Bleaching Hair from Dark Brown to Blonde Part 3

Ready for another episode in the journey to take my hair from dark brown to blonde?

It's been a while since my last update in this DIY hair adventure and with good reason. Whilst you might be thinking 'she finally used good sense and decided to give her hair a proper break before jumping in with yet another round of bleach' unfortunately that's not quite the case. My willpower is not that great. I was forced to leave it alone.

I was in hospital for two weeks due to a bad flare up of multiple chronic conditions all at once. It has not been fun. I am home again now though fortunately and working hard to get myself back to something that can pass as normal life again.

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My time in the hospital meant that not only could I not work on getting rid of the orangey phase my hair was in after part 2, but I also got quite a bit of regrowth on my roots. Add to that the fact that I couldn't brush my hair most days due to being on constant IVs day and night let alone wash it, my hair was not looking it's best.

After a few days back home I sent my son out on a mission to buy supplies and I was finally able to start on part 3.

As with the previous times, I used 20 volume developer and bleaching powder and left it on for about an hour. I didn't want to push my luck as given my current bad health (I couldn't eat or drink for about 10 days and then even with all the iron transfusions, IV drips of various natures etc and all the meds I'm on) I wasn't sure how well my hair would withstand another onslaught.

My bleaching kit:

20 volume developer
bleaching powder (three packets as I have a lot of hair and it's important to make sure you cover all the hair with a good amount. When in doubt, always buy an extra packet)
gloves
mixing bowl
brush

This is what I started with:

Jo Linsdell Before hair showing roots and orange tone

Very orange tone especially from mids to ends and dark root regrowth. Not my best look for sure.

When bleaching it this time round I started by covering my mids and ends (the orange parts) as this is where I still have stubborn pigments from the darker hair dyes I'd done previously. I also didn't want it going on the light blonde parts for too long to avoid breakage. As we've previously discussed, the roots always develop quickly due to the natural heat from the scalp and so should always be the last part you put product on to.

This is after one round of bleach:

Jo Linsdell hair after one round of bleach - roots and top very light blonde, lengths still yellow

The good news is that the roots blended almost perfectly and there was no notable hair loss at all. This is a big win! The bad news is that the more orangey tones are still sticking. It did lighten it quite a bit but I need the whole hair to be the colour of the top part and for now, I'm still two-toning it between a very light yellow blonde on top and an orangey yellow down the length.

I could have removed the orange tones a lot easier by using a higher level developer. Even a 30 volume would have made a difference. I didn't want to risk the damage though especially given my recent health and so opted for the safer choice of 20 volume. A 20 volume developer usually lifts 2-3 levels at a time so I was prepared for the fact that going from such a dark brown colour to such a light shade of blonde was likely to take a while when I started on this DIY hair journey.

As with the previous times I bleached my hair, the tone of blonde depends a lot on the light I'm in. If I'm outside in the sunshine it definitely looks closer to the tone I need it to be but inside with warm lighting the orangey tones are still showing through. I talk more about this in my post Understanding Blonde Hair Undertones: How Light Affects Your Shade if you're interested in knowing more.

I also trimmed a little off the ends as they were looking pretty dry.

Just as a reminder, this is the goal I'm aiming for:

AI generated image of Jo Linsdell with long layered ash blonde hair

I used the Gemini app to create an AI version of what I wanted so that I'd have a clearer image in my head whilst bleaching my hair and so that I have an accurate image to take with me to the hairdressers when it comes time to cut it. I obviously still have work to do to reach my goal. I am getting closer though.

Before, currently and goal:

As a recap, here's a reminder of how the journey from dark brown to light ash blonde is going so far:

As you can see I've come a long way in quite a short space of time. My starting colour was a very dark brown, almost black. I started this DIY hair journey from dark brown to blonde on 1st June. This means that all this change has happened in just over a month (two weeks of which I was in hospital). I shared part 2 of this journey on 10th June. Thinking about it like this I'm amazed at how much I've managed to accomplish. I'm actually not far from my goal colour now and my hair is still in pretty good condition. Once I get the final hair cut done it should get rid of any dry ends I have left.

I do not recommend doing this yourself unless you have a good understanding of your hair. Even more so if you suffer from health problems. Luckily I do know my hair and how far I can push it as I've done this multiple times before. If this is your first time DIY bleaching your hair go slow and use low volume developer to avoid doing any serious damage.

My next update should hopefully be with the final result.

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