Achieving & Maintaining White/Silver Hair

Disclaimer: I am NOT a professional. I've been bleached blonde for most of my life, so this is from personal experience. Also, some pictures I am using are not mine unless stated otherwise.

Picture of my white/silver blonde hair

So... You want silver/white blonde hair? 

Let's consider the following things before you take the plunge:

• It's very high maintenance. If you have naturally dark hair, you will have to bleach your roots whenever they come in. Also, you need to moisturize your hair from all the bleach!
• If you have dark hair, you need to have realistic expectations. It will most likely take more than one bleach sessions and you may need to wait a week or two so your hair will have time to regain it's strength. If you don't want your hair to fall out, you will be able to wait the week or two with an awkwardly colored orange-ish hue in your hair. Don't listen to those Youtube videos that say "Black to bleach blonde hair in a day!". It's not healthy for your hair and don't think about taking the risk!
• I highly suggest if you're bleaching your hair for the first time, or have dark hair, go to a salon or professional to get it done. It may be more expensive but you don't want to risk your hair falling out. There are a lot of things that can happen if you bleach your hair at home! Professionals know what they are doing! It's their job! =]
• Be prepared for split-ends falling off and having to get a hair cut afterwards. No matter how you do it, whether you do it at home or go to a salon, there may be breakage. Your best bet is to get a trim after you get your hair bleached.
• Think about how you will look with bleach blonde hair... Will it look good with your skin tone? Is bleached hair for you? Maybe try a white wig to see how it will look, or there are also plenty of websites where you can change your hairstyle/color online. 

These are important things to think about before you actually bleach your hair so you don't get it done and then dye your hair back to your natural color and waste all the time/effort and money!

Still desire this hair color? If yes, then let's go forward! =] 

Just a warning, there is a lot of information!

Bleaching Process:

*Tip: Try using coconut oil in your hair a month before bleaching, it may decrease breakage. I haven't tried it, but I recently discovered this. Look up it's benefits for yourself!

Most of what you will need to bleach your hair, Sally's will have it. The bleach that I have used lately is Salon Care's Prism Lites Bleach. A 16 oz. tub will run you about $20. If you have a lot of hair, dark hair, or are planning on bleaching your roots yourself, this is your best bet. It will last you a longgggg time! If you are only bleaching once, or have short hair, you may want to consider buying the smaller packets. Depending on your current hair color, you will need either blue or violet. 

Quick Color Theory Lesson!

Color theory plays a very big part in hair color and bleaching. This is the color wheel. You have your primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. The colors exactly opposite of each other are called complimentary colors. So, when you apply this to bleaching, if you have a darker hair color, you may want to use a blue colored bleach because your hair color is more prone to orange tones, and if your hair color is lighter, you may want to use a violet colored bleach because your hair color is more prone to yellow tones.

Okay! Back to the bleaching process!

With the bleach powder, you will also need to buy the developer. I use Salon Care 30 volume creme developer. There are various sizes, but if you do plan on bleaching multiple times or plan on doing your own roots, the bigger size is the way to go. DO NOT BUY 40 VOLUME!!! It makes me cringe when someone uses 40 volume on their hair. It will get your blonder faster, but it will ruin your hair A LOT. Trust me, patience is the key for white hair! I use 30 volume because I feel like I have enough experience with bleaching so I know how to take care of my hair. BUT, if you are doing it for the first time, you may want to use a 20 volume to start off with because you don't know how well you will react to the developer/bleach.

A few extras:

I find that using a color bowl and a color brush make this process a lot easier. The brush will give you more even and precise coverage. Gloves are ALWAYS A MUST when dying your hair and especially using bleach. You don't want that stuff all over your skin! Sally's also carries these things, they aren't expensive at all. If you don't want to buy a color bowl, you can just use an old plastic bowl at home.

1. When bleaching, make sure you are wearing old clothes you don't mind ruining! For the bleach powder, it says to use 1:1 (equal amounts) bleach to developer. For myself, I use the cup inside the tub to take out two scoops of powder and pour two scoops of developer into the bowl.
2. Use the pointy end of the color brush to section off hair and the brush end to apply the bleach. I usually section my hair in three vertical sections first- right, back, and left side. For your horizontal sections, you want to make sure your sections are thin, not thick, because you won't get an even application that way. Make sure to spread the bleach in both directions, on both sides of the hair. It's personal preference whether you want to start at the top or the bottom of your head. Bleach is heat-activated, so naturally your roots will lighten faster than the rest of your hair. You want to do them them last.
3. Optional: You can put on a clear plastic hair cap for more heat. Now, you are going to end up waiting about 30 minutes to an hour for the bleach. For some people, the bleach may be a little uncomfortable (itchy, and a little bit stingy), I, however, do not get any of those. If it becomes painful and unbearable, please don't leave the bleach in your hair! Wash it out to avoid more scalp irritation. 
4. You should keep checking your hair periodically to see how much it is lifting. Bleach will not make your hair white! You should check for lightness, not the color. Toning will take out the yellow, but we're not there yet! If your hair is not a pale yellow, then it may still be too dark to tone white. So, you can either go to a salon this time to get it bleached again, OR you can wait a week or two (I know, it sucks!!) and deep condition during that time, then try bleaching again. Don't bleach again right after or keep it on longer because it will ruin your hair!
5. Rinse the bleach out with cool water and shampoo. Do not condition yet!

