Hair color advice

Well, for other peoples opinions... It's difficult to judge. It depends where you are and how conservative an area it is. I've lived in conservative parts of the UK and had constant comments, to the point I got upset and dyed my hair black. That was 10 years ago now though, alternative colours have become more common since then so it might be better now.

I'm now living in an area that has a lot of students and is more open generally. Lots of men have their hair dyed lots of colours and for the most part they're just ignored now. I'm sure they get some comments, but I'm sure it's no worse than I've had seeing as I'm female.

For family and friends, it depends on them! Do you care what they think? Will it upset them?

Basically, you find that a lot of us that dye our hair do it despite what others think. It just feels more natural somehow. It's hard to explain!

For colouring, totally depends on what you want. Can't advise until we know what you're thinking 🙂

I live in a college town, so it may not be that bad. As for color I'm thinking light or bright is the way I should go seeing as I'm pretty pale, but don't know to much on the process of actually doing it, what's safe what's not? Am I better off going somewhere to get it done for the first time?

Yeah, but blonde? Pink? Green? Copper? They kind of all have a similar starting point, but aren't the same. You kind of need to get down an idea of what you want before we can go further.

I would say blonde keep it simple somewhat for the first time.

You should also consider the dress/appearance code where you work (assuming you do) or want to work.  Many places have a "natural colours only" policy.

Thanks for all the helpful tips guys, I'm really considering going light blonde, or silver. Any pros and cons I should be aware of? Best brands to use? Should I do it myself? What will upkeep be like?

Best to go with one thing at a time or we can write posts that are paragraphs long and you'll just be confused 🙂

If you want pale blonde you need a good quality bleach, I like blondor or blondeme. This is the most important part. It will save you a lot of damage. Then as you're already blonde, get a 10vol peroxide. The lower the vol peroxide the slower it works. You don't need it to work fast.

Wash it off when you get to a pale yellow, like the inside of a banana.

You then want a purple shampoo. This is for pale blonde, white or silver.

For pale neautral to warm blonde, just wash with the purple shampoo.

For pale ash blonde, leave the shampoo in for a minute or two.

For white, leave it in slightly longer. For silver even longer. This can take a bit of experimentation but it's the least damaging and most flexible way of achieving white or silver.

I personally would always do it myself. It's up to you, but I've heard (and experienced) too many bad bleach jobs in salons. People get it wrong all the time, but listen to advice and do it right and you'll be fine. Ignore most of what you see on YouTube.

Thanks

I have super sensitive skin, what would be the least harmful way to bleach my hair from dirty blonde, down to a yellow tone from which I can then move to silver. PS I will patch test anything first

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Use coconut oil on your hair and scalp before you bleach. Leave it on while bleaching. It's the best way. The lower volume peroxide you use though helps reduce likelyhood of burns though. Skin sensitivity doesn't have that much to do with chemical burns, but it can be a bit worse for those of us with sensitive skin. I have dark hair and sensitive skin so have to use a fairly high volume peroxide. I do have a bit of an issue with a few tiny mild burns most times I bleach, but not bad at all.

Oh, another thing is be gentle when applying. Don't scrub it in to apply it close to the roots. I had hairdresser do that to me once and it caused me a lot of pain at the time and mild chemical burns but all over my scalp. You'll then have dozens of little scabs all over your scalp and it's not much fun to go through as they fall off (or if you're a picker like me and spend the next two weeks picking at the scabs and making them worse!)

Very few people are allergic to bleach, unlike dyes which contain ppd. That is what most people are allergic to. Any issues you will have will likely be in the chemical burn area but with a low volume peroxide and coconut oil you should be fine.

Thanks for the advice

My natural colour is somewhere between dirty blonde and light brown and it's easy to bleach to a light blonde with a good bleach powder and 10 vol developer. How long is your hair? I have to apply the bleach mixture to the lengths first and then the roots so that the roots don't take too quickly but if your hair is short this probably would be pointless or difficult!

My hair is very short

You'll be ok then, it should take evenly and it won't take you long to apply it