bleaching

"Dilemma #1"

Why would you go up? You've said you leave it on for 10 mins because you're worried about it getting too light. Leave it on for longer. Or better still, use 20vol and leave it on until you see the right shade (obviously not going over the stated time). This is the best way to avoid damage. The higher the volume, the quicker it works in the same time so it's too risky, especially from chemical burns.

"Dilemma #2"

What you've likely seen is someone that looks like they have darker hair, but it isn't. If this is on You Tube, lighting makes a massive difference to what you see on screen and reality. I'll explain more in a minute.

" What ended up working for me was mixing violet manic panic with conditioner. My only fear is that this will darken the hair. "

What makes you think this? You said it worked, what's the problem and why would it make your hair darker? My recommendation? Carry on with this. It's MUCH better than the wella toners. I'm sick of seeing you tubers sing the praises of it in videos where the lighting is either terrible so you can't see the true colour or they've very obviously filtered the video so it looks the right colour. Added to that, it's really damaging. It's high in ammonia which is very harsh. Stick with something you tried and worked. The Wella is actually more likely to build up and become too dark over time.

"Dilemma #3"

The package of what? Bleach? Is it to put on before you bleach? I need some more details 🙂

Thanks for such a quick response!

For the 1st issue, i think my problem is that I can't really tell the lightness when the hair has the bleach on it.

For the second issue, thank you! Everyone raves about toners but having them do absolutely nothing for me was a mystery for me.

For the 3rd, it's the protecting cream that comes with the loreal highlighting kit.
By the way, I noticed that 6.3 and 8.0 both come with 35V developer which is confusing to me, since one promises blond hair while the other promises brown. On the developer bottle there are other initials such as N which I can only assume means Neutral, so I'm wondering if the developer has other stuff in it?

So, is it something you are supposed to put on before bleach or is it a conditioner to use after?

In bleach, as with most things, it's not all one sided. It's not only the peroxide that's working. However, they use strong peroxide to make sure it works for as many people as possible. It's why I won't use kits or blonde dyes. I'd rather buy a really good quality bleach and a lower volume peroxide.

To check the hair while it's got bleach on it, just scrap some bleach off. then just recover it. I find that it's always slightly darker than it looks while the bleach is on so a leave it a few more minutes before washing it off.

Also, another good way to work out how long it needs is to do a strand test. If you have a lot of hair, cut a small sample from a place it won't be seen.otherwise, save brush hair. You can do it directly on your head, but you have to make sure you don't rebleach it later. Put bleach on the strand, wrap it up and keep it warm (no more than body temp, a pocket is a good choice). Then check it every five minutes. Once it reaches the desired colour, make a note of how long it took. It's not 100% guaranteed timing, you still need to watch what's going on when it's on your head, but it's a good guide.

It's something to mix in with the bleach/developer, but like you say, maybe stuff in kits are no good. What brand of bleach do you recommend?

Also what is your opinion of putting coconut oil on the hair before bleaching? Would it be possible to put the coconut oil directly into the bleach mixture?

moderator combined posts

I can answer the question on coconut oil now, I couldn't before as it wasn't clear if this was something you'd use in place of coconut oil or something else. Use both. If you want to use the kit, then just do the coconut oil and use the additive. There shouldn't be a problem, but you could strand test it first.

No, don't put oil in the bleach mixture. The important thing is to put the oil on at least an hour before, preferably the night before.

Blondor and Blondeme are both bleaches I rate highly. I use the white Ines as it's easier to get a truer idea of what colour your hair is turning.

(Btw, please try and avoid double posting, it's one of the forum rules. If no one has replied since your last message use the "modify" to edit your post 🙂 )

Thanks! I was wondering for the Wella and Schwaz bleaches, can they be used with a loreal developer or is that a bad idea? I have been using Loreal's quick blue, could that be why my hair is really brassy? Or are the bleaches you recommend just good for not damaging?

Another question, since my hair has already been bleached a couple times with loreal, is it a lost cause at this point?

Right, yes, I forgot it was already bleached. Don't bleach it again. After all that 🙂

At the very most, but even then I wouldn't recommend it for at the very least a month, do a bleach bath.

Can you post a photo of your hair as it is now?

Is a bleach bath just watered down bleach? I found a picture, it's not very good, but it gives you an idea of the color now, I'm the one on the right.

By the way, it's been at least a month since my last bleach, so I think the hair has recovered by now.

moderator combined posts

Can you not post a selfie of some kind? The tricky thing with photos like that is you're so far back it's hard to see in the first place, but also, with that kind of lighting, the colour is distorted. It can look paler, darker, more yellow, less yellow etc etc.

However, if that is a decent representation of how it is, then yeah, t18 would never have worked on that. It looks like there's a fair bit of orange in there and t18 just isn't made to tone orange. You need blue to tone orange, but even then it won't go blonder, it'll go more brown.

The month isn't really to allow hair to recover, it never really does, thought you can patch it up with protein etc, it's always temporary and washes out. What you're actually waiting for is to see if there's a lot of damage. Obviously, we can't judge this for you because we can't touch it. You have to do that, and you have to be very honest with yourself about it. This includes washing your hair with a clarifying shampoo with no conditioner and drying it to give yourself a true idea of the condition. The fact that you left the bleach in for such a short time each time is in your favour though. Using such a strong peroxide though, isn't.

Yes, a bleach bath is essentially watered down bleach. You don't need the full strength of bleach anymore. Full strength bleach can lift up to 9 levels and you don't need anything near that.

(Again, please use the modify post button and edit your posts rather than double post. It's part of the forum rules you should have read before being allowed to post)