Are you wondering if bleached red hair would look good on you? Do you plan to go from a redhead to a blonde? Then note that it is possible to get great results yourself.
To turn your fiery red hair to a blonde or platinum color, you will have to lighten it using hair bleach. Afterward, tone it to the shade of blonde you want. You can purchase hair bleach and low-volume hair developer in any beauty supply store. The strength of the developer depends on the color of your red hair. If it is light, you can use one with a low volume.
Read on to learn more about bleached red hair, how to do it, and the risks involved.
How Do You Bleach Red Hair
You can change your hair color from redhead to blonde by bleaching your hair. After that, use a hair toner to give your hair the tint you want. However, the process itself is not that simple. There are also several risks that you need to consider.
Changing your hair color from red to blonde can be a tedious process. However, if you do it right, the results can be amazing.
Ideally, you should let a professional hairdresser turn your fiery locks into platinum blond hair. You could do it yourself in the comfort of your home. However, you can expect better results if a professional does it.
Note, though, that professional hair bleaching costs a lot of money. The high cost of professional hair bleaching is worth every cent to get the best results.
There are many risks involved when you’re changing your hair color. This is even more so when you drastically leap from redhead to blonde.
You may be wondering if it’s okay to use blonde hair dye. If you put the blonde dye on red hair, you will only turn it orange.
Blonde is considerably lighter in tone compared to red. The red will still come out even if you dye your hair blonde. You need to remove the underlying color for the blonde to shine.
How to Bleach Your Hair at Home
It is highly recommended to go to a professional hairstylist if you want to bleach your red hair to blonde. However, take note that you can also do it yourself at home. You need to do your hair bleach study, though, because it does come with certain risks.
If you are sure you want to bleach your hair, here are the steps to do it:
1. Prepare Before Bleaching
Prepare your hair before bleaching your hair. This will help minimize the damage your hair will receive from bleaching. So, you have to condition your hair thoroughly. Do this a couple of weeks before you bleach your hair.
2. Choose Your Developer
The developer is a hair product that opens the cuticle of your hair. That way, the bleach can reach the hair shaft. This section will guide you quickly choose the right developer strength for your hair.
10-volume Developer
If you have light strawberry blonde hair, you can probably use a 10-volume developer. This product is enough to lighten your hair by one shade, which is what you are after.
20-volume Developer
A 20-volume developer is the one commonly used by hairdressers. This product is strong enough to lighten your hair down about two shades. It is ideal if you have dark strawberry blonde hair.
30-volume Developer
A 30-volume developer is necessary if your hair is between a dark red and light copper color – If you have dark-colored hair, you might need more than one bleaching session with this developer.
40-volume Developer
The 40-volume developer is the strongest product that is commercially available. However, even though you can probably procure a 40-volume developer, you should not use it.
If misused, this can cause serious hair damage. It can be quite tricky to use a 40-volume developer, making it reserved only for experienced professional hairdressers.
3. Combine the Hair Bleach and Developer
Hair bleach powder is readily available in most beauty supply stores. Follow the instructions for the bleach powder and developer. You should have something that is the same consistency as yogurt.
4. Section Your Hair
Part your hair straight down the middle, and then part your hair again from ear to ear. Use hair clips to hold the four sections of hair and keep them separate. This promotes ease in applying the bleach. This will also ensure that you apply the same amount of product to your hair.
5. Apply the Bleach
Wear rubber gloves, gently brush the bleach, and developer on your hair. Get the bleach close to your scalp, especially if you have dark red hair. This will keep your roots from showing.
When applying the bleach, do it in 1-inch intervals. After you bleach one section, flip it over your head and start working on another section. Upon finishing with one section, unclip the second section. Repeat until you have completely covered your hair with a bleaching compound.
6. Let the Bleach Sit
Now that you finished applying the bleach to your hair leave it there to let it work its magic. If you have dark hair, wait up to 45 minutes. However, if you have light-colored hair, you might only need to wait no more than 30 minutes.
Keep an eye on your hair. If you notice that it is already a light yellow, you can already go to the next step. You can do so even if it has not been 30 minutes yet.
7. Completely Rinse Off the Bleach
Once your hair reaches your desired lightness, hit the shower and rinse away all of the bleach using lukewarm water. Rinse your hair until the water runs clear. Then, shampoo your hair lightly with half the amount you usually use.
8. Choose the Color Toner
Simply bleaching your hair is not enough to turn your hair blonde. If anything, it will only turn your hair orange.
How to dye red hair blonde without it turning orange?
You will need to use the appropriate color toner after bleaching.
You can choose whatever color blonde you like – from ice-white, platinum, ash blonde, and more.
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9. Combine the Toner with a Developer
For this purpose, a 20-volume developer works best. Follow the instructions on the toner and developer bottles when mixing. However, many people attest that a 1:2 ratio of toner to developer works best.
10. Apply the Toner or Developer Mixture
Like when applying the bleach, section your hair into four to promote ease in applying the toner. Apply the toner like you did the bleach, and then wait for the toner to set. You would usually need to wait around 30 minutes or less. It will depend on the color you choose.
11. Rinse Your Hair Again
Hit the shower again and rinse off the toner using lukewarm water. Ensure to rinse all toner and developer traces; otherwise, they will continue to develop the color.
Meanwhile, use a purple shampoo if you want to use something a lot milder than toner and developer. Apply it after rinsing the bleach from your hair. This will remove any brass color from your hair, making it look platinum blonde.
When using purple shampoo, you need to massage it into your damp hair. Let it rest for around 10 minutes before rinsing it off.
