How I Safely Lightened My Black Hair

I was asked by a lovely lady to do a blog post on how I managed to get my hair from pitch black, to the colour it is now (please don't ask me for the technical colour term, because truth be told - I have no idea). It is quite noticeably a lot lighter than what is was, and I had black hair for about 4 years prior. 

This is my hair currently. After allll the pain and suffering I have put it through.

A Brief Warning

Firstly, I want to state that I have no hairdressing experience, I am not a professional, so the BEST thing to do is to go to your hairdresser. But I understand that the hairdressers can be rather pricey, so I am going to tell you how I did my hair, whilst avoiding as much damage as possible.

My hair at the moment is not in the best state. You need to be aware of this before you even go near ANY hair dye. My hair is however in the best condition it COULD be right now, and that is mainly down to the products I have found that actually work (believe me, I have tried a lot of hair products), and putting time into this whole 'procedure'. 

Time

The number one thing you need to remember, before you do anything to your hair, is you are going to need to take time. Lightening your hair and getting it to the colour you want it to be from black is not going to happen overnight. Between every step, take time to let your hair recover. 

Prepping Your Hair

Coconut oil - your new best friend!

Before you even consider taking the first step; prep your hair! To do this I would recommend using coconut oil a few times leading up to the day you decide to put any chemicals on your hair. This will help make your hair stronger and 'arm itself' in a way. Your hair will feel so soft and smooth too. Honestly, this stuff is a godsend.

Coconut oil is used in cooking, you can find this in any supermarket. Its usually about £2-3. It comes in a solid form, but when it reaches above about 20 degrees it liquidises. You can melt this for a few seconds in the microwave. You can use this in two ways; Either generously smoother your hair in it an hour or so before you wash your hair, OR (and this is the best way to do so, and the way I personally use coconut oil), smoother your hair in coconut oil and put your hair up in a bun, sleep with it in, and wash out in the morning.

First Step - Strip Your Hair

This is my hair after stripping it once. As you can see, it has gone ginger on top and dark brown on the bottom - at least it wasn't black anymore!

If you can get away with it, I would avoid bleach all together. I know I am being a hypocrite here, because I did use bleach - we will get to that part soon. 

Using a hair stripper is a great way to start to process as it is not as harmful as hair colourant, let alone bleach. They say you can actually repeat this process a few times in a row and your hair will be fine - I did. 

The best brands to use for this are 'Colourless' or 'B4', which you can find almost anywhere. This basically penetrates your hair molecules removing all previous hair dye from your hair, it does not contain bleach. So what you are left with it your natural hair colour pigments. 

As I had dyed my hair many times before, I had colour build up on the ends of my hair. The top of my hair had obviously not been dyed as many times, so the colour was removed from my roots quicker than the ends. I had to repeat this three times. I then stopped doing so as I realised my ends were not going to go any lighter using colour stripper alone. This was because there was just so much build up from previous colours. 

Notes:

Although it says you do this multiple times in a day, leave a few days between each stripping session - just to be on the safe side! After each process, coconut oil your hair! In every session you may need to buy two packs if you have long hair, one pack may not be enough to cover your whole head. I have this problem!

Bleaching Your Hair

Hair after bleaching once. I didn't do the top bit on my first attempt, as I wanted it to match the colour on top.

Here is the more tricky bit. You need to read instructions carefully before you touch bleach. For this I would recommend buying Jerome Russell Bblonde High Lift Powder Bleach. This comes with 4 packets of powder. For every packet of powder you must mix with Jerome Russell Bblonde Cream Peroxide. Do not go any higher than 30 Vol with this. You can buy 40 Vol but that should only be used by professionals as it is so strong. 

On the left is the hair colour I last used,
to achieve my current hair colour. 

Use an old boil to mix in the sachet with the cream activator until its smooth. Use the directions on the back of the packet on how to cover your hair properly. Two packets and two bottles of cream activator should be used for long hair, like mine. 

If you would like me to do a separate post on bleaching your hair, let me know! 

If after you have bleached your hair once if is still not as light as you would like it, please make sure you check the quality of your hair first before doing the process again. You should wait at least 6 weeks before putting on any more bleach, to let your hair recover.

Notes:

If your hair is stretchy when wet, please please please do not do any more process to your hair. As soon as it started to feel  like elastic, move away from any more hair dyes. 

Orange Hair

So you may have noticed my hair was orange for a bit before I went to the colour I was now. Well, it was an orange, blondish colour which I actually really liked. 

If you are happy with how light your hair is when it reaches this point, but you want to take out the brassy/orange tone, you should buy an ash based hair dye which will get rid of those tones. Look  out for colours with the word 'ash' in it. Or you can do what I did...

My Current Colour

My hair currently. After applying a hair dye.

Here's where I went wrong. I originally planned on wanting grey hair. I was so set on it. I had the dye for so long, but I still wasn't light enough. I also couldn't / can't bleach it anymore yet as I know I have to wait to let my hair recover. So still having orange hair, I just went ahead and used the grey hair dye anyway. This has left me with the colour my hair is now. The dye I used was called Colour Freedom - Graphite Grey


Hair Care Products
I wanted to share with you a few products which; after years of searching, I have finally started to find products which actually work for me. Another thing you have to remember is not everyone is going to find the same products work wonders for them.

Though at first glance it may not look it, hair is very dry, flat, and annoying. I think it's important to splash out a bit on one or two products that are going to help your hair recover, or keep your hair healthy whilst you go through with lightening your hair.

Heat Protective Spray - I use the VO5 Heat Protect Spray, because it makes my hair feel soft, isn't sticky and if you didn't know otherwise you wouldn't know there is anything on your hair. It's cheap too! 

Argan Oil / Morroco Oil - I use OGX, Extra Penetrating oil, for dry and coarse hair. This one is little more expensive, but a little goes a long way. You need a pea sized amount. You can use on dry or wet hair, so it has multiple uses. I use it after I have towel dried my hair, and before I spray my hair with heat protector spray to blow dry my hair. It helps restore dry and damaged hair.

Shampoos and Conditioners - This is something I recently learnt. After trying so many different shampoos and conditioners. I found that most STILL left my hair feeling dry, even if it states it is for extra dry damaged hair on the package; it just didn't make sense to me? 

Keep on eye on the ingredients, avoid anything that says it contains silicones. It strips your hair of all the good stuff as well as dirt, and coats your hair in a sort of plastic, which when under heat (like hair dryers, or natural heat) this hardens and is what makes your hair feel more dry.

Loreal Elvive Extraordinary Low Shampoo is great to use in a replacement from your normal shampoo every now and then, I would seriously recommend this, but I wouldn't use it as an every day shampoo as your hair could start to feel greasy. Herbal Essences Bio:Renew is great for every day use, but make sure you get it whilst its on offer as this can be pricey. For an alternative I would use TRESemme Botanique Nourish and Replenish.

Coconut oil - We've discussed this one already. But this here is your reminder!

I think I have pretty much covered everything. If you feel like I have missed something, or you'd like to know more, or you have any questions, you can drop me a message either personally via email, or find me on IG! :) Thanks for reading! xx