Lately I've been seeing more and more Asians who've been wanting to bleach their hair an EXTREMELY white blonde on their own, as opposed to going to the salon.
I am not a professional, and I don't really recommend doing hair on your own unless you know what you're doing, and know what to expect. You need to know your own hair and how it will react to bleach.
Blonde is also very high maintenance, and depending on your style, you will need to redo roots every two-four weeks for it not to look trashy (unless you have a very grungy punk look). White blonde does not look good on all Asians. Adjust to your skintone. Mine is very light and not very yellow toned.
Materials needed:
Bleach powder. I use either of these two:
They're $3-$5 per packet, and for anything longer than collarbone, I suggest two packets. I like both, but I strongly recommend the Wellite one because I found it to be faster, and I can save money buy only buying 20 volume developer. Alternatively you can buy the tub, which will be cheaper if you plan on using loads or want to keep the blonde up for a long time.
Developer.
I just buy the biggest bottle in the 20 volume. It's cheap. Cheaper than the bleach.
Ash blonde hair dye. I use Clairol Professional Complements in 8A Light Ash Blonde. The picture on the site and sample looks darker than the actual result. Trust me.
Protein filler in Platinum #3.
Protein packs (for hair)
Super moisturizing conditioners
Sulfate-free shampoos
Any deep conditioners.
Gloves
A non-metal bowl
(optional) tint brush
something to mix with if you don't have a tint brush
(optional) comb
Big plastic bags that you get free with groceries.
PREBLEACHING
Try to not wash your hair for a few days. You want your scalp to get nice and oily before you start assaulting it with chemicals.
1) Take your bleach powder and developer. Mix them together in a plastic or glass bowl. You want to mix until you have the consistency of pudding or yoghurt (but not the whipped or custard kind).
2) If you want, section your hair off into four parts. However, I never did this at this stage because I concentrate on getting everything covered.
3) Cover the floor with newspapers and make sure that you don't have anything that will be damaged by bleach to be around. Also, now is a good time to wear gloves, because getting bleach under your fingernails feels really funny in a painful way. Oh, and make sure that you remove earrings. Bleach reacts funny with metal, which is why you hopefully didn't use any metallic things to mix the bleach with.
4) Cover your hair with bleach. Make sure that you get it all. Gently going through your hair with a comb helps a bit. You can use your hands to glop on the bleach, or a tint brush. I use both, but mostly I just pile it on.
5) Once you have your hair sufficiently coated with bleach, mash all your hair against your head. Use the plastic bag to cover your hair. Make sure that you flatten the bag against your head, and to close off any openings. You should have something that looks like a plastic do-rag. The plastic bag will trap in the heat so that it will lighten more evenly, and keep the bleach/developer wet so that it can do its job. Alternatively, you can use seran wrap and turban your hair.
6) Now you play the waiting game. I think half an hour will do just fine.
7) Rinse that sucker out, and take advantage of the time to scrub down to your scalp to get rid of the tinglies and greasies. It would also be a really good time to take a shower too. Don't forget the protein pack and the deep conditioner. While you're waiting on the protein pack, take the time to read the instructions. There are a variety of treatments I like to use, but my favorites are Joico K-Pak and Aphogee's two step treatment. You can get the former at Peninsula Beauty, and the latter at Sally's.
8) Now, another waiting game. Feel your hair and determine if it's up for another round of bleaching. I am a firm believer that most Asian's hairs can go for another round right away, since I have thin hair that can go through 3~6 bleachings. If you're scared, wait a couple more days before bleaching. Baby it. Don't comb it whilst wet, always deep condition, and use a leave in product like jojoba oil, coconut oil, or Biosilk in your hair.
9) Obviously, at this point your hair will either be orange or red. You're going to repeat the same steps: mix bleach and developer, slap it on, fashion your plastic do-rag or seran wrap turban, and wait half an hour. Wash out and deep condition.
10) Repeat until your hair is a very pale yellow. It literally should look like a peeled banana color. Or the color of your stained white tee. Use your judgement, but pretty much it shouldn't be Goku yellow. If it is at that stage, you still have a ways to bleach. Keep in mind that hair also looks darker when wet. It's to make everything that much more complicated for you.
11) Use the protein filler, and follow the instructions as a protein treatment. I try to leave it in for 30 minutes. Rinse out, then go on with your protein treatment and deep conditioners.
12) Now, on to the dying! I know that other girls like to use Wella toners, but after using the famous Wella White Lady toner, I feel that dying it is simply easier to do. I take my Ash Blonde dye, and mix it according to directions (I believe it's one part dye to two parts developer). Mix, and apply to hair. It's going to sting and stink a little bit.
13) The trickiest part: watch your hair VERY carefully. This is an ash-based dye, which means that it has violet in it to take out all yellow tones. If you leave it in too long, you'll end up with silver or gray hair. It will wash/fade out eventually, but if you're not looking for a gray tint, then watch your hair carefully. For me, 30 minutes was too long, so I think you should start checking every five minutes. Wipe off a portion, examine, then decide if you want to continue or stop.
14) After you reach desired blondeness, wash the dye out. You will want to really treat your hair very nicely after this.
15) Enjoy! Try not to heat style too much, and be very nice and gentle with it for a month.
Asian hair will be very different once you do this much chemical treatments.
I used a lot of products, and changed the products I used.
My favorites:
Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle Shampoo and Conditioner- No silicones and no sulfates. Very gentle to hair. Get this at Trader Joe's for about $4 each.
Aussie Moist Conditioner- Very heavy conditioner. Perfect for damaged hair. Get this at Walmart for $6 for the big bottle.
Aphogee two-step treatment- Excellent for damaged hair. Highly recommended. About $4 at Sally's.
Joico K-Pak-- A protein treatment that is also highly recommended for damaged hair. Pricy. About $20 at Peninsula Beauty. Sally's has a generic that is much cheaper
Biosilk Silk Therapy-- An excellent leave in, good for short-term use. Makes hair super soft with a few drops. Can get at Costco and Walmart.
Jojoba Oil- You can get this at Walmart, Trader Joe's, etc. I love using this because it's a leave-in that doesn't break me out. Also, you can use this for hot oil treatments. Cheap.
You are going to need to keep up with your hair EVERY DAY, otherwise it's going to look really ratty. I couldn't really go without one day without a shower, because i needed the moisture from the shower. However, I did try to go a couple days without washing my hair by slathering conditioners and oils on my hair and covering with a scarf for a couple days, and it helped make my hair feel much better.
I also found that heat-styling damaged my hair more than I thought. You will probably want to hold off on it for a month, or until your hair feels softer. Combing and brushing will also be a slight challenge, since hair will be more fragile. You'll also notice a difference in hair texture once you wet your hair.
I also find that blonde needs a touch up every 3~6 weeks, three being recommended more. Root touch up is slightly more complicated, because you shouldn't overlap into the bleached parts. Root touch up is very straighfoward, and I find that it only really takes one treatment, then a wash of your hair dye.
Blonde hair also needs lighter eyebrows in most cases. I find that the longer the hair, the more you need to keep your eyebrows in a lighter color. You can get facial hair bleach in beauty supply shops. Just mix according to directions, and apply on brows until you get the desired lightness. Dark eyebrows for the most part looks very amateurish, unless you have that punk rocker vibe going on. But even then, I still recommend bleaching your eyebrows. Light hair looks softer, so you need the lighter eyebrows to soften the look, no matter how "hard" you want to look.