
shampoo, and moisturize..
Then re apply first the areas that are dark.
When those lighten, so it looks more even then apply to the rest or the hair..
leave on till it lightens... If it looks like it stopped lightening..
rinse and shampoo and moisturize..
If your scalp feels ok reapply....
If you can get it to the color of the inside of a banana peel (a pale yellow)
You can apply a toner (violet) to tone it down to make it more platinum .

If you apply toner to dark yellow hair, it will look like crap..

Philipe wrote:
The oil will just get in the way..
just apply on the scalp gently..
Jojoba oil works good too..

Just understand its better slow and safe, than to bleach it all at once in application..
Meaning lighten to the what you can get it too..
(It maybe a light orange or dark yellow)
Rinse (but try not to rub the scalp)
shampoo, and moisturize..
Then re apply first the areas that are dark.
When those lighten, so it looks more even then apply to the rest or the hair..
leave on till it lightens... If it looks like it stopped lightening..
rinse and shampoo and moisturize..
If your scalp feels ok reapply....
If you can get it to the color of the inside of a banana peel (a pale yellow)
You can apply a toner (violet) to tone it down to make it more platinum .

If you apply toner to dark yellow hair, it will look like crap..

Yeah, keeping my hair healthy is my top priority. I baby it, which is actually one of the reasons why I'd rather avoid a salon.

I probably won't use the oil, maybe a little on my scalp like you suggested, but I'm going to do it on dirty hair so at least my natural hair oils will give some protection.

When it comes to applying it the first time, I was going to start at the ends and then do my roots last. My roots have grown in their natural color by an inch, so I think they'll take less time to lift, along with just being heated from my scalp. Do you think this is a good method? Also, if I do have to bleach a second time on any parts that are too dark, do you think something like a bleach bath (using conditioner, not shampoo) would work while minimizing damage?

And thank you for the advice on toning! I bought a Wella Color Charm toner in "Lightest Ash Blonde." But I also have some left over blue and purple dyes that I could use with some conditioner. Haven't decided which route I will go.

Keila Sone wrote:
Go to a colorist and spend the money have it done right,I been a colorist many years and I will not attend to do application y myself.You will spend more money having some color correct your hair or worse you could burn off

Fix it in photoshop...

Michael Zahra wrote:
Fix it in photoshop...

LMFAO! Well I am a retoucher after all. If only it were that easy! ;D

Actually, I have photoshopped pictures of myself to try and see what I would look like with a different hair color.

Yeah the actual act of bleaching hair isn't particularly new to me, just in my experience it's always been on virgin hair. I'll most definitely do a strand test first so I know how light it will go and so on.

I'm mostly interested in just saving money, like you said. Good plan to just look over the roots once the hard core stuff gets done. I don't particularly enjoy going to the salon because it is just very expensive, even for touch ups. And I've been unlucky enough to get hairdressers who were very rough with my hair. If I go again, I'll just skip the styling process, because I don't like brushing hair when it's wet. I always let everything air dry before touching it.

I learned a LOT from my stylist that I never found anywhere online. Like, every YouTube and blog tutorial I found said DON'T (for the love of God!) use 40v developer because you will DIE (okay, sarcastic, but you get the point). And you know what? That is what my stylist used and my hair is fine. Also, he had me sit under a hot dryer with a cap on for 30 minutes. Again, I didn't see this once online. The heat lifts the color and my hair never would have gotten light without it.

My hair was virgin when I first did it, very very dark dirty blonde (almost brown) but I was light blonde as a kid so it lifted to platinum in one bleaching. If you do the roots yourself, you'll be working on virgin hair. I would just have a stylist work with what you have now.

Michael Zahra wrote:
Fix it in photoshop...

Funny I find I need to fix the white in my hair in the other direction.  Sounds like it would be so much less stress to your hair to just wait a little bit; it will be white before you know it

rick lesser wrote:
If your planning to bleach only the bangs, then that isn't bad.  Omit the scalp area and apply the bleach about a half inch from the root.  It will process much faster at the scalp.  Then go back to do the roots when the color comes up to about yellow.  Bleach is active if it stays wet up to three hours.  You may need to take it off and reapply.  It could take a while to break through that red.  But can't answer that without seeing your hair in person.  It the hair feels like mush you have left it on to long and it will break.  As far as the coconut oil goes.  I use Framesi decolor B cream plus bleach.  It has coconut oil in it.  Works great.  Use it for everything.  The hair stays healthy I get great results.  Even the Framesi powered bleach has coconut shavings in it.  R-

Awesome recommendation! Had I not already purchased supplies, I would have looked more into that! (I'm worried about health, so something like what you mentioned sounds awesome)

Thank you! Yeah, especially since my roots are my natural color, I expect them to lift pretty fast, along with the heat from my scalp. I'm currently doing a strand test as I write this reply, which I'll check on it 20 minutes. I used a little bit of coconut oil to see how that works. Apparently it's supposed to help keep the bleach moist as well. But I'm skeptical it will do anything special.

For those curious, I'm using these products...

Bleach (this shit smells amazing): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ZP … UTF8&psc=1

Developer: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008CG … UTF8&psc=1

AJScalzitti wrote:

Funny I find I need to fix the white in my hair in the other direction.  Sounds like it would be so much less stress to your hair to just wait a little bit; it will be white before you know it

Haha, we all want what we don't have I suppose! As a curly hair girl, I'd love to have straight hair, but then my straight hair friends all want curly hair!

White hair is one of those odd things I've always been intrigues by. I look forward to growing my own, haha.