Recently I've had to resort to my own devices by doing my own hair, as a family problem has led to being unable to get it done for free, and as getting it done by a hairdresser here in Australia is just ridiculously expensive, I've started Youtubing, Googling, and researching like crazy on how to bleach, tone, and dye my own hair properly.
I've bleached my own hair a few times since this post, and I won't be getting into that. If you are looking for answers on how to bleach your own hair at home, I suggest looking into some youtube videos, as I am far from a hair expert!
As many of you looking into doing your own hair white or grey have noticed, a trend amongst us do-it-at-home'ers seems to either be the toners by Manic Panic "Virgin Snow" or Wella's "White Lady" (Or T18, I believe).
I haven't bothered, and do not intend to try the Manic Panic, for personal reasons. However recently I went ahead and bought White Lady on eBay for around $12AUD (including postage), as for some reason you can't get it in shops like Hairhouse Warehouse here.
The packaging looks like this:
Australians, don't be afraid to buy this stuff online, it's definitely worth it!
Okay, so, after bleaching my hair, the instructions read that it is to be mixed with 20 Volume developer on a 1:2 ratio. One part of the Wella, two parts of the developer. I used the whole bottle, and used my mixing bowl as a measurement for the developer. I read online that it's advised to make sure that the mix is a very dark purple before you put it on your head, so I left it until it was around that colour, in fact it did change more when it was on my head, so if you think its purple enough, wait a couple of minutes more and it might change.
Once my hair was towel dried, I used my brush to evenly distribute it through my hair. I would also advise going from the ends of your hair to your roots if you are like me and went from a darker colour when bleaching, as my ends are STILL a slightly different colour to the top of my head. Sigh.
My hair was about the colour of the inside of a banana peel, possibly lighter when I applied this, and only left it in for about five minutes. I repeat, FIVE. MINUTES.
This stuff is POTENT, had I left it on my hair for any longer, I would have some seriously grey hair, or maybe even purple. And even now, my hair has a slight silvery tinge that should wash out to a more bright white.
I washed it out with cold water quickly, washed and conditioned my hair thoroughly. Make sure that the water running from your hair is clear before you finish rinsing.
The result:
My ends are very much a slightly different colour to the rest of my hair, but nothing a little purple shampoo can't take care of. Otherwise, this toner really evened out my hair colour, where I practically had two halves, which isn't nice when you are trying to achieve a classic colour!
And if anybody is interested, my purple shampoo is more a blue shampoo! From DeLorenzo and is called the "De Lorenzo Novafusion Silver Shampoo". I got it at Hairhouse Warehouse and although it is rather expensive, it is SO worth it to get rid of all your icky brassy, yellowy, just not cool tones to your blonde hair!
I really hope this might have encouraged some people to buy the Wella White Lady, as it really is the most fantastic colour, and so easily done.
Xox
K.
