Get White Hair

If you want to make a bold, beautiful statement with your hair, consider turning it white. Stripping hair of its color can dry it out, but if you use the right technique you can avoid long-term damage. Learn how to use bleach and toner products to get stunning, snow-white hair.

Steps

Building Healthy Hair

1. Consider the quality of your hair before deciding to bleach it. If you want to bleach your hair, you’ll want to get your hair as healthy as possible. In the weeks leading up to bleaching your hair, avoid anything that may damage your hair — particularly chemicals and heat.
   • If your hair feels dry and damaged, spend some time repairing before you bleach it. You can do this with deep conditioning treatments and by letting your hair dry naturally, without the use of styling products or tools.
2. Don’t use chemicals on your hair. The bleaching process works best on healthy hair that has not previously been dyed, permed, straightened or otherwise chemically treated.
   • Professional hair stylists generally recommend waiting at least 2 weeks to between applying any chemicals to your hair; this time frame may be shortened or lengthened depending on how healthy your hair looks and feels.
   • If your hair looks and feels healthy after you’ve dyed it, waiting 2 weeks before you bleach it will likely be fine.
3. Cover hair in coconut oil at least 3 hours prior to bleaching. Rub some extra virgin coconut oil between your palms to warm it up, then massage it into your hair and scalp. You needn’t wash the oil out before bleaching.
   • If possible, leave coconut oil on your hair overnight before bleaching.
   • Some people even claim that the oil can help the bleaching process, although there is no real evidence for this.
   • Coconut oil is made up of molecules that are small enough to penetrate the hair shaft, making it an effective choice for moisturizing your hair.
4. Use gentle, moisturizing shampoos and conditioners. Look for ones that moisturize your hair without adding buildup or stripping your hair of its natural oils. If you're on a budget, you can find high-quality salon brands at beauty outlets and discount department stores.
   • What to look for: low pH, oil (argan, avocado, olive), glycerin, glyceryl stearate, propylene glycol, sodium lactate, sodium PCA, and alcohols that start with “c” or “s.”
   • What to avoid: strongly fragranced products, alcohols whose names include “prop”, sulfates, and any products that claim to add volume to your hair.
5. Choose your styling products with care. Pay attention to what types of styling products you use. For example, anything that provides lift or volume to your hair will also dry it out.
   • As with shampoos and conditioners, only put things on your hair that will moisturize it.
6. Avoid using heat on your hair. Don’t use a hair dryer, straightening iron, or curling iron on your hair. Applying heat damages and weakens hair follicles. After washing your hair, don't rub it with a towel — use the towel to gently squeeze the water from your hair.
   • If you simply must style your hair, consider using no-heat alternatives to straightening and curling your hair. Type “no heat alternative hair styling” into a search engine to discover a variety of methods.

