I'm gonna go blonde by myself- any advice appreciated!

Queries

When I was younger (quite a few years ago), when I bleached my hair (which was getting darker yearly), I would do it myself for the - then price of about £2. What made it work better, was - daft as it may seem - covering my head with a carrier-bag to increase the heat and the potential to be a blonde or a very, white blonde, depending on how I felt.

If you decide to follow this route, then please make sure you have a decent conditioner to hand (I used to use coloured hair dyes in those days, which conditioned).

But definitely do a strand-test first. Good Luck!!

jenniewb

Thanks, I have half a pot of Kerastase Masquintense and a few other fairly decent masques. I think its a case of doing things bit by bit from what I understand. I'll probably in effect go blonde next month, but it wont be without taking small steps bit-by-bit until that happens!

Fire_Fox

jenniewb wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

So maybe if I take it a bit more slowly...I've read here and in other places that its best to do a box-colour-stripper more then once, I'm wondering if I wait about 6 weeks apart between doing just that I may reduce some of the harm. But not before doing a protein treatment before either and a moisturising treatment afterwards/once a week.

Not sure I fully understand what you are intending to do and when. You can do up to three colour strippers and you don't have to leave a massive gap between each. IME and from reading on forums you need to follow the instructions to the letter - make sure your head is really warm, you time the rinsing, you really do agitate your hair throughout.

IIRC some of the colour strippers packages recommend waiting a month before processing, this is mainly to ensure all the colour molecules are out of the hair. If you overdo the conditioning or styling products - which is tempting because your hair feels horrible - you might in theory trap the colour molecules in the hair or block the colour stripper from working.

Most intensive conditioners/ hair masks don't contain ingredients that genuinely do anything more than coat the hair in silicones to give faux softness, slip and shine. Few ingredients have molecules small enough to penetrate hair, small fatty acids like lauric acid and hydrolysed proteins (as in your Aphogee, not any old proteins) are a couple of the exceptions.

System

You can do up to three colour strippers and you don't have to leave a massive gap between each. IME and from reading on forums you need to follow the instructions to the letter - make sure your head is really warm, you time the rinsing, you really do agitate your hair throughout.

I used at least 5 boxes of colour strippers on my hair. I know the box said only 3 but i was desperate to get rid of the colour.

It has to be said, it lifted a lot of the colour out but not all but the more times i applied it the stronger the stink was and it didnt dissappear when my hair was dry either.

I ended up cutting it off in the end and getting my friend to fix the mess i'd made of it. Its really short now and i hate it but at least it will grow and the smell of rotten eggs is finally in the distant past.:)

Fire_Fox

Judi wrote: »

I used at least 5 boxes of colour strippers on my hair. I know the box said only 3 but i was desperate to get rid of the colour.

It has to be said, it lifted a lot of the colour out but not all but the more times i applied it the stronger the stink was and it didnt dissappear when my hair was dry either.

I ended up cutting it off in the end and getting my friend to fix the mess i'd made of it. Its really short now and i hate it but at least it will grow and the smell of rotten eggs is finally in the distant past.:)

Sorry to hear that, did you get a better result on the strand tests?

As I said "If the dark won't lift with a colour stripper you may have cuticle staining OR have melted the colour onto your hair permanently with silicones and straighteners. No bleach will get that out."

I've used colour strippers seven times but not all at one time! I have what I believe to be cuticle staining, hence the lengths 'only' lifting to strawberry blonde - being mouse I have no natural red in my hair.

I never had any problem with my hair holding the smell after the next wash, but I have heard of others that did. Maybe it's because you used the product so many times it absorbed into your hair, maybe you didn't rinse and agitate effectively, maybe there is another product in your routine that was sealing the residue in, no idea.

Once you have dyed your hair there is never any guarantee of what you will get with a colour stripper, I was impressed how honest and detailed the instructions are. But there is the same risk of an unsatisfactory or uneven result with bleach, and the added risk of frying your hair. :eek: As always strand tests are essential.

jenniewb

Just wanted to say thankyou for the replies- I was hoping to do this on Saturday (one application) but I'm really really not very well at all right now and unless by miracle I wont be able to do this on Saturday, I'll keep you posted...