2nd Bleaching Adventure

Just like this time last year, I woke up one day and decided to go blonde. As I've said before, blonde is my natural hair color, but because of my dark eyebrows I tend to lean towards darker colors on myself. Since it it summertime though, I decided I would try for blonde again, and this time strove for success. 

Indeed I did succeed, yet not the color I strove for, but it's ok. I did research this time before jumping right in. I read articles online and watched many YouTube videos. My hair was dark purplish red with random black throughout it. (Please excuse the goofy look on my face, haha. I was at Lowe's.) Just in case anyone wants to know, the colors in my hair then were Ion Color Brilliance Permanent Creme Hair Color 1V Jet Black and I think 4RV Medium Burgundy Brown.

As I said, I watched many YouTube videos on how to bleach dark hair. These two are by far my faves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nRhhRPI4p4

Please excuse her voice. Yes it is kinda distracting, but she is very helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3cXcCmi6wM

I didn't see this one till a few days ago, but she a had a lot of helpful tips other videos didn't have.

I really recommend watching these if you want to bleach dark hair.

So, my goal was to reach Ion's HL-V Hi Lift Cool Blonde, which I didn't get, at least all over. I started bleaching my hair on a Monday, and reached my current color by Wednesday. I don't recommend doing what I did, just because it is so damaging to your hair, and I knew this going into it, but I have very strong hair so I knew it would survive. I bleached my hair twice on Monday, and once again on Tuesday. My hair went from orange to a lighter orange, so I went to Sally's and asked for a toner, but the rep said I should bleach again and use purple shampoo. I went home and bleached the third time and it still wasn't as pale a yellow as I would have liked, but was close enough. That night I slept with my hair drenched in hydrating conditioners, which made a big difference.Wednesday morning I went and had my hair cut, and had lots of layers put in to get rid of the fried ends. They weren't splitting or anything; just really dry. After I got home I applied the Hi Lift. After the third bleaching I had a few random orange streaks, which turned pink since I added a bronze corrector to the Hi Lift mixture. It pretty much just stained my hair.

Here's a list of the products I've used and their original prices. They're all from either Sally's or WalMart:

• Ion Color Brilliance Powder Lightener 1lb Tub ($20): I have a lot of hair and this tub didn't last me all three bleaches. It's got 5 stars on the Sally's site, but I read reviews for another which would have worked better I think.
• L'Oreal Quick Blue High Performance Powder Lightener 1oz ($4.79): I told the rep I have really thick hair, so she gave me two of these. Two of these didn't get through all of my hair. But I feel like the lightening process went a lot smoother with this one, esp when heat was applied.
• Ardell Red Gold Corrector Plus .125oz ($.99): I added this to the color mixture (not the bleach) and this turned the mixture pink, and thus stained my hair. Would not recommend if coloring hair really light. On the bright side, my hair was not brassy.
• Ion Sensitive Scalp 30 Volume Creme Developer 32oz ($5.69): I used this for each bleaching and color
• Ion Color Brilliance Permanent Creme Hair Color HL-V Hi Lift Cool Blonde ($5.29): I love Ion hair colors. They are super easy to apply and I've never had disasters with the outcome. The colors are very pigmented and bright. I did not achieve this color, but I think it's because I didn't bleach light enough. I would recommend Ion color to everyone!
• Biotera Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo ($7.39): I never thought my hair could feel too moisturized, but this one does it. Idk what it is, but when I use this product I can't brush my hair when it's wet and it takes forever to dry. But once it's dry my hair feel amazing.
• Clairol Shimmer Lights Shampoo and Conditioner ($12.49 and $8.49): I loveeee these. I use this almost every time I wash my hair and my hair becomes more platinum with every use. It's amazing. Because it's a purple shampoo it cancels out the yellow tones in blonde hair. I've recommended it before and I would in the future.
• TRESsemme Nourishing Rituals Rejuvenating Mud Masque 8oz ($3.97): I use this every other time I wash my hair and leave in for about 5 minutes to help prevent any breakage.
• TRESsemme Nourishing Rituals Protein Renewal Creme 8oz ($3.97): Because bleaching hair strips your hair of its proteins, I bought this to replenish them. I like this product so far, and use it when I'm not using the masque.

This is what my hair looks like now (next to KettlePopped, who's not being cute or serious at all -_-;). I'm very happy with the color and I get compliments ALL THE TIME. When my roots grow out I plan on just using the Hi Lift color, since my natural color is a dark blonde, so I should be able to just use it by itself. That's what it's made for anyway.

I hope someone found this useful, but like I said I don't recommend bleaching three times in two days. If you do, make sure you don't bleach your roots but once, because that's what makes your hair fall out.

Have a good day! =]