Gathering Your Materials

1. Go to a beauty supply store. Drugstore brands of hair dye are generally of a poorer quality than the ones you can get in a salon. Beauty supply shops allow you to buy professional-quality products and tools.
   • Sally Beauty Supply is one of the most popular international beauty shops. Check to see if there's one — or one like it — in or near your city.
2. Purchase bleach powder. Bleach powder comes in packets or tubs. If you plan on bleaching your hair more than once, a tub is usually cheaper in the long run.
3. Purchase a cream developer. Cream developer reacts with the powder to bleach your hair. It comes in different volumes ranging from 10 to 40; the higher the volume, the quicker it will turn your hair blonde, but also the more damaging it will be.
   • Many stylists recommend using 10 to 20 volume. It will take longer for the mixture to lighten your hair, but it will also be much less damaging than using the higher volumes.
   • If you have fine, fragile hair, use a 10-volume developer. For dark, coarse hair, a 30- or 40-volume developer might be necessary.
   • A 20-volume developer is your safest bet for effectiveness and gentleness, so if in doubt, choose that one!
4. Purchase a toner. Toner is what will take your hair from yellow to white. Toners come in a variety of shades, including blue, silver and purple.
   • When choosing a toner, take your skin tone and hair color into consideration. If your hair is too golden, you’ll want a toner shade that’s opposite gold on the color wheel such as a blue or violet ash-based toner.
   • Some toners need to be mixed with developers before being applied to your hair, while others come ready to apply. Both can be equally effective.
5. Buy a red gold corrector (optional). Red gold correctors often come in little packages that you can add to your bleaching mixture to help reduce brassiness; they aren’t absolutely necessary for getting white hair, but a lot of people swear by them.
   • Whether you need a red gold corrector will really depend on your hair. People with darker hair, or hair that contains red, orange, or pink tones may find red gold correctors particularly useful in getting their hair extra white.
   • Unless you already have ashy blonde hair that you're trying to make white, you might want to err on the side of caution and purchase a red gold corrector, as they are fairly inexpensive at around $1 USD per package.
6. Make sure you have enough bleach for your hair. If you have long hair, you'll likely need at least two packages of bleach, developer, and red gold corrector, if not more.
   • If you’re unsure of how much you’ll need, you're better off buying too much than not enough. You can use any untouched packages later when you touch up your roots.
7. Purchase toning shampoo and conditioner. Look for products that are specifically made for bleach blonde hair. These shampoos and conditioners will be a rich purple or purple-blue in color.
   • If you’re on a budget, at the very least buy the shampoo, which is more effective than the conditioner in keeping the brassiness out of your hair.
8. Purchase hair-dyeing tools. In addition to the ingredients for your bleach mixture, you’ll need a tint brush, a plastic mixing bowl, plastic spoon, gloves, hair clips, towels, and plastic wrap or a clear plastic shower cap.
   • Do not use any metal as it can react negatively to the bleach.
   • For towels, you can use old ones that you already have too; just make sure they’re ones you don’t mind wrecking.

Bleaching Your Hair

1. Do preliminary tests. Before you bleach your hair you’ll need to do a patch test and a strand test. A patch test will ensure that you’re not allergic to anything in the bleach mixture, and a strand test will help you determine how long to leave the mixture in.
   • To do a patch test, create a tiny amount of the mixture you will use on your hair and place a small dab of it behind your ear. Leave it for 30 minutes, wipe any excess off, then try not to touch it or get it wet for 48 hours. If after 48 hours that area of skin is fine, go ahead with bleaching your hair.
   • To do a strand test, prepare a small amount of the bleach mixture and apply it to a strand of your hair. Check it every 5 to 10 minutes until it reaches the desired color. Note the time it took to reach this color so that you have an idea of how long it will take on your whole head.
   • Another thing to pay attention to in the strand test is how damaged the hair feels after you've washed and conditioned the strand. If it feels very damaged, try a lower-volume developer or a slower bleaching process (i.e. bleaching your hair over several weeks instead of in one go).
   • If you only do one test, do the patch test, as a severe allergic reaction could be fatal.
2. Get yourself ready. Put on old clothes that you don't mind getting stained. Drape a towel around your shoulders, and have another stack of towels ready in case the bleach mixture gets somewhere it shouldn’t. Put on a pair of gloves to protect your hands.
3. Place the bleach powder in the mixing bowl. Using a plastic spoon, place as much bleach powder as you need in the mixing bowl. The powder should come with instructions that you can follow.
   • If it doesn’t, you’ll want to use roughly a 1:1 ratio between the powder and its developer. You may want to do one scoop of powder and then one scoop of developer, mixing them as you go.
4. Add developing cream to the bleach powder. Add the correct amount of developer and mix it with a plastic spoon. Aim for a thick, creamy gravy consistency.
   • Unless stated otherwise on the packaging, the ratio of developer to powder should be roughly 1:1 — 1 spoonful of powder per 1 spoonful of developer.
5. Add red gold corrector to the mixture. Once the powder and developer are combined, add some red gold corrector to the mixture using the instructions on the package as a guideline.
6. Apply the mixture to dry, unwashed hair. Using a tint brush, apply the mixture to your hair moving from the ends upward, leaving roughly an inch of roots. Your roots will lighten faster than the rest of your hair due to their proximity to your warm scalp; for this reason, leave your roots until the rest of your hair is done.
   • Unless your hair is quite short, you’ll benefit from using clips to section off your hair as you work on it.
   • Work from the back of your head to the front of your head.
   • Wait at least 24 hours from washing your hair to bleach it. The oilier your hair is, the better, as your hair’s natural oils will help reduce the damage the bleach does to your hair and scalp.
7. Check that the mixture is evenly distributed on your hair. Once you’ve applied the bleach mixture to all of your hair including your roots, check to ensure that your hair is fully saturated with the mixture.
   • You can do this by massaging your hair around your head and feeling for any spots that are dryer than the rest. When you come across these spots, add some more of the bleach mixture to them and massage it into your strands.
   • Use a mirror to look at the back of your head.
8. Cover your hair in plastic wrap. You can also use a clear plastic shower cap.
   • As the bleach works, your scalp may begin to itch and sting. This is normal.
   • If the tingling and stinging become too painful, remove the plastic wrap and wash out the bleach. If your hair is still too dark, you can try to bleach it again with a lower-volume developer in 2 weeks if it's healthy enough.
   • Avoid the temptation to apply any heat to your hair at this point, as applying heat could wind up in your hair falling out completely.
9. Check on your hair periodically. After 15 minutes, check a strand of hair to see how the bleaching has progressed. Use a towel to wipe some of the bleach mixture away so that you can clearly see the color of the strand.
   • If your hair still looks dark, reapply more bleach to the strand of hair, replace the plastic wrap and allow it to sit for another 10 minutes.
   • Continue checking your hair every 10 minutes until it has become completely blond.
10. Do not leave the bleach in your hair for over 50 minutes. If you do, it could cause your hair to break off and/or fall out completely. Bleach is capable of dissolving hair, so you really do need to be careful about how extreme you are with it.
11. Wash out the bleach. Remove the plastic wrap and run your head under cool water until all traces of the bleach are gone. Wash, condition, and rinse your hair as normal, then gently squeeze the water from it with a clean towel.
    • Your hair should be a yellow blond color. If it looks bright yellow, proceed to the instructions for toning.
    • If your hair is orange or still dark, it's necessary for you to bleach it again before toning. To keep your as healthy as possible, wait 2 weeks between bleaching. Note that you won’t need to reapply the bleach to your roots if your roots are whiter than the rest of your hair. Just apply the bleach to the parts you want to lighten further.
    • You may even want to stretch the bleaching process over several weeks. If your hair is quite thick and course, You might even need to repeat the process up to five times.

