Can anyone recommend a good bleach?...

[Samara Morgan]

Don't hit me for bringing up such a damaging product lol! :scared:

For a while I've been toying with the idea of dying my hair a platinum blonde colour and I've come to realise that, realistically, the only way to get it that colour would be to bleach it. I've only just started having a look round the net for different brands of hair bleach and the one I'm considering mainly at the moment is Manic Panic Flash Lightning Vol. 30. Has anyone ever used this and had success with it? I would especially like to hear any natural redhead's experiences with bleach as it's such a hard colour to lighten. But please, if you have bleached your hair, tell me which brand you used and if you would recommend it :) I would love to hear some bleach success stories as so far I've mainly come across horror stories lol :rolleyes:

Thank you in advance :flower:

[spidermom]

Don't forget that you are going to need toner as well as bleach. The bleach removes the color from your hair (probably leaving you with a pale orange), the toner gives you the color you want.

[Samara Morgan]

Oh yes, spidermom, I'll remember that :agree:

[shellblue1]

Wella Wellite Oil Bleach. It comes in a blue box and you can purchase it from Sally Beauty Supply. Use it with a 20 volume developer. Hair will lift very fast which is good. :) The oil in the product helps protect the hair from damage.

[Samara Morgan]

shellblue, that bleach sounds excellent and also I've noticed one of our other LHC members has recommended it :) The only thing is I'm not sure if it's sold in the UK. We do have Sally hair supply shops, do you think they would sell it? I'll need to have a look next time I'm in :agree:

[Kris Dove]

I used to use Jerome Russell B Blonde for doing highlights in my dark blonde hair- it's very strong so do a strand test with this first, as it works reaaalllly quickly. You can buy it in Superdrug in the UK. I did dry my hair somewhat after using it over a year, but it certainly wasn't totally fried either.

If you have red hair, perhaps just having highlights to give you an overall strawberry blonde colour, with a few platinum streaks like Nicole Kidman's, may be slightly less damaging than all over platinum?

[missfortune9335]

forgive me if I'm wrong, but did you just recently color your hair blonde and then a bright red color all in about a week or two? (or am I thinking of somone else maybe?) you have such long pretty hair I'd hate to see it all ruined, maybe wait a while before you bleach. :flower:

[ademtce]

Wella Wellite Oil Bleach. It comes in a blue box and you can purchase it from Sally Beauty Supply. Use it with a 20 volume developer. Hair will lift very fast which is good. :) The oil in the product helps protect the hair from damage.

totally second this.
i would say its safe to assume they sell it in the UK Wella is very big there.

[Samara Morgan]

Kris Dove - I've heard that product is good but is that what you would use as a toner after bleaching?

missfortune - Yes that's me lol :D And don't worry, it will take a good 6 to 8 weeks for my red colour to fade and in that time I'm just going to research possible bleaching methods :) Also, I'm going to do some oiling and conditioning treatments to make up for all the damage I might have caused :lol: Thank you for caring though :flowers:

[Samara Morgan]

totally second this.
i would say its safe to assume they sell it in the UK Wella is very big there.

ademtce - I will certainly have a look in Sally's next time I'm in :)

[shellblue1]

shellblue, that bleach sounds excellent and also I've noticed one of our other LHC members has recommended it :) The only thing is I'm not sure if it's sold in the UK. We do have Sally hair supply shops, do you think they would sell it? I'll need to have a look next time I'm in :agree:

You could probably find it at UK Sally's. Here is a pic of what to look for:

http://www.beautybasicsupply.com/v/vspfiles/photos/WE1WELBL00-2T.jpg

Also, just make sure you ask for the OIL bleach. I think there may be a powder version of Wellite but the oil bleach is what you want. :) There will be 2 applications per box. Inside the box you will receive a bottle of the oil and some activator packets (I think there may be 2). You mix those two items with 20 volume developer. Sometimes bleach can burn after application if you are applying it to the scalp, so I like to use 2 or 3 Sweet n' Low packets mixed into the bleach mixture. This helps keep the burning to a minimum.

[Samara Morgan]

You could probably find it at UK Sally's. Here is a pic of what to look for:

http://www.beautybasicsupply.com/v/vspfiles/photos/WE1WELBL00-2T.jpg

Also, just make sure you ask for the OIL bleach. I think there may be a powder version of Wellite but the oil bleach is what you want. :) There will be 2 applications per box. Inside the box you will receive a bottle of the oil and some activator packets (I think there may be 2). You mix those two items with 20 volume developer. Sometimes bleach can burn after application if you are applying it to the scalp, so I like to use 2 or 3 Sweet n' Low packets mixed into the bleach mixture. This helps keep the burning to a minimum.

Ah thank you :flower: Now I know what to look out for ;)

Can you get the developer at Sally's too? And is Sweet n' Low a sweetener for tea and things? As I'm not sure they sell that one here but we do have one called Splenda lol :rolleyes:

[Kris Dove]

Kris Dove - I've heard that product is good but is that what you would use as a toner after bleaching?
I used superdrug's own brand toner- which I think is called ash blonde or silver blonde. It's not on the website but they did still have it in my local shop last week!

