I don't like to describe my hair as platinum blonde really. I think it's because I leave it too long between bleaching my roots, so it rarely seems extremely blonde to me! Anyhow, I've had a couple of questions about how I keep my hair platinum blonde, or at least evade brassiness. The lovely Meg from Meg's Budget Boutique asked me this precise question yesterday. I made a post about bleaching my hair a while back, but it didn't really explain what products I use to maintain a pure blonde shade. So, I'm hoping this post will do just that!
I bleach my whole head of hair. Basically, through watching a hairdresser bleach my roots for me a couple of times I started to do it myself. It saves me so much money. I'm not perfect at it, as you can imagine doing the back of your own hair is a challenge, but I get by! It's worth pointing out that I am in no way qualified to be talking about colouring hair, but this works for me.
So, first off, as a general rule of bleaching, you shouldn't bleach your hair to a light blonde colour - that's no good for it - trust me! I remember when I was about 14 bleaching light blonde streaks in my hair and it could just break off or be super stretchy - gross. Only bleach up to a straw-ish shade. Sounds like a disaster, but trust me here!
Once you've achieved the delightful straw-like shade you'll want to reach for a toner. This is what will take your hair up to platinum blonde - it's absolutely key in achieving the lightest shades! I've only ever used Wella Koleston range, they've always served me well! They're not cheap, but I've always been happy with the result and my hairdresser used these on me. I usually stick to the lighter toners, choosing either 12/81 or 12/89, whatever is in stock!
Mix developer and the toner according to the brands instructions and apply to your hair while it's still wet after washing off your bleach. I apply mine to the roots first, as they need toning the most, then I take the toner down the lengths of my hair after about 7 minutes. Then, after around another 3 minutes, I'll wash it off. With toner I prefer to leave it on for too long rather than washing it off too early, so I'm usually quite generous with the time I leave it on for! I always think it's better to have a slight, say, purple cast to your hair than to still have some yellowy or orangey tones coming through.
By this stage you should have unicorn hair. Yes I said unicorn hair - I'm pretty sure their hair is platinum blonde. But with every wash your hair is going to get slightly brassier. It's a pain that I'm sure many of you suffer too! I'm sure lots of you have also heard of purple shampoos. I use the Pro:voke Weekly Touch of Silver every other time I wash my hair, it's cheap and does the trick. But you'll notice you get to a stage, which for me is about 3 weeks after I initially toned my hair, where your hair seems quite a lot yellower, but you might not be ready to re-bleach your roots yet. What I do at this point is re-tone my hair. Simple really!
And here are my freshly toned and bleached locks. Sorry about using flash, it's made the photo look a bit uneven shadow-wise - but it's dark by like 4 these days!
And here are my freshly toned and bleached locks. Sorry about using flash, it's made the photo look a bit uneven shadow-wise - but it's dark by like 4 these days!
Of course, your hairdresser can do this all for you! But if your a money-saving keeno like me, then it's definitely worth asking them what products they're using, for example the strength of the developer or the brand of the toner. Take note of how they do your hair too - developing times, do they start at the back / front and so on.
And that's about it! I hope I've remembered everything, but as ever if you have any other questions or if I have missed anything out you can contact me through the comments here or on twitter (@RobynMayday).
