
So I know its been what seems like forever , but its that time of year again ! The biannual bleaching of my roots ! Yay ! Or not . I’m so lazy when it comes to retouching my dark roots , and sometimes that can be kind of bad when it comes to banding . And I know I will have to do some touch ups in two weeks , that gives my hair some time rest and restore the natural oils.
So on to the review of the products themselves.
Oh wait but first I need to add another product that is super important:

Yup it doesn’t have to be fancy or even organic , this is just the brand I like since its unrefined and smells so tropical. But coconut oil is a must for hair bleaching , as well as for after care. Now some people will tell you its best to oil overnight and sleep with you hair covered in it. But I toss and turn too much, have dogs, and a fiance so no overnight oil soaks for me . But I do like prepping my hair a few hours before the big bleaching . I try to really saturate my roots and even my ends . I started doing this to lessen damage but I heard from a few bleach veterans that this can also speed up the lightning process. So my personal advice is to definately have some coconut oil, or olive oil if you are an individual that is sensitive to coconut.
Wella Powder Lightner:

So my experiance with blaching my hair through 8 or 9 years has been a learning experiance. I originally had a friend help me with some streaks and we used either the Manic Panic brand bleach or one of the other brands that you find at Sally’s. it worked okay but left my hair like straw , and didn’t lift as high as it should. plus I needed so many packages for my thick dark hair. Later I tried the Kaleidoscope lightner, also needed a ton of that as well, Salon Care , and even Splat! bleach. many of those had a super harsh scent, some cause my scalp itchiness, breakage,and Splat couldn’t bleach my hair past the orange brown state. So yeah it was with great relief a few years ago that I found Wella Powder Lightener. This stuff really does work and it does lift the 7 levels. I’ll explain a bit on levels too. the hair charts for color are by numbers, very dark black hair is usually a level 1 , which is approximately what my natural hair color is. The lightest color on the chart is is a 10( lightest platinum blonde) and 11 which is pretty much silver white.
Now my goal is eventully platinum , but I like going low and slow, So I bleach about seven levels in one session , tone and then let my hair rest for either one or two weeks. this has really helped me keep length and avoid chemical hair cuts. This powder really works for this and its pretty gentle as well. The big tub is priced at about $20 but this works well for touching up roots. Of course if you have lighter colored hair you probably won’t need as much, plus you don’t have to leave it on quite as long. I usually mix with the 20 devoloper , and use a tint brush to paint it on my roots. I try to use clips and hair ties to hold up the rest of my hair since I usually do my hair solo. Also another perk is this is a dust free formula , so you don’t have to worry about getting it everywhere, and no harsh smell either.
Wella Cream Developer Volume 20

So a long time ago like when I was younger and not too hair savvy , I used 40 volume devoloper. And it was probably horrible. Like it would bleach my hair fast , but it would also cause it to break off. and really I don’t think it really got me to the actual level of blonde I wanted either. I would still have loads of brass and would still need to tone. Then I started using Wella 20, and yes I still have some brass and my hair is still an amber blonde color. But its definately stronger and healthier . Plus I can use this with the Wella toner without having to worry too much about additional damage. When mixed with the powder it has a bit of a cream or conditioner style consistency. I use about one scoop of powder and pour in bit of the devolper till it gets that nice condintioner look, and I try to work fast since I don’t want the bleadch to dry out. I do use some foils to keep heat on my head but I do check my hair alot to make sure its working. Also if its your first time I would reccomend doing a strand test first. I do leave this in my hair for the max time reccomended which is 50 minutes, while checking on my hair every 5-10 minutes.
Wella T18 Lightest Ash Blonde Color Charm Toner
Finally after all that and rinsing out my hair , I can finally tone it. This has been a literal life saver for me. I’ve gotten to a pale blonde banana color before and added this and achieve silver/platinum before. But because I let my roots go so long , there are still Level 6 or 7 blonde parts. So until then I toned and achieve a bit more livable color, at least until I can redo them. I’ll probably use it again after my next bleach job , but I’ll leave it on for less time . Sometimes when you leave it on for 20 minutes you can an almost purple grey look, rather than platinum. Also if your hair slightly more damaged and you don’t want to use a toner since it may be a bit harsh I would reccomend using a purple conditoner or even mixing some white conditioner witha drop of violet hair dye(punky violet). It will definately help tone out the yellow tones for an icy look. Oh and if you have a bit more orange tones I would suggest T14 which is more of a blue based toner.And lastly this does kind of have a chemical smell to it , so definately use in a ventilated area. its smells way more strong than even the bleach.
Before

So I really tried to keep the pink in my hair, but as soon as I rinsed the bleach out it ran down my ends and the pink just rinsed out too. I had it forever but the bleach was too strong. hopefully I don’t have any staining in the future since I know getting bleach on colors can sometimes stain the pigment in your hair.
After

Well after all that I used some argon oil and a new conditoner with soy,argon oil and coconut oil to replenish the oils my hair needs. My hair is a bit strange, no real damage but I do need to let it rest for a bit. I do like that some of my pale pink is there, but wish the back was lighter.


So yes I need to retouch, but thats going to be a while. Until then I shall embrace my wierd look for now, better to have strange hair than burnt hair. And yes banding does happen when you are like me and let your roots grow out too long. I think next time I will touch up my roots when they are an inch or two rather than how long they were this time. And of course if you have lighter hair you will definately have brighter results. my second bleach stage I actually leave the products on for a lot less time. I aim for pale banana yellow and then tone with either T18 or violet conditioner . So I’ll probably do a part two with the results in two weeks. Some sites online say 10 days but I think two weeks is safer. Also my hair is kind of thick , so if you have thinner hair I would probably not leave it on for 50 minutes but maybe 30 or 25. Natural and curly haired girls I would reccomnd watching it since I know sometimes bleaching can alter your curl pattern. But its definately possible to lighten dark hair , it just takes time, patience and sometimes a second session. And I should probably note that yes I could do this at salon,but I always worry about people messing up my hair.I’ve had it done before with mixed results at salon , and I feel like if anoyone is going to make a mistake with my hair it should be me . That way I don’t freak out the poor salon lady too. So if you guys have any questions let me know. I tried to cover all the bases but I may have forgotten to add a few things.
This is such detailed post on hair bleaching..this is something new for me which i really want to explore
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Thanks ☺️I’m glad to be of help . Let me onow if you hve any more questions . Also go slow when you do your first bleaching .
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At least you can do your own hair wow came out nice
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Thanks ☺️It was all trial and error for a few years but I think I have my technique down😊
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Wow, this is so detailed!
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Thanks ☺️
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Hello, I know this is an old post but it helped me with my first time bleaching my own hair 🙂 I’m just curious though as I also used the wella products do you find that they leave a pretty heavy bleach smell in your hair or am I needing to find a more scented product to cover this?
Thank you
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I do sometimes have that bleach smell after a round , I try rinse my hair out really well in the shower with shampoo and conditioner. It may be due to how porous you hair is that the chemical scent is staying . It does fade . I would try take care of your hair with some moisturizing treatments. Leave in conditioners can help , like the Marc Anthony leave in conditioner.
And thanks for reading . Hope that helps .
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