If you want to remove the colour from your hair without waiting for it to fade or grow out naturally, a bleach bath will do the trick. At Smart Beauty we are not just passionate about hair colour – we also want to give you the best advice too. This helps keep your hair in the best condition and, as bleach isn’t a gentle chemical, it’s vital you are very careful with this process.
Take care
We care about your hair and want you to have your individual look without doing any damage.
What you’ll need for a bleach bath
- Mixing bowl
- Clarifying shampoo
- Developer – 20 vol is the safest, you could use 30 vol, but no stronger
- Bleach powder
- Quality conditioner (coconut oil works well too)
- Disposable plastic gloves
- Wide-toothed comb and tinting brush
- Plastic shower cap (optional)
- A timer
Err on the side of caution when it comes to developer and bleach. If you’ve not done this before or your hair is fine and light, use 20 vol the first time to be on the safe side.
Preparation
- Following the manufacturer’s instructions, mix the bleach powder and developer together to form a yoghurt type cream
- Put the usual amount of shampoo you use into the bowl about 10ml
- Add about half that amount of bleach mix to the bowl and mix thoroughly
If you don’t have a clarifying shampoo handy, just use your favourite shampoo, the one you normally use as it’ll be less of a shock for your hair and scalp.
Application
- Rinse your hair then rub with a towel so that it’s semi-dry, not dripping
- Put your gloves on and apply the mix to your hair
- In sections, work up from the ends to the roots, combing through
- You can also use the tint brush to make sure you work the mix well into the roots if that is where the colour is
- Set the timer and put the shower cap on if you want a more intense bleaching
If this is the first bleach bath you’ve done, don’t use the shower cap. If you feel any burning or irritation, wash off immediately.
Checking and finishing off
It’s very difficult to give time guidelines as it is so personal to you. Things that affect the timing are your type of hair, the intensity of the colour you want to remove and your natural hair colour. We want your hair to remain in the best condition possible so check very frequently -at least every four or five minutes. It will stop working after 60 minutes.
If this is your first bleach bath, make the first check even earlier.
How to check
To do this, separate out a small section of hair, scrape a bit of the bleach mix off and see how light it is. If you want to continue, put that section back and spread the mix back over it.
Once you’re happy with the colour, rinse the mix off really, really well and apply conditioner. Leave the conditioner in for a bit longer than usual to prevent your hair drying out.
That’s it! You can now leave your hair or apply a new colour, whatever you want.
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