Toning Your Hair

1. Prepare yourself for toning. Once you've bleached your hair, you're ready to tone it. Just like with the bleaching process, you should wear old clothes and gloves. Have a stack of towels handy and make sure your hair is completely dry before starting.
   • You can tone your hair directly after bleaching it (just make sure the bleach is washed out first!). You will also likely want to tone your hair every couple of weeks in order to keep it looking white.
2. Mix the toner. If your toner comes premixed and ready to use, you can skip this step. In a clean plastic mixing bowl, mix the toner and developer according to the instructions on the packaging.
   • The ratio is usually 1 part toner to 2 parts developer.
3. Apply the toner to your damp hair. Use your tinting brush to paint your hair with the toner, following the same technique as when you applied the bleach (ends to roots, back to front).
4. Ensure that the toner is evenly applied. Work your hands through your hair to ensure that the toner is saturating your hair and evenly applied.
   • Use a mirror to have a look at the back of your head to make sure the toner is fully covering your hair.
5. Cover your hair with plastic wrap or a shower cap. Allow the toner to sit in your hair for the length of time specified on the packaging. Depending on the strength of the toner and the color of your hair, it could take as little as 10 minutes for your hair to go white.
6. Check your hair every 10 minutes. Depending on the type of toner you use and how on light your hair already is, the toner could work more quickly or slowly than expected.
   • Check your hair every 10 minutes to ensure that you don’t end up with blue hair: use a towel to scrape some toner off a thin strand of hair to get a sense of what color it’s going. If your hair’s not the desired color yet, reapply toner to that strand and put it back up beneath the plastic cap/wrap.
7. Wash out the toner. Run your hair under cool water until all traces of the toner are gone. Shampoo and condition as normal, and gently squeeze the water from your hair with a clean towel.
8. Examine your hair. Let your hair air dry or, if you are impatient, dry it with your blow dryer’s coolest setting. Now that the bleaching and toning processes are complete, your hair should be a bright, sparkling white.
   • If you missed a spot, wait a few days and repeat the process on the strand of hair in question.

