If you've read any of my previous posts you will of seen that I had a blue dip dye going on; this has now changed! I was really bored one day so I popped into a local Boots and picked up a few things to make-over my hair: Garnier, BLEACH London Total Bleach Kit and BLEACH London Awkward Peach.
STEP 1: BLEACH
Obviously I had blue ends and instead of doing the advisable thing and being patient till the colour washed out I just bleached over it. The last time I had my hair bleached was back in January so I could achieve the blue colour I wanted so I think I waited a decent amount of time before re-bleaching. I am guessing a lot of hairdressers do not advise home bleaching, so if you are planning on bleaching your hair but are worried I'd probably go to a hairdresser who can professionally pre-lighten it for you. As I have no patience though and have previously used a home-bleach kit I went ahead myself. I left the bleach on for about 35 minutes before washing it out. The bleach stripped away all the blue and left me with a blank canvas of white blonde and a ginger blonde further up my head where my hair was darker. Since bleach completely strips your hair of everything the Reincarnation Mask conditioner included in the bleach kit is a godsend.
STEP 2: APPLYING THE GINGER
I used Garnier Nutrisse 'Ultra Red' for this bit because at the time it was on offer but there are a lot of other similar reds available. I would probably use this one again because it did leave my hair really soft and shiny. I put the dye over my natural hair colour and over the pre-bleached ginger blonde parts of my hair. After doing this I read the side of the box where it said 'Not recommended for light hair' oops! Thankfully it turned out fine for me (a copper orange red). I left the red on for about an hour and a half before rinsing.
STEP 3: AWKWARD PEACH AND ROSE
Now for my favourite bit - the pretty colours! I put the Awkward Peach on first and then the Rose further down so they would sort of bleed into one another. On my hair I can't really distinguish the two colours too much but this is because the Awkward Peach is meant to work better on blonde hair with more of a warm tone running through it, were my hair was basically white before application. I usually leave the BLEACH London colours on for anything from an hour to five, since they are just a temporary dye which stains your hair so leaving it on for ages won't damage it. I figure the longer you leave it the more intense the finished effect but don't quote me on that! Once I rinsed it out I deep conditioned the ends (because the bleach dries them out) with the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle conditioner and towel dried very gently. Et voila:
TIPS FOR KEEPING THE COLOUR
Wash your hair in luke-warm or cold water as it locks in the shampoo and nutrients were as hot water scalds and dries out hair.
Mix a bit of the colour with your shampoo and conditioner to maintain it
Top up the colour when it starts to fade
Wash your hair less - DRY SHAMPOO!
BLEACH London's pink and peach Super Colours last the least out of all their colours as they are made from red/yellow tones. When they fade they fade to warm blonde/yellow tones or to the peroxide white. In my hair they last about 3 washes before my desired colour completely fades.
BLEACH London is exclusively sold in their salons and in most Boots stores in the UK.
Thanks for reading :)
love amy xx
