Reachin for Bleachin' - Why Is My Hair Yellow & Not Beige-Blonde ??

How light is "white"
when bleaching the hair the only answer is "WHITE"like you see in this photo - everyone can achieve this.You MUST use an oil bleach to protect the hair from damage though!

Lighteners / Decolorizing

Lighteners are the chemical compounds that lighten hair by decolorizing the natural hair pigment. I try to explain hair color education in as many ways as I can possibly think of to help everyone understand the theory behind it.

 I like you to understand so it helps you learn how to get yourself out of problem situations. I listen to how distraught everyone is and it really breaks my heart, so the more I teach the more I want you to do your part and READ ! ! 

In order for me to explain what "blonde hair" IS.... I need you to think of hair strands as tubes..... Picture color in tubes, and lets just say the tubes are hair strands.....those hair strands (or tubes are filled up with hair color or pigment that IS your hair naturally, or if its  colored then you have put in there by applying some of your old hair color applications....

 Make sense so far?

Then here comes the Tint brush with the lightener and developer mixed with it to be applied to those tubes....or hair strands.....as soon as the lightener formula (powder or liquid) is mixed with the hydrogen peroxide, it begins to release oxygen. This process is known as oxidation, they call permanent hair color of ANY type ....OXIDATIVE hair coloring.....because of that process that takes place at just that moment.... and it is permanent.......because it occurs within the cortex of the hair shaft.

Hair lighteners are used to create a very light blonde shade that is not achievable with permanent hair color and it is referred to as Bleach. Bleach means lighten if you look the word up up in the dictionary....it does not mean all the terrible things everyone has conjured up in your minds. The one and only reason you have terrible things conjured up is beCAUSE some damn hairstylist has applied bleach and then done what you are not supposed to do she OVERLAPS it the next time she gives you a re-touch..... 

...........and having lightened hair means you are NOT supposed to lighten it on top of the already lightened part AGAIN ! ! ! You are only supposed to lighten the dark part...... and THAT is what gives you a bad feeling about Bleach. Its the Hair Stylist who applied it incorrectly. It actually is thought of as our most useful and loved tool by all top colorists. It just needs a person properly educated to use it. All you need to know is in our Blog, just put the words "blond, bleach, lightener" in the SEARCH Bar and you will learn everything you've always wanted to know!


Otherwise bleach is the single most useful and most handy product in a Colorists arsenal for changing hair color - PERIOD !

The lightest color one can achieve using hair color is with the type of color called HIGH LIFT BLONDING. Every line has their own version of HIGH LIFT blonde tones that ‘claim' to lift 4-5 Levels by using this tube of color plus a double dose of 40 Volume Developer.
Something I have found not to be true.....
 

...So there are 2 ways of going very blonde.....

#1) High lift Blonde's ( which you will NOT find in a HAIR COLOR KIT) these must be purchased as a tube of color and the developer SEPARATELY.

or

#2) Bleach or Lightener : In Powder, Creme, Liquid or Oil form.

As a seasoned colorist I have learned that very few of them actually do lift that much color, especially when you are dealing with the entire head or large sections of hair.. When doing something small like highlights most likely you can get the 4 -5 levels of lift (lightening) as you are using foils ( which add HEAT > Heat helps color work faster - and more intensely - altho it is tougher on the condition of the hair) …it all depends on the texture and porosity as well ...just like in all lightening procedures.

THE DECOLORIZING PROCESS, which in common terms is bleaching!

The hair goes through different stages of color as it lightens as you can see in FIGURE 16-19. The amount of change depends on :

· how much pigment the hair has ( how light or dark)
· the strength of the lightening product
· the length of time it was processed
- the texture of the hair
- the porosity of the hair.....etc....

During the process of decolorizing ( Bleaching), natural hair can go through as many as 10 stages FIGURE 16-20. The most common problem? would be when you see yellow hair..which would mean what? Check the stages....

As the hair is lightened....it works its way up the chart... if it stops at "gold"level 7 or even "yellow/gold"level 8...

it means whatever lightener has been used  has not been left on long enough....

Most people do not understand that....I think I have 20 questions alone just today (1/26/2016 )  about why their hair is yellow and what should they do about it.....

Be very careful . . I am not promoting everyone going out and leaving bleach on for hours and hours...or putting it on 2-3 times - like I do.

It takes constant monitoring...it needs to be washed off the minute it hits level 9 or 10 if you can.
If you have dark brown hair the color will go from brown to orange quickly.
BUT, then going from orange to Pale yellow will take multiple applications.....that is the only way to achieve properly lightened hair.

This chart show the levels

 But the answer to those with gold hair and why is it  yellow or gold? 
9 times out of 10, the hair stylist PANIC - stricken ....took the bleach off....then frantically tried to cover it up with a toner....so for a couple days you have"OK" hair color ( I use that term VERY VERY LOOSELY ! ! ! !)
Then you shampoo it a 3rd or 4th time and you think YOU did something wrong when all along it was a badly trained hair stylist. 

