I take hair styling seriously and knowing how to bleach hair at home is one skill I’m proud of.
What You Need To Know About How To Bleach Hair At Home
Every now and then, we all get that itch to learn how to bleach hair and the next question is usually: Should I do it myself? Or should I have it done professionally? Bleaching hair on your own can be such a pain but this is why I’m giving you a rundown of what you need to know and how to bleach hair if you don’t want to spend a fortune. You can definitely do it at home – although a professional job will be so much less hassle and could be a lot safer for you if your scalp is on the sensitive side.
What You’ll Need:
- Powder Hair Bleach
- 20 volume developer (for toning)
- 30 volume developer (for bleaching)
- Gloves
- Plastic bowl
- Plastic spoon to mix
- Hairdye brush
- Toner
- Hair clips for sectioning
For starters, it’s always better to do it with a friend. Ask your sister or your best friend to help you out in the process, it can get messy and it will be a definite arm workout, but if you’re willing to go through all that then let’s do it.
If it’s your first time knowing how to bleach your hair at home, another thing to note is that it’s easier to bleach short hair. Duhh! But I’m putting this out there because some people tend to underestimate the process if you want a bleach that is even and flawless, do it when you have short hair. Otherwise, let’s go ahead anyway.
Although this is optional, I recommend using foil for longer hair because it’s easier and less costly to do it that way than, let’s say bleaching your long hair all at once. Short hair would not need foil unless there is some length to work with. For pixie short hair, just generously apply all over.
What You Need To Know
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSN251QDzP5/?taken-by=the_styling_room_pn
This is important! Especially for those who are just learning how to bleach hair at home. Bleaching is first and foremost a chemical reaction, so let’s talk a little bit about the science behind it. Bleaching is the process of removing pigment from the hair, lifting the colors to lighter levels, preferably blonde. Toning is the process of recoloring the hair to counteract harsh tones. After the bleaching process, what’s usually left on the hair is the warm pigments highly likely orange or yellow and this is what we are toning down. It’s all based on simple color theory, opposite colors neutralize each other. So, based on the color wheel, blue neutralizes orange, purple neutralizes yellow and this is why toners come in purple and blue.
Pre-Bleach Step
Condition the hair. Bleaching is a damaging process, it can literally melt hair and a lot of time it takes more than once to lighten the hair to the blonde you want. So be patient with it, in the mean time nourish your hair with protein and oil masks. I recommend you do this before you share this new found information on how to bleach hair at home.
Step 1: Prepare The Bleach
There are various bleaching kits out in the market, but depending on your hair length, you might need more than one kit. You can also get a separate bleaching powder and developer to mix your own. Starting with 20-30 volume developer, mix about 3-4 parts on 1 scoop of bleach, adjust the mixture depending on your hair length and mix thoroughly until smooth and no clumps appear.
Part of preparing is doing a bleach test. Do this by getting a strip of hair, preferably from the back of your head to test how the bleach will react to your hair if you have long hair cover with foil and note the time it took to reach the level of blonde you desire.
Remember, bleaching is a damaging process so it’s best to keep one session to the minimum amount of time required.
Step 2: Time to Bleach!
Section your hair into two, parting it in the middle. Clip one part to separate it from the other and start sectioning the loose part into five, starting with a part down to the ears. Using a hair dye brush, apply the bleach solution to hair covering the roots well starting with the section from the bottom, (optional) cover with foil and do the same to the other sections.
Try to do this as thorough but as fast as possible so the time difference per hair section isn’t too far apart that way you can rinse all the sections out at the same time. However, if it seems like a feat, just be sure to take note of the time for each section of hair.
Step 3: Rinse It Out
If you’re using foil, check the inside every now and then to see whether the color has lifted to the level you desire, when it’s good enough, take out the foils and rinse them out with cold water and shampoo to help in the burning sensation on your scalp. Normally when bleaching from dark hair you will have orange tones left behind and that’s perfectly fine, please don’t rush to bleaching it again on the same day because it will damage your hair.
Step 4: Two Times The Charm
If you’re starting out with dark or brunette hair you may have to do the bleaching twice; in which case I recommend doing the second bleach a week after to give your hair time to recover. Condition hair with hair treatments to strengthen the strands and get them ready for another round. This is a necessary step in learning how to bleach hair at home.
Step 5: Tone It Down
Now, you probably have the desired blonde you wish to achieve but is still left with a little bit of yellow and orange tones to it. This is the time we apply the toner. Do this my mixing 1 part toner to 20 volume developer. Adjust the mixture depending on your hair length and cover your whole head with it. Let it sit for about 30-40 minutes then rinse and condition. For some reason, the toning process hurts a bit more than the bleaching process and if it gets too painful, rinse it out immediately than risking a chemical burn on your scalp. You can also use a purple shampoo to help tone down the brassiness.
Check out how Mimi Markova bleached her black hair at home:
I hope you found this step by step instruction helpful and that it has inspired you to observe proper measures when bleaching hair at home because it’s a very real thing to accidentally melt your own hair and to also to care for your it.
Tell us about your experience on bleaching your hair at home in the comments section below; and if you find that a full bleach might be a little too much for you, check out these awesome highlights that might inspire you.
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