 

The toner that I use is Wella Color Charm Permanent Liquid Hair Toner in T18 (also known as 'White Lady' toner). You can find it at Sally's for only 5 or 6 dollars, not bad, huh? I would only suggest using this once a month because for this toner, you also need a developer. You can use the Salon Care developer as well, you don't need to use Wella's. You can use 10 or 20 developer, 10 will deposit less color than the 20, so it doesn't matter, whatever you want to use. Just a warning, the 20 may leave your hair a grayish tone for a couple days but it will wash out with a few shampoo's, but if you use the 10, it may not get white enough. Just experiment, that's what I did. Follow the directions on the box for the correct mixture amounts of toner:developer. Only leave this on for 5-10 minutes, and keep checking your hair. Like I said before, it may leave a purple or gray tone, but it will fade with a few washes.

 

Tip: If you're going for gray hair, Wella also has a toner in T14. I haven't used it, so do some research!

Another option is to use Manic Panic's Virgin Snow. You can use this as much as you want because this contains no developers or chemicals that can damage your hair. I find that using this between the Wella toning is perfect and it conditions! My hair feels so nice after using it. However, on my hair, I found that the Wella did the best job at removing all the yellow out of my hair, I only had little toning with Manic Panic and it washes out faster.

Maintenance:

 

Purple shampoo/conditioner is your new best friend! You want to wash your hair with these about 2 times a week to keep the yellow/orange tones away to keep your hair as light as possible! They may dry your hair out, so you may want to use a moisturizing conditioner or deep conditioner afterwards. When you first bleach your hair, if you find that after toning, your hair STILL has yellow in it, you can add some purple shampoo equally mixed with a deep conditioner to tone it some more. You can leave that on for as long as you please. It may leave a purple tone, but it will wash out. When you finally get the tone you want, you should leave these on for only 3-5 minutes and like I said, about 2 times a week.

 My favorite purple shampoos are AG Hair Cosmetics Sterling Silver Shampoo and Conditioner (Ulta) and Shimmer Lights Shampoo and Conditioner. I feel like they both do the trick, but it's easier to get a purple tone with the Shimmer Lights so I use AG a lot. What I like about the AG one is that it comes in a huge bottle (which I bought when Ulta was having an amazing sale on them) with a pump on the top. It also smells AMAZING, like a coconut smell. The Shimmer Lights kind of has a flowery scent, which some people dislike. The AG line is more expensive than the Shimmer Lights, so if you're on a budget, then Shimmer Lights should be fine. You can find it at Sally's.

And finally, you will want to use A LOT of deep conditioners. They will be helpful in getting your hair back as healthy as possibly. Instead of leaving it on for 20 minutes, your best bet is to put it in your hair after you get out of the shower/bath and put a processing cap on it and leave it on for about an hour. Then, you can wash it out. It will make your hair softer and healthier. You'll like the way your hair feels afterwards! 

I have two favorites. It's a 10 Miracle Hair Mask and Aussie's 3 Minute Miracle. The It's a 10 mask runs about $30 and it comes in a jar. It smells great, and makes my hair feel amazing. You can find it at a lot of drugstores. BUT, if you are on a budget, another favorite is the Aussie conditioner. You can also find this at most drugstores and it's only about $4 for the same amount of product. It also smells really good (like that coconut smell<3 I love coconut!). The bottle is also very convenient because it doesn't have a cap, if you buy it, you will know what I mean. And, it says 3 minute, but you can leave it on for any time.

Additional Products:

This is It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In Product, I swear by this! It does everything. Just look it up! Even if you are not bleach blonde, you should think about trying this. You only use about 5 sprays after you get out of the shower so it will  last you a while!

Everyone should own this is they use a flat iron or any other heat appliances... Heat Taming Spray! Doesn't matter which brand, I just happen to like Tresemme's Heat Tamer. You can find it at a drugstore and it's not that expensive. I like the packaging of it too because the spray top looks so cool!

This is Roux's Fanci-Full Temporary Haircolor Rinse in White Minx. I use this right when I get out of the shower for even whiter hair. It's only temporary so it washes out when you wash your hair again. It's purple in color and you just need to work it through your hair and it's not that expensive. I use it in between purple shampooing and you can get it at Sally's!

So! That is all the information I have for all of you, I hope you enjoyed and are full of knowledge about bleaching and white hair! If you have any more questions, please comment and I will answer!