From my point of view 2 out of 10 Hair Stylists know how to color correctly. I worked in 2 very cool Salons in Malibu. In both of them they had over 20 hair stylists but in each there was me and 1 other person I would trust to color my hair and that is the average in LA. where we have the top school in the world. ! ! !

Not all hair will go through all 10 degrees of decolorization. Each natural hair color starts the decolorization process at a different stage. Remember, the goal is to create the correct degree of contributing pigment as the foundation for the final haircolor result.

The hair is never safely lifted past the ‘pale yellow stage’ to ‘white’ with lightener. Going that light with bleach even oil bleach causes excessive damage to the hair strands. One must be a seasoned hair colorist when going into the light blond range....we know how far we can go and be safe...and its nothing you can really 'teach'...... its simply experience!

10,000 HEADS of hair I had colored 1 year before I was diagnosed.
 Here is a chart I made so you can see what I am talking about......
It shows the color of hair and the arrows indicate each application of bleach to the hair!

I can tell by clearing the color off of a strand of hair EXACTLY what stage its at, so that prevents me from leaving the color on too long. 
Now the problem with most bleaching or lightenings you see on the street are done at home? 
The main problem all of you who have contacted me today is you need another application of OIL LIGHTENER>>>> which we sell kits AND i KEEP THE PRICE DOWN BECAUSE OF ALL THE PEOPLE i HEAR THAT NEED THEM......

WHEN YOU ONLY  bleach the hair once.....look at the chart above.... the color leaves the hair REALLY REALLY fast on the first APPLICATION as you can see it dips almost 3 full levels.....THEN, it gets stuck and that is where the majority of America gets stuck .... see where the arrow is after application #1 its on 5. ORANGE!!!.....some of you get lucky and it passes orange and lands on what we call BLORANGE... the chart calls it orange/Gold....I don't care what you call it.......
its hideous.
The only way to get out of this mess is to keep lightening the hair. 
I promise you.
What keeps people in these horrific golds & BRASS is FEAR from using  the lightener again. But when I lighten hair I can't wait to use the next application because the next application will get the hair color OUT of this crappie color.

Big shot Colorist's trick?

> use our OIL BLEACH Kit  !

> apply it twice . . . . sometimes 3 times - yep . . .in the same day -- the trick is...in knowing when to stop.

> OIL Bleach continues to work for 3 hours. Each hour the speed at which it works slows down. Therefore, the first hour the bleach is jamming & working quickly, then depending on costs - timing - etc...is how we determine if we are going to wash it out and reapply a new fresh batch or leave it in and let the speed diminish.

Sometimes that will be the best answer.

MY usual protocol : I apply our Oil bleach and 30 volume > 1 inch FROM ROOTS and thru ends.... (apply to roots as very last step).. for last 45-50 minutes.

RINSE

Reapply - new batch of oil bleach on ends and in the last 1/2 hour apply to roots.

Being very careful to use very small sections to apply the product.

Many many moons ago (16 years ago) when I did my very first RADical hair color ( I still have the photos).I took an ASIAN gal (PITCH BLACK hair) gave her a Halo around her face of 1 inch -- surrounding her hairline of WHITE hair.... my mentor wanted me to learn how to get to "white" on the most difficult of hair. Asian hair is the toughest to work on because of its 'texture' (its coarse) and its porosity ( it has none)...But, when you have completed either colour or a dynamic cut on it, it also looks better than any other hair.

So its worth the effort -- if you think that way!

It took from 7:00 AM in the morning to 7:00 at night. But it was a pure snow white HALO with JET black Base that I actually made a BLUE-BLACK so the most extreme contrast possible.

That was the day I knew I wanted to master the art of HAIR COLOUR.... and I never looked back.

It was a very sweet ride and I can honestly and proudly say. . . . I can do do ANYTHING in the art of hair color...anything and everything.

Even ended up making up some procedures like "tattooing" hair....

I would bleach white the hair and then paint a Tattoo on the back of the head at the base this was 15 years ago so very early on tin the world.

Back in the day I was not so into computers... so i didn't take photos of all my crazy work when i should have
 I thought I would be doing hair forever I never knew something like this woud take me down....I always thought I'll take photos the next time......I could always re-do it...never thinking this would happen...of course...

as a matter of fact computers are the opposite of hair color....so I understand why many of the TOP colorists are not ONLINE, I would have never done this . . .

had I not gotten sick.
Doing hair is working with people and talking to people so sitting working with and ON computers was the absolute very last thing I thought I would have to do in my life......

here is one guy I had some shots of

- lousy photos -

-but you get the idea . . . . He's hispanic so black hair again...

see what color a bleach should be?

WHITE!

He wanted flames to match the flames he had a car painter > paint on his jacket....

for PROM at MALIBU HIGH - -

- - of course!

It kicked ass


I hope you get the idea with what the problem is when you have brass gold or orange in your hair. Invest in our OIL bleach kit, you will be so glad you did, it doesn't damage the hair at all!

Remember once you have bleached white hair using BOOST & BURST can be one of life's better pleasures.