[GlassEyes]

Uh, if you dyed your hair red, I'm predicting that you may have some problems with lifting it. Red is a pain in the ass to bleach out. First color to fade, but the aftermath sticks around the longest, and I know that when I bleached my hair, my red underlayer turned PINK. xD; My friends dubbed me 'the sunset'.

I know there are ways to tone the red out, but I can't remember them. :shrug: Someone else might. Also, I should tell you that if you dyed your hair blonde, then red, bleaching it is going to cause a lot of damage, and even if you do a lot of DTs and protein treatments, in the end, your hair is still going to be irreversibly damaged, so be prepared for that. IT can possibly be rehabbed, but it won't be repairable.

[Amoretti]

I agree with those who have said that bleaching on top of bleach and then red dye is going to wreck your hair, Sammy. Think carefully about this, please. :flower:

[Samara Morgan]

Kris Dove, I just bought Superdrug's wash in - wash out colour of Cool Blonde which if mixed with white conditioner, Sian100 said will do as a good toner :)

GlassEyes - I'm not going to try lifting the dyed red out of my hair, I'm going to let it fade and wash out first. Even then, I'm only considering the bleaching process. Thanks for the heads up about the damage though :flowers:

Amorettikitten - Don't worry, I am only at the stage of thinking about all this :flower:

Aside from this, I looked in Sally's and they didn't have the Wellite Oil Bleach :( They had a lesser known brand but I don't know how good that will be :rolleyes:

[Kirin]

If the red hair color is a dye you should have no problem lifting this out. Henna is near impossible, but red hair dyes are actually notorious for fading out quickly. I have dyed my hair every color of the rainbow, and in my experience, red was always a waste of time as it would fade out in a few weeks (sometimes two weeks).

No bleach is damage free, no matter what oils you put into it or fanciful things that come in the package, so though some are better than others, DO prepare for damage. It will happen, period.

Sweet n' low is a non calorie sweetener, sold in packets, and the packet is pink. Generally sweeteners have signature colors for packets. Sugar - white, Equal - blue, Splenda - yellow, and Sweet n'low - Pink. I'm very sure they have it in the UK, and you can find it in your supermarket usually in the baking aisle. I can attest, adding sweet n'low to the bleach cuts down on the burning sensation on the scalp........ however, I don't know why LOL.

[Samara Morgan]

If the red hair color is a dye you should have no problem lifting this out. Henna is near impossible, but red hair dyes are actually notorious for fading out quickly. I have dyed my hair every color of the rainbow, and in my experience, red was always a waste of time as it would fade out in a few weeks (sometimes two weeks).

No bleach is damage free, no matter what oils you put into it or fanciful things that come in the package, so though some are better than others, DO prepare for damage. It will happen, period.

Sweet n' low is a non calorie sweetener, sold in packets, and the packet is pink. Generally sweeteners have signature colors for packets. Sugar - white, Equal - blue, Splenda - yellow, and Sweet n'low - Pink. I'm very sure they have it in the UK, and you can find it in your supermarket usually in the baking aisle. I can attest, adding sweet n'low to the bleach cuts down on the burning sensation on the scalp........ however, I don't know why LOL.

Yes it's a semi-permanent dye and believe it or not the red has already faded a little since yesterday lol :lol:

But I am prepared for the damage that bleach will cause if I choose to use it. I'm just hoping that the damage won't be too damaging to the extent that I won't be able to continue growing my hair even with the help of self-trimming etc. ademtce has already warned me that I'll need to up my care regimen if I do bleach my hair which I'm sure I'll manage :) And I'll definitely keep Sweet 'n Low sweeteners in mind :flower:

There is actually another Sally's store near the place where my Dad's girlfriend lives, so I will check that out to see what kind of bleaches they have and this time I will take a note of them to see if I can look up reviews on them lol :lol:

Everyone is being so helpful in this thread and thank you very much for it :flowers:

[Amoretti]

Amorettikitten - Don't worry, I am only at the stage of thinking about all this

And all of your good planning will surely pay off. :)

[spidermom]

You might consider going to a wig shop and trying on the color you are trying to achieve, make sure you like it on you. Sometimes a color looks terrific on another person but not so great on you. You are risking having your hair break off by the handful; is it going to be worth it?

[Xandergrammy]

You might consider going to a wig shop and trying on the color you are trying to achieve, make sure you like it on you. Sometimes a color looks terrific on another person but not so great on you. You are risking having your hair break off by the handful; is it going to be worth it?




I agree with spidermom, sami. It would be a shame to ruin your beautiful hair, sweetie.

[Samara Morgan]

spidermom and Lenicakes, I'm considering not bleaching my hair too lol :rolleyes: I looooove Luna Lovegood's hair from Harry Potter, but I'm scared I'll absolutely ruin my hair, like you say, if I go through with this. It's a tricky one :agree: