Whether you are doing an all over bleach, balayage or foil highlights it is normal to expect a middle stage which will reveal the warm tones in the hair before it can be taken to the lightest white or platinum blonde.

The main focus on making a successful transition is about keeping your hair healthy and being realistic as to the stages you will need to go through to get to a true blonde.

Read on to understand the journey of going blonde..

 

The short answer is usually No. It's a process that takes multiple sessions.

Unless you are a professional colourist it can be hard to understand why you are unable to achieve the blondes you see on Instagram and Pinterest in one go!

The main thing that will affect your ability to achieve a blonde colour is your hair’s natural underlying pigment.

For those of your with dark hair (brunette) the most common pigment is red. Also any hair that has colour build up (see below) it will prevent your from achieving blonde results in one session.

If your hair is resistant to lightening you will need to accept that your road to blonde may include a ‘warm phase’ with colours of red, orange, copper, yellow and then blonde.

As colour specialists we will always give you an honest assessment of your hairs ability to go blonde. Keep in mind though that because everyone is unique, we have no idea how your hair will lift until you have had your first session or if we can take a strand test.

We use Wellaplex and Olaplex to help keep the hair bonded during each session, plus using common sense, which is only lightening to the level the hair, can tolerate and remain in good condition.

The simple fact is if you lighten the hair beyond what it can handle, it simply snaps off or turns to jelly.

Unfortunately we are often asked to repair very damaged hair caused by DIY home kits or from other salons less experienced colourists who just don’t realise that hair is a fragile thing and with chemical colouring it can get damaged to a point of no return.

We will always give you an honest assessment, we are passionate about what we do and we want you to have the best possible colour, not just to take your money and ruin your hair. We refuse lightening services purely because we know you will regret it if your hair cannot cope. If you have a long journey to blonde, we will offer you lots of solutions to make your ‘in-between’ colours look great and you feeling attractive on your journey to blonde.

Colour build up is any type of colour that has been put in your hair at any stage, even if you can no longer ‘see’ it. Unless the hair is 100% grown out, you will most likely have old colour left which affects the type of result that you would like to achieve.

Colour build up can cause banding, patchiness and colour unevenness. We often get asked from clients if they can achieve blonde in their first visit?

This depends heavily on two things – your current hair colour and colour build up. Once you have colour build up it can take a long time to remove – especially red or dark tones (browns and blacks).

If you hair is very dark it’s usual that you will need to persevere through a warmer stage where you will see red, copper, orange, brass tones before you can get to blonde.

This could mean multiple lightening sessions – usually it takes between 3 – 4 sessions spaced 8 weeks apart so that the hair doesn’t break from chemical stresses put on it from the lightning process.

In some cases it can take a year to completely achieve your goal colour, it all depends on how fast your hair lightens up and how easily any colour build up can be removed. We will usually know after the first colour correction session a basic timeline for you.

 

For clients that want to go from BLACK to BLONDE:
You may need 4-6 large appointments for the best results and healthiest hair.
For (“most”) clients, I recommend - 2 larger appointments a year to get the overall result they want.

As well as 4-6 maintenance appointments throughout the year to make the results last.