Dyed ash blonde to platinum

Wait until you have removed the dye. Once you know what base you have, then start planning the next move. Unlikely you'll need more than a bleach bath, if anything, if it's bleached and dyed twice (dying lightens every time, even if it's a darker colour dye).

So... to start, I know there are some things I should have done better, like after the bleaching, I should have gone to sally's for the right toner. I had already invested money in the manic panic virgin snow, so i stubbornly used it to the exclusion of all else.

Starting point

Not actually ash blonde hair, is it? This was a dyed light ash brown. But this is also a month previous to the dye journey and had faded out a bit.

Next up: Colour Fix
This product wasn't bad. Does what it says. Smells like those old box perms that haven't been on the shelves since the 90's. It completely removed everything to when I first bleached my hair back in January.

My boyfriend wanted me to stop here...

Bleach - Used Garnier D++ ultra bleach
Product review: I probably would have bought some L'Oreal quick blue and colour corrector instead. It wasn't bad, but there's so much better out there. Smell is tolerable, but bleach is bleach.
Top of head

Compared with the ends of my hair. They have been quite resistant to everything I've done to my hair.

Lastly, how it looked dry

What I should have done at this point was said to myself," Hey, Eternalstar... your hair is orange. Perhaps you should go buy some blue-violet toner like Wella T-14 and forgo that manic panic... but I decided to stick to the manic panic.

Manic Panic: Virgin Snow
I washed my hair with purple shampoo first, as the instructions do say to have shampooed hair before applying. This toner is violet based (not blue-violet, like I needed) and thus did not do what I hoped, but I can hardly blame the product. Also one jar was not enough for my massive mane of hair so we had to apply it sparingly. Overall, bad choice on my part.

Hair dye #1 - L'Oreal's Ultra Light Ash Blonde

Result: Hot, white roots, yellow brassy hair and otherwise a complete effing mess. I hated everything about this result. Should not have done this. I hated it so much, I ignored the hair damage and coloured again that afternoon.

Hair dye #2 - L'Oreal's Golden Blonde

I gave up on trying to near-platinum my hair. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, I thought. Get that gold back in there.

And I got this... Which was so close to my actual goal. WTF? Oh well, lol... I got there, kinda.

My ends were darker than the top and feeling a bit like a broom, so I got them chopped.

Nice blow out that I can't mimic.

It gets very brassy after too long... This was two shampoos, I think.

Last product review: Clairol Shimmer Lights for blonde/silver hair (purple shampoo)
HOLY MOLY!! In this pic, I let it process for slightly over 5 minutes and it went nearly white!  😮 I've been playing around with processing times... I went for 4 instead of 5 and that one minute made a huge difference. Not so white this time. Over all though, this shampoo is incredible. Hair looks dry and awful because of my terrible attempt at blowing it out.

Current repair techniques: deep restorative conditioner use with the numerous in-box conditioners I got with all the dyes/bleaches. They leave my hair shiny and soft. Hair mask with some L"oreal oil thing, once a week. Hair feels nice and soft. I also use a detangling spray, leave in conditioner (after each shampoo) and i typically let it air dry these days with minimal styling while I let it repair.

Oh dear so much bleach in so little time!  My understanding is that every permanent colour dye contains bleach so your poor hair has been through quite a lot.  I'm no expert but your hair is probably far more damaged than you realise - I hope you'll give it a nice long break now!  Have you given it the gummy test when it's wet?   

Please note for the future that blonde hair "dyes" use high strengths of peroxide and can be as damaging as bleach on previously processed hair. If you don't need to lighten the hair, such as when you wanted to tone the blonde down to a golden tone you can use deposit only dyes, either a semi permanent that doesn't use any peroxide at all or a demi containing much lower strength peroxide.

The Color Fix was fine, it can be drying but it's not damaging. Virgin Snow needs a really pale base to work, and it's not very strong anyway compared to purple shampoo or "homemade toner" from diluting a pigmented purple direct dye so it wouldn't have changed your hair very much if at all. It's conditioning though. The two blonde dyes in a row can alone be too much on their own for fragile hair due to the peroxide as I mentioned. The Shimmer Lights is non-damaging but it can also be drying.

Your hair has gone through some unnecessary processing in a short time so take care that products containing silicones will make your hair feel slippery and softer, though they won't do anything against breakage and cannot repair the hair. The conditioners that come with the dyes come under this category and most of the reason they make the hair feel nicer is because the coatings on your hair have been bleached away so it can sit on the hair well. They can help with mechanical damage since if the hair isn't as knotted it won't break as much when brushing it out, so the masks and detangling sprays are fine to continue to use but I would not do only this. It's ok to continue the Shimmer Lights and yes not using heat is a good idea.

I would recommend using coconut oil (just 100% coconut oil, does not have to be virgin) and leaving it in for 10 minutes to 18 hours before shampooing. I would do it overnight once a week, washing it out in the morning. This can repair the hair, unlike any of the other products you are using. Argan oil works similarly.

Joico K-pak deep penetrating reconstructor and Apoghee 2 step are good as as protein treatments for bleached hair. Some of us have moved onto Olaplex instead but it's more difficult to get hold of and more expensive.

Thank you for all the advice! my hair still feels pretty gross when wet, so I'm definitely going to be picking up some coconut oil next paycheck, for sure!

What is your take care on keratin? when i got my hair cut, the hair dresser recommended that.

Despite all that I've done to my hair, I love this colour. I'm looking forward to restoring my hair's health and having a long relationship with my blonde  *lovestars*

Wow the final colour looks so cool. Btw I love the effect keratin has. I have never had severely damaged hair, but after keratin my hair felt so soft and it was finally straight, so I could let my hair rest from a flat iron for over 3 months. On the other hand my friend had an awful hair condition after all those bleaches, so keratin worked even better on her. I guess the more hair is damaged, the better are the results. Also as far as I know keratin is done with a lot of different brands, so you should pay attention on some ingredients and do some research. Good luck 😍 *1*