Caring for Your White Hair

1. Be very gentle with your hair. White hair is fragile and damaged hair, even if it is in the best condition it can be. Take care of your hair, don't shampoo it if it feels dry and don't go overboard on the brushing, straightening and curling.
   • Most of the time, you’ll want to let your hair air dry. If you must blowdry your hair, be sure to use the coolest setting.
   • Avoid applying heat or otherwise manipulating your natural hair texture as much as possible, as this can cause your hair to break off — you could end up with chunks of hair sticking out from your head that are only an inch or two long.
   • If you simply must straighten your hair, you can achieve a straightening effect with a blow dryer and a round brush — do this as an alternative to using a straightener.
   • You’ll want to comb your hair with a wide-tooth comb.
2. Leave time between washings. Many specialists recommend washing you hair only once a week after bleaching it. Shampoo strips your hair of its natural oils, and your bleached hair will likely need all the oil it can get.
   • If you regularly work out/sweat or use a lot of products in your hair, you can likely bump this up to twice a week. You can also substitute dry shampoo for a wash.
   • When you dry your hair, gently pat and squeeze it with a towel — don’t rub the towel quickly over your head as this can cause more damage to your hair.
3. Know which products to use on your hair. Use products specially made for bleached and damaged hair: a purple toning shampoo and a deep conditioner at the very least. Avoid products that volumize your hair, as this can dry it out.
   • A good hair oil will keep your hair looking softer and less frizzy. Some people swear by extra virgin coconut oil to reduce frizz and help condition their hair.
4. Deep condition your hair at least once a week. Purchase a good deep-conditioning treatment from a salon or a beauty supplies shop. Avoid drugstore brands as these may only coat your hair, leaving it feeling waxy and weighed down.
5. Reapply a toner regularly. You’ll need to reapply a toner regularly to keep your hair white. You might even need to do this every one or two weeks. Using a toning shampoo will help reduce how often you need to apply a toner to your hair.

Bleaching Your Roots

1. Try not to let your roots grow too long. Try to renew your bleach when your roots are an inch at the longest. This will help keep your hair looking more even.
   • If you let your roots grow longer, it may be more difficult to touch them up without having them clash against the rest of your hair.
2. Put together the bleach mixture. This will be the exact same process as when you initially bleached your hair. Mix the lightening powder with the developer on a 1:1 ratio, then add the red gold corrector to the mixture as per the package’s instructions.
3. Apply the mixture to your dry, unwashed roots. Using a tint brush, only apply the bleach to your roots. You can let it drag down a teensy bit into your already bleached hair, but try not to cover your already bleached hair too much.
   • If your hair is quite thick or long, you’ll want to section it off with clips. You might even find it useful to section off short hair so that you can make sure you get all the roots.
   • Use the pointy end of the tint brush to work your way through your hair, painting the mixture on your roots, flipping the hair over with the end of the tint brush, and then painting the other side before moving on to the next chunk of hair.
4. Check your hair regularly. After about 15 minutes, check to make sure that your hair isn’t going too light. Check on it every 10 minutes after that until it's the desired color.
5. Wash the bleach out of your hair. Completely rinse the mixture out of your hair with cool water, then shampoo and condition as normal. Gently squeeze any excess water from your hair with a clean towel.
6. Apply a toner to your hair. As with the original toning process, prepare your toner and apply it to your roots using a tint brush.
   • If the rest of your hair could also use a tone, apply the toner to your yellow roots first, then pull it down to the rest of your hair.
   • Remember to keep an eye on your every 10 minutes to make sure it’s not going too blue, silver or purple.
7. Wash the toner out of your hair. Rinse your hair with cool water, then shampoo and condition it. Afterwards, gently squeeze the water out of it and, preferably, let it air dry.

