My salon bleaching experience. I am blond now!

Hi guys! It has been such a long time since I last dyed my hair and update this blog. This time, I am back with a very detailed entry about my salon experience. If you follow me on Facebook, you probably knew I dyed my hair in the beginning of the week. This is my first time going to a salon to get my hair bleached and I have learned so much from them. Therefore, I am writing this to share with you about my experience and new knowledge

Let me show you the before and after photo

You can see the change is drastic! It was a long process to achieve the final hair color. First, the hairdresser evaluated my hair condition and the color I had on. She asked question about my hair history, what i had done with it and when. As you could see, my original hair had at least 3 colors on it so she pulled out a bunch of shades (think pantone pallets!) to match with my hair condition. I had decided to chop off my hair so she didn’t have to match the tail color but the roots and the middle. After evaluation, I went to wash chair and got the green part chopped off. Afterwards, the bleaching started.

As you can see she put a lot of bleaching mix on my hair, this is where I learned that I have been using too little bleaching mixture. I think she used the strongest hydropeoxide on me, which means 40 vol. She put it on my hair evenly, 2 cm from root to tail and then the roots. I think that was the first time I ever have bleach that close to my roots. It was painful, felt like burning. She left it for about 20 mins and then washed off with cold water.

Here’s the result

I was frightened. Mostly how blonde I was but also how weird my hair color was. It had a dark spot on top of my head, some of the green was still there and even ginger shade near the tail. Bleaching with Asian hair is definitely tricky.

The supervisor of my hairdresser said that they would now need to dye my hair. The top would be dyed with a cool blonde tone and the bottom would be dye with a cooper blonde tone. The idea behind this is to even out the color pigments in my hair, as the top’s color wasn’t even and the bottom’s one was greenish (red neutral green. Color wheel). So there went, I had to endure another 20 mins of burning sensation. But it was definitely worth it!

What I have learned after the experience
1. When making bleacher, mix in a little bit of warm water. This will keep your hair from drying out through the process.
2. Use a lot of bleacher on your hair! Make sure it is soaked in bleacher and it should feel frothy on your head, not roughly.
3. Last but not least, it is very tricky to bleach dark hair, so I still suggest going to the salon for bleaching after all of my entries in this blog. It’s good to know what you should do to achieve the color you want! But if you are not sure, go to the professionals. Also plus point is they know how to put the chemical mixture evenly on your hair.

Even though I had intended to go red after the bleach, I felt in love with the color and all the effort to create it (it took 6 hours), so I decided to be a blondie for a while! Adventure of a blondie ahead!

Until next time!

Emily

Hairdye 6: Keeping it fabulous

Okay. So in the previous entry. We learnt how to remove the color from your hair. In this entry, we will discuss an opposite matter. How to keep the color on, for longer and more vibrant.

Rule 1: Wash your hair with cold water. Simple, isn’t it?

Rule 2: Blow dry. Oops. I mean using your hair dryer and blow around your hair when applying semi permanent color. Warm temperature makes the color absorb better.

Rule 3: Don’t wash your hair too much. Prefer using conditioner to wash your hair in the first week or if you can. Don’t wash it at all.

Rule 4: After dye, stay away from heat, direct sun, swimming pool, hair product contain alcohol.

Rule 5: Vinegar mix. Create a liquid mixture of vinegar and water, ratio 1:1 and use it as a conditioner right after dye. Leave in for few minute and then wash away

 

That’s all so far. If you have your own tips. Please let me know in the comment section below!

Hairdye 5: How to remove your old hair color?

The process of changing my friend’s hair color is longer than I thought so while waiting for that practical entry, why don’t we learn something new! How to remove your old hair color.  I wrote this entry since it happened to me last month, the old yellow mix with the black ( blue undertone) and created a green/jade shade. Oh my :(

Dying is putting color pigment on your hair, whatever type of dye you use, it still fade away but if you let it naturally then it takes probably 6 months to go away completely. So what are you gonna do when you want to change your color? Remember to take away all the old color completely before putting on new color. Otherwise, it will mix together and create unwanted results. The method s listed below are also things that you SHOULDN’T do if you want to keep your beautifully color stay.

The order of the method is from slowest to the fastest (which also harm your hair)

1. These methods provide gradually fading which also what you should avoid to keep your hair color
   • Hot oil treatment
   • Alcohol based hair product like hair spray, mousse, gel…
   • Exposing to water and sun light
   • Swimming in a swimming pool (should wear a silicon swim cap)
   • Sprinkle a spoon of baking soda to your shampoo and knead into your hair
   • Washing hair with harsh shampoo like anti dandruff, clarifying, deep cleansing or all purpose ( the one that guys use for both hair and body Eww)
2. The result is vary from people so if you patient enough then I recommend using above methods. If all are fail then here is the tough one.

The number will indicate the ratio of the chemical

• 3 Developer
• 2 Bleach Powder
• 2 Clarifying shampoo
• 2 conditioner for dry hair

Mix all the chemical together and create a liquid mixture

Apply to your dry hair quickly then start kneading gently

Leave in for 5-10 minute, remember to check your hair frequently

Wash away with WARM water

Shampoo and deep conditioning.

