Upon entering adulthood, I have rarely ever had my own natural hair colour.
In these years, I have crossed a long, arduous, and certainly bumpy road with colouring and bleaching. Being chronically broke, it is no wonder that I had my very early goes at doing my hair myself. More often than not, with rather mediocre outcomes.
However, approaching a full year now, I feel like I might have cracked the code.
Having had multiple very positive experiences and outcomes that I was more than happy about, I want to share all my combined wisdom from 7 full years of bleach and dye.
This is very much based on my own experience, so please don’t treat it as professional hairdressing advice. Bleach in particular is something to take seriously, and the instructions for the specific product you’re using should always take priority.
1. The Equipment That Actually Saves Lives
Much to the dismay of the devastated part of me that strives for orderliness and less clutter (it’s usually crying in a corner somewhere), proper equipment is one of the key factors to a successful bleach.
So much so that it fills an entire drawer in my apartment.
Here’s a concise list of what I like to use:
- Professional brushes for bleach and dye ×4
- High-quality, colour-coded mixing containers
- A cape for keeping dye away from everything else
- Glue-on face shields (they help with not going blind)
- A large mirror I can put on the table, ideally with good lighting
- Aluminium foil
- Stylist-grade haircare products
I’ve accumulated too much equipment over the years, and this is what truly saves lives.
Dyeing at home is expensive. That’s just how it is.
I’ve also nailed down my core rule: get twice as much dye as I think I’ll need and thrice as much bleach.
There are not that many grave mistakes leading to the splotchiest, most uneven bleach jobs that you can make. Not having enough bleach at hand is unfortunately one of them.
Trust me, I know this.
Picture-Perfect Prep
Everything you do before starting to bleach, you won’t have to do during.
So honestly?
Do everything possible.
Here’s how I set up the dyeing session:
Prepare a room with a table and the mirror on top, so if you’re sitting in a chair, you face the mirror. Set up very good lighting — it’s gonna help loads.
Prepare the exact shades of dye you want to apply after the bleach. (I’m assuming you’re gonna opt for semi-permanents here; in my experience, they usually show up on bleached hair approximately as the colour you mix them.)
Have your bowls for bleach ready with the brushes prepared.
Have a specific trash bag at the ready that’s only for the bleach stuff.
Prepare good ventilation and open as many windows as possible. Bleach smell is nasty, and I personally find the fumes irritating and unpleasant.
Get any animals safely out of the area and as far away as possible.
Read all instructions carefully so you can follow them precisely.
Set up timers for your hair beforehand.
Lay out aluminium foil.
And finally, glove up and protect your clothes.
The more of this you can get out of the way beforehand, the less you’ll have to scramble around while you’re actually covered in bleach.
The Actual Bleaching
What comes next should ultimately be dictated by the instructions on your specific bleach product. Different products can work quite differently, so this is not the part where I’d recommend improvising.
What I will say from my own experience is that having help makes a massive difference.
If you can, have at least one other person helping you - especially with the back of your head.
My ideal setup is basically:
- Me: bleaching the front and sides where I can actually see what I’m doing
- A second person: a good friend ideally, taking care of the back at the same time
- A third person: if available, keeping an eye on supplies and mixing fresh product as needed
The goal is simply to avoid the horrible situation where one section of your head is already processed while you’re still desperately trying to cover another section.
Also: never ever mix different kinds of bleach or chemical products unless you know they are compatible and the instructions specifically allow it.
In my experience, it is much easier to settle on one product and make sure you have enough of it than to suddenly run out halfway through your head.
And be generous with the product when applying it.
This is one of the biggest lessons I’ve taken away from years of doing this myself. You want the hair to actually be thoroughly saturated rather than trying to stretch a tiny amount of product over a much larger section of hair.
Again, though: follow the instructions for the specific product you’re using, including the recommended application and processing time.
Right After the Bleach
Right after the bleach, here’s what I do:
I very thoroughly rinse out every last drop of bleach.
I don’t use conditioner right away. Instead, I mix it into the semi-permanent dye and start applying the colour straight away.
This is very much my own routine and not something I’d recommend blindly copying.
Whether your hair can handle this depends on its condition and on the products you’re using. If my hair feels particularly compromised, I would rather condition it and give it a break than force it through another chemical process.
In my case, when my hair is still in good enough condition, it can normally take the brief wait, and I’m rewarded handsomely by dye that seems to seep right into the core of my hair and stay vibrant for a long, long time.
This is probably one of my favourite parts of the whole process because after all that bleach chaos, suddenly…
COLOUR!
And everything looks intentional again.
The Aftercare
Later, I follow up with my chosen high-grade haircare products.
I also try to be gentle with my hair for a while afterwards. No unnecessary heat styling, no particularly strenuous styling experiments, and generally just giving the poor thing some peace after what I’ve put it through.
At this point, I’ve learned that the most important thing is paying attention to what my hair is actually telling me.
Sometimes it can handle another step.
Sometimes it very much cannot.
And after seven years of experimenting, I’ve gotten considerably better at telling the difference.
And That’s Basically What I’ve Learned
I definitely did not figure this out overnight.
There have been uneven bleach jobs. Weird colours. Accidental colour combinations. Times where I absolutely did not have enough product. Times where I thought surely this will be enough and it very much was not.
But after seven years of doing this, I finally feel like I have a system that works for me.
The biggest lesson is honestly not some secret bleaching technique.
It’s preparation.
Have enough product. Have the right equipment. Have good lighting. Have someone help you with the parts you can’t see. Read the instructions. Don’t improvise with chemicals. And, most importantly, pay attention to the state of your hair instead of blindly following a routine just because it worked last time.
I’ve gone from nervously attacking my hair with a box of bleach and hoping for the best to actually feeling like I know what I’m doing.
And honestly?
That’s a pretty satisfying skill to have.