alright, i successfully bleached a part of my hair with some random creme bleach, so i know it can be done decently. but i need tips for doing my whole head, all the way down to the ends.

i dont know the gwen stefani EVERY STRAND WHITE look, it can be 'messy'. i just want to know what kind of bleach to buy, and some tips on how to make it look uncrappy. how long should i leave it on? what's a toner and do i need one? etcetc.

ANY help would be much appreciated! thanks

you have dark hair, yeah? is it dyed dark, or is it your natural colour?
i'm not really sure about what brand to recommend. the one i use is by schwarzkopf, and it's called ice blonde or something. it does the job, and hasn't damaged my hair too badly (then again, i'm a natural blonde so i don't have to leave it on for very long).

when you put the bleach on your hair, the best idea is to just keep checking it. every few minutes or so. if your hair starts to feel kind of stringy or... jelly-ish then you have to wash the bleach off asap. otherwise leave it on until it gets to the colour you want. but you might have to bleach it more than once.

toner is essential for getting the yellow tones out. it makes your hair that kind of creamy blonde colour. the one i use is... well actually i can't remember who makes it now. but it's very purple so you have to be careful with bleached hair. if you leave toner in for too long, it'll latch on and you'll be stuck with kind of grey/purple hair for a while.

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yikes are you sure you want to attempt your whole head on your own? your hair is really dark naturally, correct? your test strand or lock may have come out nicely because it's a smaller, more easily controlled amount of hair. but i'd really worry about self-bleaching on naturally dark hair. i'm sure it's fixable should it not turn out the way you'd hoped, but keep in mind how damaging this will be. you don't want to be forced into a short cut you weren't prepared for.

I just used Loreal's Perfect Blonde Creme, Maximum.
I left it on for 30 minutes on the lenght, then did the roots and left for another 30 minutes.
Washed it off, and used John Frieda Sheer Blonde Hightlight Activating Shampoo and Conditioner.
Then used a Wella "Ash Blonde" toner on it.
Its turned out lovely I must say.
Nice and Blonde.
There are still slight Yellowey parts in it, but I only did it last night, so thats to be expected. I am washing it again today and putting more toner in it.
As I am going to expect to have to do for a good couple of weeks.

my hair was free of any other dye.
I had my hair striped of colour 2 weeks ago in a salon.

how much was the stripping. I must get it done.

Usually what works best is to buy peroxide vol 30 with white powder. I would guess you'd need two or three bags your hair is quite thick and long if i remember correctly. leave it on for 30-40 mins. soem people need to rebleach it two times in order for it not to be an orangey yellowish color. you must use a toner. the hairdye I really like and that tones it down is by garnier and it's something like "very light ash blonde" i forget the exact tint but that would resume it. good luck

yeah i wanna do that too, my hair's been brown for a few years and i want my natural hair colour back which is dark blonde so i can go properly blonde.

I paid £95 but that was in a top salon, I also had a hair cut, and an intensive hair conditioning treatment.

get it done professionally at a salon.

Eek, I was really thinking the same thing. I'm sure I remember your hair being quite long and mid-brown, and getting it all evenly covered might prove difficult. The last thing you want is leopard spots.

If you're confident that you can go it alone, definitely get a friend involved who can either apply it for you or at least look over it when the bleach is on to make sure it's all covered, and help out with the tough parts that you can't see.

Toner may well be a godsend, given that you're going from a darker natural shade, but go easy on it. I had a workmate overdo it with the toner and her hair had a greyish tinge for a while.

But whatever you decide, you must post pics! I can't even imagine how you would look.

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Deux hommes font une promenade amicale. L'un des deux porte un parapluie à son bras.
Il se met à pleuvoir. L'homme n'ouvre pas son parapluie et l'autre lui demande pourquoi.
- Parce que ça ne servirait à rien, lui répond son ami. Il est plein de trous.
- Alors, pourquoi l'as-tu pris?
- Parce que je ne pensais pas qu'il pleuvrait.

My mum is a hairdresser so I was lucky when she changed my hair from black to blonde, its taken forever..

Your hair feels gross after all the dying, so look after it and use hair moisturizer..

yes i'm going to have to reiterate my sentiments as well as a few others in this thread. better to spend the extra money and have a salon professional do it than to take the chance of ruining the texture of your hair and have it come out worse than expected. i only say this because your hair is so dark. if you had lighter brown hair that had some natural blondish highlights (from the sun maybe) then i'd say go ahead and try it. other than that i say don't do it at home.

or just not at all. brunettes are beautiful.

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you're lucky though...you and your little girl have those gorgeous dark curls. i think michelleantonia would look really good as a blonde.

exactly. i mean, if you are going to do a drastic change to your hair, get it done at a salon. you will very satisfied with the results.

the salon will deep condition your hair, then do the bleaching for you. they are professionals, and they use professional products, so you are getting what you pay for, and you'll be happy when you leave the salon.

doing it at home will only wreck your hair. especially if you have to do so many steps just to get the results that you want.

i have bleached my hair at home. i pretty much ruined my hair because whenever my roots grew, i would do touch ups at home. and the constant bleaching really dried out my hair.

go to a salon.

didn't think she wouldn't. i'm just a fan of the brunette. she's pretty already.
& the post maintenance is a bitch.

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you're right. touching up of roots is a bitch. and i'm not even full blonde. i have the mix of both but the roots still show up like mad and very early on.

ok, thanks for all your help guys.

even though im just gonna go for a messy streakish look, it sounds like its probably better if i get someone experienced to do it for me. i did the entire front in streaks myself like i said, but the length of the hair seems like a whole 'nother beast.

also sounds like the ppl doing it themselves have extensive experience, so im not gonna attempt

thanks again!

It will cost you less to go to a pro then do it yourself and have to have the aftermath fixed. Lightening is a scientific and artistic process, if you were good in chemistry class and art class I would be happy to explain the process.

If you want Gwen's color, I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you. It will no dought (no pun intended) be expensive and depending on your hair color and undertones may be impossible. I've seen early photos of her and she is naturally a darker, ashier blonde. But if you have darker brown, red, or hair with golden or god forbid darker red tones then you should consider a different color. I've been there honey, I used to be obsessed with having white blond hair. But I have stubborn red&golden tones that wouldn't give enough (I did get to a great medium neutral blonde though, which actually looked fabulous).

Whatever you do, do not use a drugstore kit!! The chemical ingredients have to be adjusted for each hair type and color, so they are not to be trusted. Bleaching is completly different from color.