White hair tutorial

Ive had a few people ask me how to achieve white hair, so i thought id make a tutorial so i can share with all of you.

Firstly, going white is a big commitment, you need to be very patient and be willing to go through the nasty ginger/blonde stages, but belive me its worth it =]
I know alot of people who have just gone "f it, im just gonna bleach the hell out of it" - DONT! you WILL regret it, it'll slowly break off and you'll most likely have it cut really short, also bleaching the hell out it can result in bleach burns to your scalp and hair like chewing gum.

What you'll need..

1) (If you already have colour present in your hair) Colour B4 or Colour B4 extra strength, this is a colour stripper, if you remove most of the unwanted colour molecules before bleaching your hair condition will benefit alot more from it.

2) 30 VOL poroxide, i use "B Blonde or HARA" Mix 1 Sachet of Bleach powder with 2 or 3 of the liquid poroxide bottles, i find the runnier the solution the easier it is to spread through your hair.

3) Tin Foil
When bleached hair is covered in foil, it traps the heat in, allowing the cuticle scales to open and speed up the bleaching process.

4) Joico Violet shampoo
This shampoo removes the yellow tones from your hair, so when you're at that light blonde stage, it really helps your hair stay white over a longer period of time (when shampooed with every day/couple of days)

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&q=joico+violet+shampoo&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=9077884983827873338&sa=X&ei=6omPTbKpLYnIhAeDt_27Dg&ved=0CD4Q8wIwAA#

5) White Toner (White hair dye)
http://www.beeunique.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=71&products_id=2325

http://www.beeunique.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=102&products_id=3924

6) Reconstructing conditioner - VERY IMPORTANT
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&q=joico+penetrating+reconstructor&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=15232842053749542758&sa=X&ei=nY6PTbmLMtO0hAeGweW7Dg&ved=0CGAQ8wIwAA#

This Conditioning treatment is by far the best thing out on the market, its a bit pricey but its so worth it, your hair will be extremly dry and damaged after the process of bleaching, this conditioner will mend and reconstruct your hair from the inside out.

Step one. - Stripping out any previous colour
Follow the Instructions on the Colour b4 Leaflet, Stripping your hair will leave a blank canvas and will make it alot easier for you to start bleaching.

Step 2. Bleaching
A) Strand test. I always advise cutting off a small section (1 cm) of hair, from the root, laying it on tin foil and cover it with 30 vol bleach, then lay another peice of tin foil on top, keep an eye on it for 40-60 mins. This will give you a rough idea on how long it will take and how blonde it will go.

There are a few different ways of bleaching your hair.. there is..
a) Bleach bathing - tutorial here http://www.hairdyeforum.com/index.php?topic=995.0
b) Bleaching with Highlighting techniques, or bleaching in big streeks/sections, (I will make a tutorial for these techniques too)
(Always start with taking small sections of your hair and cover it from your midlengths to your tips, you will want to bleach your roots last, as they always bleach alot quicker and lighter, because its fresh hair and its warmer than the rest of your hair.)

Leave your bleach on your hair as until it goes blonde/light honey brown, no more than an hour. Rinse and use your Violet shampoo and cover your hair in your reconstructive conditioner, leave for 10 mins, then rinse, and condition again.

Your hair maybe a blonde/ginger colour, for the next month or so, wash every couple of days with your violet shampoo and condition with your reconstructor. Its SO important to give your hair the time to recover.

2nd round of bleaching
I recommend using the bleach bath technique this time, as its not as strong as the full head of pure bleach.
http://www.hairdyeforum.com/index.php?topic=995.0
Same again, Shampoo and use your Conditioner as much as you can, By now your shampoo would have removed almost all of the yellow in your hair, leaving it a ashy blonde

Your hair should be the pale side of a banana (but less yellow cos of the shampoo), if its still gingery or a dark blonde, again leave for another 3 weeks (condition the hell out of it!) then bleachbath again.

Toning
Now your hair should be a light blonde, and i mean white blonde, you're now ready to use your white hair dye.
So saturate your hair in the dye and leave for 20-30 mins.

And hopefully! it'll look something like this...
A pure snowy white which is rich, glossy and healthy

Alternatively you can take the more expensive root and go to your hairdresser and ask for a full head of chunky highlights, then have this overlapped a few times until your hair is light enough to put your white toner in.

I will be doing some highlighting and streeking tutorials soon with pics which will hopefully help =]

Good luck! =D