How to Bleach Your Hair at Home

Being a former professional hair stylist, I’m going to let you in on a little secret…

There are times when you just need to bite the bullet and pay for a pro to color your hair.

But there are also a lot of times where you can get professional results right in the comfort of your own home!

I recently found Zotos Professional AGEbeautiful Ultra Bond™ Powder Lightener and Developer at my local Sally Beauty and I am seriously impressed with the results.

I’ve tried a few other powder lightener brands at Sally Beauty over the past 8 years of DIYing my own platinum blonde hair at home, and they didn’t quite perform to my standards.

AGEbeautiful Ultra Bond Powder Lightener lifted my hair fast, evenly, and most importantly safely!

Seriously, look at the “before”… yikes!

Don’t just take my word for it…

Keep reading to see how I achieved pro results at home and how you can too!

KEEP THIS IN MIND BEFORE YOU BEGIN BLEACHING YOUR HAIR AT HOME

Don’t wash your hair the day of. Even better if it’s been a few days! The natural oils in your hair help protect your scalp when doing an all-over bleach application.

Know where you’re at naturally. Natural hair color comes in levels 1-10, 1 being naturally black and 10 being naturally very light blonde. Compare your regrowth to a natural hair level chart.

Know your undertones. All natural hair also has undertones with level 1 having red undertones and level 10 having pale yellow undertones. When you lighten your hair, the undertones will be exposed until the bleach eventually lifts most of them out.

For example:

If you are a natural level 4 wanting to get to a level 11 (platinum) your hair will need to first lift out red, then orange, then yellow undertones.

SUPPLIES YOU’LL NEED FOR BLEACHING YOUR HAIR AT HOME:

  • AGEbeautiful Ultra Bond Powder Lightener 6 oz
  • AGEbeautiful Ultra Bond 20 Volume Developer 4 oz
  • Mixing bowl
  • Applicator brush
  • Alligator clips
  • A shirt you don’t care about anymore (or a hair cape)
  • Measuring cup
  • Gloves
  • AGEbeautiful Permanent Liqui-Creme Topcoat Toner
  • AGEbeautiful Ultra Bond No.2+ Deep Treatment 8.45 fl oz

STEP ONE: SECTION YOUR HAIR

Before you do anything, make sure you are wearing a shirt you don’t care about, or even a hair coloring cape. When you bleach your hair, it WILL get on what you are wearing.

Part your hair into 4 sections: down the middle of your head and from the top of your ear to the top of the other ear.

Secure each section with an alligator clip.

STEP TWO: MIX THE BLEACH

AGEbeautiful Ultra Bond Powder Lightener is mixed in a 1:1 ratio with the developer.

Mix 1 scoop (provided) powder lightener with 1 oz. of cream developer until you get a pudding consistency. If you have thicker hair, you might need to double or triple the amount.

If you are only retouching regrowth:

Because your scalp generates heat (which helps bleach work more efficiently) you will only need to mix up one batch using 20 volume developer.

If you are lifting previously colored hair:

If you currently have previously colored hair, especially if it’s very dark, I recommend going to a professional until you have the results you’re looking for.

There are just so many things that can go wrong when you are lifting previously colored hair, and a pro has the knowledge and tools readily available to them in case of emergency.

Once you get to an overall platinum blonde, it’s very easy (and budget friendly!) to do your own retouches at home.

STEP THREE: APPLY BLEACH TO THE OUTLINE OF EACH SECTION

Make sure you are wearing gloves! Working very quickly, apply bleach with your applicator brush to the outline of each section. This will help keep your application neat.

Make sure you only apply bleach to the regrowth. If it overlaps, you risk having banding issues (uneven lifting). Luckily, you’re using AGEbeautiful Ultra Bond lightener so you don’t have to worry about breakage 😉

STEP FOUR: APPLY BLEACH TO THE REST OF YOUR HEAD

Using your applicator brush and working one section at a time, take approximately 1/4″ diagonal partings and apply the bleach to the regrowth.

Most would say to start in the back. From personal experience, I like to start in the front so that it gets nice and light. I don’t mind if the back is ever so slightly darker.

STEP FIVE: LET IT PROCESS

Bleaching is less about watching the clock and more about watching your hair. There are multiple factors that affect how well your hair will lift including:

  • air temperature
  • humidity
  • and even hormones!

About 15 minutes after you have finished the application, check your hair periodically (about every 5 minutes) until your hair is the color of the inside of a banana.

STEP SIX: RINSE AND TREAT YOUR HAIR

Rinse the bleach out of your hair with warm water until you can no longer feel any left behind and the water is running clear.

Shampoo with AGEbeautiful No.1 Cleanse and bring the porosity of your hair back to normal with No.2+ Deep Treatment.

Because I have very porous ends, I prefer to do this before I tone my hair so that the toner takes more evenly.

STEP SEVEN: TONE YOUR HAIR

The toner you should use depends on your final result desired and what current undertone is present after lifting your hair.

From past experience, I know that it’s tough to get all of the yellow undertones out of my hair. I also had more of a golden blonde before and was now wanting to go more ash. So I selected the Silver Ash Blonde toner.

Apply the toner to your regrowth first because your ends are usually more porous and will soak the toner up VERY quickly. Once the regrowth looks like it’s starting to take to the toner, working very quickly, apply the toner to your ends.

Just like the bleach, keep an eye on your hair so you know when it’s time to rinse.

STEP EIGHT: GIVE YOUR HAIR A FINAL SHAMPOO AND CONDITION

Rinse under cool water until it runs clear, and then repeat a shampoo with the No.1 Cleanse and No.2 Condition.

Besides the fact that I need a haircut in the worst way, didn’t it turn out beautiful?!

Platinum hair with pro results at home is within your reach! Head out to your local Sally Beauty to pick up AGEbeautiful Ultra Bond Powder Lightener and Developer (don’t forget your toner).

Ultimate Guide: How to Bleach your Hair at Home

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