Winnie Princess Virgin Hair Course: Article: How to Bleach Your Hair

Going blonde is a process. You have to have patience, especially my dark-haired ladies! It's best to bleach lightly many times with deep conditions in between.

1. Prepping for the Bleach

Bleaching can be a very damaging process, so you want to make sure your hair is at its healthiest. Keep it moisturized by using deep conditioners and hair masks.

If you're trying to have ballin' hair on a budget, look around for conditioners at home! Olive oil works great as a deep conditioner. Work a tablespoon or two into your hair until it's all saturated. Secure your hair with a giant clip, and wear a shower cap if possible - you don't want to get olive oil everywhere. Leave it on for at least 30 minutes, then wash out with shampoo. I used to leave it on for about an hour and a half, and the results were great - my hair was soft, smooth, and shining.

2. Products and Tools You'll Need to Bleach Your Hair

A bleach kit may not be up to the task!

Manic Panic's "Flashlightning" bleach kit didn't work well for me, because there wasn't enough bleach powder for all of my hair. My hair is thick and dark, and it was not cooperating with the small amount of mixture provided in the kit. Though if you don't have too much hair, you could try the kit.

What worked better for me is that I bought the items below on sale, and ended up spending around $20.

Bleach powder: I got a giant tub, and it has lasted me for 2 full bleaches, 2 root touch-ups, and an ombre job I did on a friend. And I still have a good quarter of the container left over!
Developer: I bought 40-volume developer when I went blonde. My hair was very resistant to the 30-volume developer I used before, and I was getting fed up. HOWEVER it is much safer for your hair if you use a low volume (10 or 20) several times. You can purchase cream or clear developer, though clear is usually cheaper.
Hair dye brush: Use this to apply the powder/developer mixture, any old one will do.
Generic brand purple shampoo: Yes, the brand is called “Generic.” It’s relatively cheap, and is used to take the orange-yellow tones out of bleached hair. It's a good thing to have around right after bleaching, and for later on if the yellow tones start coming back.
Toner: If you are going for platinum or any sort of blonde, you'll want to get toner, but if you're bleaching your hair to put some other fancy color in it, you probably won't need the toner.
Mixing bowl (preferably glass), gloves, tin foil, and a giant hair clip.