So on Wednesday, in the dorms, I turned my friend Marion’s hair from a dark blond-ish colour, to a vibrant (and bloody gorgeous) bright blue with touches of purple. I had taken loads of photos and I decided to turn it into a blog post in case anyone was interested to find out how I did it.
In this post I'll be covering every aspect, from the bleaching to the dying to the aftercare so I'd suggest you get yourself a cuppa before hand.
Just for a point of reference, this is what Marion’s hair looked like before we decided to bleach the fuck out of it (It’s actually a bit lighter since her roots had come through. (Dark blond and her ends were black since she still had the remnants of her dark brown dye on them)
Bleaching
I’m using the Coiffeo “Oxydant creme” in a 40 volume and a powder bleach.
First things first, like 90% bright, artificial colours, you have to bleach your hair. However, you don’t just rub a bit of bleach on you hair, rub it in and wait 20 minutes. Do that and you’ll burn your scalp and you’ll end up with burn marks all over your head and you can kiss goodbye to doing anything with your hair until they heal up.
To prepare your hair for the bleach, make sure it's not freshly washed. Leave it for 3 days I'd say, depending on if you have easily greasy hair or not.
First off, you have to do a first bleach. I would recommend you go to the hairdresser’s for the bleaching since it’s pretty delicate but some people (like some people *coughcough* me *coughcough*) can’t afford to, or they have a friend to do it so I’m going to go through it anyway. As I was saying, you need to apply a first bleach, but only on the lengths of your hair (as you can see in the photo, the bleach is only applied to the lengths and you can still see that the roots are untouched, this is what you’re going for). The bleach will see to take pretty quickly, but you have to leave it for 45 minutes so that you get the lightness you’re looking for.
About 30 minutes in, take a bit of bleach off the hair with a cotton pad or a tissue to check the hair is taking the bleach properly. If not, then reapply the bleach onto the piece of hair.
As you can see, the bleach takes well if it’s applied properly and you should be pretty light by the time you’re finished. Once the 45 minutes are up, rince the bleach out thoroughly (don’t shampoo) and dry equally as thoroughly. The hair has to be totally dry before you move on to the next bleach.
If you have hair like Marion’s, your hair will probably look a little something like this:
Your hair should be a bit of a brassy blond and the roots should be unchanged.
Next you need to do the second bleach, which you apply all over the hair, even on the roots. You need to do it quite fast so that the bleach takes evenly all over the head. Pre-warning, it’s going to be itchy. Don’t worry, it doesn’t last long at all. Leave the bleach on for 5 minutes, and check every minute or so to see if the bleach has taken. (Note: It’s during this bleaching that we bleached Marion’s side cut, too, since it’s too short for us to do just the ends.)
Again, once the waiting time is up, do the same as before and rinse thoroughly (again, don’t shampoo, just rinse it out) and dry really well, so that the hair is totally dry. It needs to be properly dry before you even think about the colour because if it’s not the dye won’t take properly and it’ll look a bit weird.
(Unfortunately I don't have a photo of Marion after the second bleach - soz about that.)
(Unfortunately I don't have a photo of Marion after the second bleach - soz about that.)
Keep bleaching and leaving it for 5 minutes until it’s platinum white (there or there abouts, don’t bleach your hair off trying to make it perfect!)
Colouring
As I said, Marion wanted blue all over her hair, her side-cut and the edges of her fringe purple. For the blue, I’ll be using La Riché’s “Directions” semi-permanent colour in “Violet” and for the blue I’ll be using Star Gazer dye in “Sky Blue”.
So once your hair is dry apply the blue all over your hair, whilst avoiding anywhere you want to put the purple. Then, simple take a new brush and apply the purple wherever you want it. You don't need to be too precise when adding the purple since I feel it looks better when there isn't
One thing I would point out is that you need to make sure that the dye is distributed properly all over the hair, if not, then the dye won’t take properly and it’ll look weirdly pastel, like and just generally it won’t look right.
Once the dye has been applied, massage your hair and leave it for 45 minutes to take. Once the time is up, wash it out thoroughly and shampoo with a shampoo specific for colours twice, then you can apply a mask if you want to (I’d strongly recommend investing in a good hair mask since your hair is probably going to be very dry and damaged because of everything it’s gone through!
After-care
The after-care is probably one of the most important steps. If you don't keep your hair in good condition it can ruin the look of your hair and will spoil the colour.
You're going to be looking for a shampoo specific to coloured hair. I would recommend the Elseve "Color Vive" Shampoo because I feel like it helps the colour remain intact for as long as possible.
For conditioning, there are two things I'd recommend: an intense hair mask and a regular conditionner. Use the hair mask once or twice (max) a week, and the conditionner every time you wash your hair.
Marion uses the Franck Provost "Expert Reparateur" for the deep mask and the Petit Marseillais "Intense Nutrition" conditioner.
I hope you enjoyed this post, I really enjoy writing these kinds of posts! And thank you to my friend Marion for modeling for me in the photos (get ready to see a lot more of her, guys, I think she may become my official model so I can avoid looking so awkward in outfit posts!). You can find her on Instagram and Twitter.
Let me know down in the comments if you've ever tried something like this.
Marion uses the Franck Provost "Expert Reparateur" for the deep mask and the Petit Marseillais "Intense Nutrition" conditioner.
I hope you enjoyed this post, I really enjoy writing these kinds of posts! And thank you to my friend Marion for modeling for me in the photos (get ready to see a lot more of her, guys, I think she may become my official model so I can avoid looking so awkward in outfit posts!). You can find her on Instagram and Twitter.
Let me know down in the comments if you've ever tried something like this.
Matti x
