Successfully Bleaching Hip Length Hair

[Nymphet1]

Is it possible without having it melt off and snap into reeses pieces? I have naturally black hair, and am trying to get into the light blonde range, but I'm afraid of the consequences that might happen if I try to bleach it.

I just wanted to see if there were actually any people on here that have successfully done it without jeopardizing their hip length hair - thanks! :cool: <3


PS - I did search throughout the forum but never really found people who specified how long their hair was prior to the procedure. :)

[princess03]

be careful... I ruined my hair and backed up a whole years long of progress trying to lighten my black hair ofcourse not the same scenerio bcus i was dumb and had henna and refused to accept you cant do much with color after its hennaed

[Rosetta]

If you decide to do it, OP, make sure to use coconut oil beforehand! I.e. saturate your hair in it at least half an hour before. I've successfully bleached my hair that way, not hip length though, but about waist-length. By "successfully" I mean not having experienced any major damage or breaking; of course there will always be some damage, I think that's unavoidable with bleach.

[Lissandria]

^^ I definitely second the coconut oil soak- literally have your hair dripping with the stuff. I would do a strand test first with the coconut oil and bleach so you know exactly how your hair will fare and also how many applications of bleach it takes to get to the desired colour. If your hair is naturally black (you lucky thing!) then it is will take multiple applications of bleach to get your hair vaguely blonde. Good luck!

[Kiwiwi]

It depends on many things.
Know that when it works for other people doesn't mean it will work for you. We all have different hair types.
Some people's hair is more resilient that others.
Do you have fine hair?
Are you curly or very wavy?
Both fine and curly hair types are more vulnerable.

Also, do know that when it seems to work fine when you first do it. Do understand that the damage might show up months later and you'd have to deal with it then. So it might work beautifully but then maybe you end up a year later having to cut way back because of the damage.

Also, black hair needs a LOT of bleaching which of course makes it more damaging.
you'll go from red to orange, less orange, less orange, less orange, blonde. And the orange is REALLY orange.

All things to consider.

I also have very dark hair and I've always wanted to be blonde once in my life. But I'm just not risking it. I've died my hair in my teenage years a lot and it really did not work for my hair. I would never achieve long lengths that way. But that's me.
I don't know how it would be if I would have had hip length already and then did it.
i tried it once when I had really (1,5cm) short hair. It was still orange after 3 bleachings. I just stopped and died it red. That worked out awesome though, such a bright red. I would never be able to achieve that with my dark hair. But the damage was bad but it was ok because it was so short. Then I started growing it out and now I am here :)

[jaquelines]

Coconut soak the night before helped me definitely. The hair was much smoother after, I can only recommend this one. Even-though my hair is not the strongest, I could see a difference and less damage.

[clairenewcastle]

I bleached my hair for years causing it repeated damage. Which resulted in me never gaining the length I wanted for in an attempt to cut above the damage I ended up cutting more and more off.

Coconut oil may help admittedly but I know I'd never bleach my own hair again.

[torrilin]

My hair is the sort of ash brown where it naturally bleaches at the drop of a hat. Sun will do it, chlorine will do it, looking funny at it will do it, salicylic acid will do it... You name it, all sorts of random stuff will lighten my hair. This means I can use low concentrations of bleach and get white blonde hair, even tho the manufacturer would expect only a 1-2 shade change. So even tho my hair is quite fine and fragile, I don't have any real concern about the idea of trying to go blonde.

For many sorts of dark brown or black hair, that just doesn't work. Depending on the way your hair is pigmented, you might have natural haircolor that's somewhat more stubborn than mine, the typical 1-2 shades change sort of color, or even hair that almost refuses to change color no matter what.

A minimal damage product like Sun-In is a 3% or 10 vol hydrogen peroxide solution. This is NOT no damage. But it is minimal, and it would be the kind of stuff I'd use if I wanted to go blonde. If you do a strand test and you find that concentration doesn't work, the next step up would be 20 vol or 6% hydrogen peroxide. Some kinds of dark hair can require as much as 40 vol peroxide. The higher the amount of peroxide, the more chemical damage will occur to your hair.

[jacqueline101]

Yes be careful and do a coconut oil treatment have your hair soak up coconut oil moisturize a lot as needed afterwards.

[panffle]

If you're willing to try, soak your hair with coconut oil for hours beforehand. This will help minimise damage, however will not prevent any. I'd put coconut oil on my hair before dyeing it, though I never used bleach, it still dried my hair. Keep in mind I have fine, fragile hair, so if you hair is more resistant then it might not be so bad. But no matter what I apply on it now, it still feels dry.
Since you have dark hair (and so do I), you will need to bleach it a few times before getting it to light blonde... Personally I would not recommend it... I too wanted to bleach my hair to light blonde but gave up after realising my hair really cannot stand the damage.

[Seeshami]

I bleached henna out of my hair, I have scraggle ends and I have to oil a lot but people say my hair feels healthy. It looks healthy, it feels nice but it takes a lot more care and I have to be much more gentle with it because it's not healthy to keep it looking nice.

[Fantak]

I echo what torrilin said. I bleached my almost black hair to a golden blonde over 3 years. My hair bleaches very easily, it's fine and I used to get caramel highlight from spending a weekend at the beach so although I do have damage and have to be really gentle with my hair it's not as bad as the damage I get from keeping it down and having it brush against everything.

I just checked your profile and saw you have fine hair. I suggest doing an overnight coconut oil soak and then going to a professional colorist (try and get a recommendation from a friend) and do it gradually, so maybe half a level every other appointment (you'll need to do a root touch up every 4-6 weeks).

Going blonde with minimum damage is quite expensive. With dark hair IMHO you shouldn't risk doing it yourself.

Sooo I suggest seeing if you are willing to take the time and expense to go light blonde :) eventually in 2-3 years you could be at light blonde with long heathy hair :D

Let us know what you decide I'd be interested to see what you decide ^.^

[MonaMayfair]

Also have you tried on a wig or something to see what you'd actually look like as a blonde? It's funny how we all want what we haven't got, I'm naturally blonde, but I'd LOVE jet black hair. I HAVE tried on a black wig, and it did NOT look good on me :(
I just dye mine as dark as I can get away with!

[lapushka]

The only person I know who went from natural darkbrown/black to light blonde is my aunt. She's had her hair highlighted for years, decades, and she's had past BSL hair up until recently. Due to the deteriorating state of her hair (it went crispy), she's had to have it cut up to between shoulder and APL. I'd say be prepared to lose some length sooner or later.

[sylvanasylvana]

dont bleach your hair.. i bleached mine a couple months ago.. died it back to a brown color, and my hair is still breaking off. I have to cut it every 6 weeks because the ends are super thin and i have so much white dots because of the bleaching