12. Get A Trim as Soon as You Can
Bleaching your hair is damaging it intentionally. This means that most of your hair strands have split ends. Imagine your hair as strands of rope.
Right after you bleach your hair, the ends would be seriously frayed. What happens to the rope if you let the ends fray? The damage would extend up the hair strand.
Have your hair trimmed as soon as possible to seal the ends and prevent further damage.
There you have it. Your previously fiery red hair is now your choice of blonde.
Again, what happens when you bleach red hair? Bleaching is the answer if you want to turn your red hair blonde. When bleached, your red hair will turn into an orange shade rather than yellow due to the red pigment.
How to Maintain Newly Dyed Blonde Hair
After successfully transforming from a redhead into a blonde, you may already think there is nothing else to do? Wrong. Your work is not done yet.
If you want your new blonde hair always to look good, here are some things to do and not do:
1. Use Purple Shampoo
Do you want to maintain your hair’s color? Tone it at least twice a week using the purple shampoo you applied earlier. This can also help prevent it from turning orange.
2. Use Dry Shampoo
You can use dry shampoo in the days between actual washing of your hair. This is important during the first couple of weeks after bleaching your hair. The reason is that real shampoo will dry your hair even more.
3. Apply Hair Oils
The first few weeks after bleaching, your hair will be extremely dry and brittle. You will need to replenish the lost nutrients on those crucial days using formulated hair oils.
Look for hair oils containing either coconut, argan, or olive oil. These products make your hair look shiny while hydrating and repairing the hair fibers.
4. Avoid Heat Treatments
Avoid using heat treatment while waiting for your hair to recover from bleaching stresses.
This includes curling or straightening irons and hair dryers, at least not the medium and high heat settings. Using heat on recently bleached hair is like sunbathing when you already have severe sunburns.
5. Avoid Direct Sun Exposure
Speaking of sunbathing, you should keep your hair from direct sunlight as much as possible. Wear a hat if you must go out on a particularly sunny day. You may also use a heat protectant spray on your hair beforehand.
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Harmful Side Effects of Bleaching Hair
Before you bleach your hair to make it blonde, be aware of the involved risks. This is not to scare you into changing your mind.
Instead, it should help inform you about what could happen should anything go wrong. Knowing what’s at stake will make you more careful when doing this procedure yourself:
1. Burning Sensation
When you bleach your hair, expect to feel a burning sensation on your scalp. This regardless if you do it yourself or have a professional hairdresser do it for you.
If you have bright red hair, over one hair bleaching session is necessary to achieve a blonde hair color.
For instance, if you aim to get platinum-blonde hair, you will need at least two rounds of bleach. Also, because your hair is so dark, bleach close to the roots, making your scalp burn no matter what.
Do not wash your hair for a day or two before the bleaching session to lessen the burning. The natural oils accumulated in your hair and scalp will form a barrier against bleach.
It’ll still sting a bit, but not quite as much. Also, use a 20-volume bleach instead of the usual 40, especially if your scalp is sensitive to irritation.
2. Scabs
Bleaching your hair will cause scarring if you have sensitive skin. You can somehow minimize the scabbing by following the tips above. However, some scabbing will still occur if you have sensitive skin.
If scabs form on your scalp, do not use hair products for a couple of days. Let the natural oils from your skin moisturize the scabs so they can fall off when you brush your hair.
3. Redness
Regardless of sensitive skin, hair bleach is still a harsh chemical. This means that it will irritate your skin. Even if only a little redness occurs, treat it like you would any burn to prevent it from worsening. A little aloe vera on your scalp can help ease the redness and cool you down.
4. Texture
Regardless of curly or straight hair, it will get quite wild after bleaching. The bleach opened up the cuticle layer of the strands. This is the reason why your hair will seem puffier than normal. Also, your hair will feel dry and rough for a week after the treatment.
You might get tempted to wash your hair and condition it more frequently, but professional hairdressers advise against it. Washing your hair too often will only dry it out more.
As mentioned, wash your hair every two or three days to let the natural oils repair your damaged hair. The hair cuticle will close in a couple of weeks, and your hair will feel smooth again.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Purple Shampoo the Same as a Toner?
Technically, any product that provides pigments to color the hair is a toner. Purple shampoo works the same way as toner, albeit more mildly and safely.
When bleached red hair turns orange, it is mainly because the gold-toned molecules are harder to bleach. Using purple shampoo will not remove the gold color, but it balances out the tone of the hair.
How to Remove Red Hair Dye Without Bleach?
If you colored your hair red and instantly regretted that decision, there are several ways to remove it. You can do so without using bleach. One such technique is to crush vitamin C tablets in a bowl.
Add enough hot water to make a thick paste. Massage the paste into your wet hair and wait for an hour. Vitamin C will help loosen the hold of the dye on your hair. Rinse the paste out of your hair and immediately shampoo and condition afterward.
How Soon Can You Dye Bleached Blonde Hair?
You can go from bleached blonde to red hair if you change your mind right after bleaching your hair. It is recommended to wait a couple of days. However, you can also do it immediately after rinsing out the bleach.
In Closing – Bleached Red Hair: Turning Red Hair into Blonde
If you want to turn your red hair blonde or a platinum color, the ultimate technique is bleaching it. This can help remove the underlying color first.
After bleaching, you need to tone the hair to the blonde color you want. You can find hair bleach powder and low-volume hair developer if you’re going to DIY hair bleaching.
Although it is recommended to visit a professional hairdresser to dye your red hair blonde, you can do it yourself. Be extra careful because you can also do irreparable damage to your hair.