Dealing with Mishaps

1. Don’t panic if you run out of bleach before you've covered all your hair. If you find partway through applying bleach to your hair that you don’t have enough to cover your entire head, it’s not the end of the world.
   • If you run out of the mixture but you still have all the ingredients you need, quickly mix this together and then continue applying the bleach to your hair. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes for you to make the mixture.
   • If you need to go buy more ingredients, complete the bleaching process for the hair that you’ve covered in bleach (allowing it to sit on your hair until it’s blonde or until a maximum of 50 minutes have passed — whichever comes first). Then at your earliest opportunity, buy more materials and apply the bleach to your remaining unbleached hair.
2. Remove bleach stains from your clothes. Ideally you’ve worn old clothes and protected them with a towel. If for some reason bleach gets on something you care about, you can try to remove it using the following method:
   • Apply a clear alcohol such as gin or vodka to a cotton wool ball.
   • Rub the stain and the area around it with the ball; this should move some of the garment’s original color over to the bleached area.
   • Keep rubbing until the color has covered the bleached area.
   • Rinse well in cold water.
   • If this doesn’t work, you might consider bleaching the entire garment and then dyeing it with a fabric dye in a color of your choosing.
3. Be patient. If you bleach your hair and after 50 minutes the color is nowhere close to blonde, don't panic. This is a common occurrence for people with darker and/or stubborn-to-dye hair. It may take you a few attempts to get your hair the color you want it.
   • If you need to bleach your hair a few times to get it blonde, be sure to give yourself at least two weeks in between bleachings.
   • After each bleaching, pay close attention to the quality of your hair. If it begins to feel very damaged, you’ll need to wait longer before you try again. Your hair should feel fairly healthy before you apply more bleach to it, otherwise you’ll risk it breaking off or falling out.
4. Remove darker-colored bands from your hair. After a few root touch-ups you may find that your hair has developed bands of different shades of yellow.
   • You can address the darker bands by applying a small amount of bleach to them and letting it sit for several minutes until the strip of hair is closer in color to the rest of your hair.
   • These bands will generally become much less noticeable once you’ve toned your hair.

Tips

• White hair is not for those who are not prepared to spend time on their hair. It is high-maintenance and requires care to keep looking good. Consider carefully whether or not you are prepared to invest this much effort into your hair color before dyeing.
• If you are not prepared to spend the time and effort it takes to maintain platinum hair, or if you’re concerned about the quality of your hair, consider going to a salon to see about having it professionally bleached instead.
• You may find it useful to go to a professional stylist the first time you go white, just to get a sense of the work involved; that way, you can pick up tips and tricks from the stylist, and you’ll only have to maintain your roots.
• If you end up wanting a different look, then wait at least 2 weeks before dying with a permanent hair dye.
• If you decide to dye your hair a different color after bleaching it, you may need to use a filler to fill in the missing pigment from your white hair before you apply the color.
• If you’re unsure of what shade of platinum will look best with your skin tone, go to a wig shop and try on different wigs. Note that some shops may charge you a fee for this, and most shops will require that you try on wigs with the help of an salesperson. Call ahead to a local wig shop to ensure they have time to help you.
• If you insist on using hot styling tools, be sure to use a good heat protectant on your hair first. These come in sprays, creams, and mousses, and are available at your local beauty supplies shop or salon.

Warnings

• If you do not use gloves, the bleach will sting any open skin, turn it into an ugly white color and make it feel extremely dry and itchy.
• Swimming in chlorinated water can turn your hair a greenish color. If you must swim, apply a conditioner to your hair and place it in a swimming cap before getting in the water.
• Do not bleach your hair right after washing it. You have removed the oils that protect your scalp, so your scalp and hair will be a lot worse for wear than if you wait at least 24 hours.
• If you go into the bleaching process with hair that's already damaged or weak, you risk more serious damage or breakage. Don't style with heat products or regularly shampoo before bleaching.
• Be patient with your hair. If you try to go too white too fast, you could end up causing hair breakage, hair loss or chemical burns.

Things You'll Need

• Bleach powder
• Developer
• Red gold corrector
• Hair toner
• Toning shampoo
• Tint brush
• Mixing bowl
• Gloves
• Towels
• Plastic wrap

Related Articles

• Bleach Your Hair Platinum Blonde
• Get Silver Blonde Hair
• Go from Black Hair to Blonde Hair
• Become a Blonde
• Bleach and Tone Dyed Black Hair

Sources and Citations

See also

• Do Ecaille Hair Color
• Dip Dye Dark Hair
• Lowlight Gray Hair
• Lowlight Blonde Hair
• Bleach Hair Blonde
• Prepare Your Hair for Bleaching
• Color Hair With Food Coloring
• Dye Hair
• Dye Your Hair Brown After It Has Been Dyed Black
• Dye Hair Two Colors

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