The second method is quite similar to bleaching so it will harm your hair and you need to be careful with it!

Any question? You know where to ask!

Source: manicpanic.com

Hairdye 4: Bleach Bath (For dark hair color)

I know I have been lazy for so long and I am so sorry about that. No more procrastinating, I am here and give you what you have been waiting for. How to do bleach bath

Bleach bath. Simply it’s bleaching your hair. However, it’s not as strong as normal bleach due to the chemical used, which we will know later. It is recommend to lighten your hair slowly, week by week. The last result is the same as normal bleaching but the progress take longer. If you have dark base hair color, bleaching few times (3 months gap) would help but it’ll damage your hair so bad. Trust me! Bleach bath is for you. Do it once a week or once in a fortnight.

Here is the how to

Equipment and chemical

Mixing bowl, tint brush, gloves, comb…basic stuffs (Check my first entry)

Bleach creme developer: They normally  have 5 different volume (strength) 10 to 50 and 50 is the strongest. I recommend using 30 or 40 vol since we will use it in a long run. Be patient!

Bleach powder

Shampoo: Normal one, clarifying one is the best (the one that use to make your hair smooth all the way)

Remember what I told you about the orangish after bleach? So if you don’t want it make sure to have a bottle of toner around to tone it down to brown/hazel/platinum…

The steps are quite simple
1. Mixing the developer, powder and shampoo in the bowl. The ratio is 1:1:1 so it’s quite easy to achieve this ratio.
2. Apply the mixture on your damp hair from the top to the root.
3. Keep it in by putting on a shower cap for a while. 15-20 minute is what I recommend. DON’T keep it longer than the time stated on the developer bottle or bleach powder box.
4. Rinse it away with cold water.

Bleaching bath is lighter so it will give you result little by little. Be patient and repeat it every week or two and you will have really nice blonde hair. It also use when you want to remove the color that you have already dye on your hairs.The brand used in the photo is not examples. Just what i found on google.

If you have any question. Feel free to ask!

Hairdye 1: The basics (1) What you need to know when you start dye your hair

How it works: What did hair dye do to your hair? Basically, dying is using chemical product to break the cell of your hair, wash out the original color pigments and then replace it with new ones. This will damage your hair (Of course). So if you dye your hair too much it will cause split-end, dryness and tangle.

Whether you choose to dye your hair by yourself or having it done in a salon. Here are the most simple things you need to know about this interesting activity.

I Equipment

1. Mixing bowl

You can use either an old porcelain or plastics bowl but just remember NEVER use metal bowl. It will react with chemical ingredients in dye.

2. Tint brush

There are 2 types of tint brush: the one with comb and the separate one as shown on the photo. I recommend using this one cause it will be easier when you need precision on your hair.

3. Gloves

ALWAYS wear gloves when dying your hair. It’s for your own safety since you work with chemical liquid. Face mask is option but if you can get one then it’s better. The type of glove I recommend is the surgery gloves as shown above, it’s fit to your hand perfectly and therefore, easier to proceed.

4. Comb

Use the comb with tight cog so you can separate hair precisely and the dye being distribute more even. And a reminder, use PLASTIC comb.

5. Duck hair clipper

This one is used to keep your hair parted so that it won’t stick together. Helps you easier to dye. Not really compulsory but recommend. Again, use PLASTIC.

6. Others

There are a few stuffs which used as tips so I will talk about it later in the coming entries.

II Dye

In whole, there are 4 types of hair dye. However, we don’t need to be hair expert so I will list here only 2 most popular types.

1 Permanent

This type of dye with completely change your hair color. The ingredients mostly are Hydro Peoxide and Ammonia. It works as mentioned above, break the cell and put new color pigment to your hair. This make your hair thinner (of course lighter) and stiffer. It is not recommend to use regularly. The gap between two dye should be at least 3 months and your hair need to be take care of very carefully after dyed.

For example, if you choose reddish shade and your natural hair is dark brown, red is a strong color so you will have brown reddish after dye. However , after 12 times washed, the reddish fade away, leaving you with a shade of light brown or brown yellow. This is the color of your hair after being washed-out. The part dyed can’t go back to the original color even you wash it thousands times!

This is the reason why this type of dye is only available in close-to-natural shades and produced by famous brands like Schwarzkopf, L’Oreal, Dermalogica, Garnier… If you found blue in this category, trust me, it won’t be that blue you want.

2 Semi-permanent

Let’s imagine this type as a paint pot and you will paint your hair. It will provide you super vivid shade. Some strong shade even work great on unprocessed hair/ dark hair( I will talk about this on the next entry). However (oh yes, it is, I hate it :( ), this color only last for 4-5 times washed. It’s not strong enough to stay for long, it will fade away after every wash. If you have processed hair/bleached hair it will stay as stain, the color still fade away. The great thing about semi-permanent dye is that it won’t really damage your hair, it allow you to change your color every month or even every week (but this option is harmful, I bet)

This type of dye is usually provided by smaller brands. But if you love to have a rainbow hair color, you must have know these “big boss” : Manic Panic, Directions, Fudge…

This is Manic Panic’s color chart. Cool, huh?

So that’s all for the first entry. New one will come if I am not too lazy. ;)

xoxo

Emily