Valles doesn't recommend bleaching hair with just peroxide, as it can cause hair to look very brassy and doesn’t lift as strongly as bleach does. This combo removes the natural pigment in the hair strand and helps open the hair cuticle to allow the bleach to easily strip the color. What are the different ways to bleach hair at home?įor an all-over, full-dye blonde job: Use hydrogen peroxide mixed with hair bleach. If you've never chemically-treated or colored your hair, consider yourself lucky you have a better chance of not damaging your hair if you decide to do a DIY bleach job. "The roots are virgin hair that has not been chemically-treated," she explains. One way to prevent damage is to bleach just your roots instead of your whole head. Valles typically looks at the hair to make sure it’s not too dry, overly chemically-treated, and doesn't have a ton of split ends. You ideally want to start with healthy hair before bleaching. Valles advises working your way up through different levels of blonde with enough time, ideally a few months, in between each bleaching to let your hair heal.
"If you’re doing it at home, always carefully follow the instructions on the package." That said, if you have dark hair and want to go platinum, you can’t reach that level of lightening with one round of bleach.
"When you are in the salon, colorists are careful to not leave in any hair lightening products for too long or use high volume developers that can cause damage," she explains. First things first: Is bleaching your own hair a bad idea?