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I get asked quite often what products I use to get my hair so blonde, how do I care for it, what my overall routine is. So, I thought I'd share my blonding process with you all! Let me first say that this has been a real trial and error process for me and I did a great amount of damage to my hair when I first started with the blonding process as I was not using the best products for my hair. That is why it is so short now. I had to cut a lot of length off to remove the hair that I did the worst damage to while I was figuring out what worked for me. Here's a picture after the first attempt.
Yes, that is some pretty orange hair!!! This was obviously not the right product to lift my hair from dark brown to true blonde. Within a week of this process I processed it again with yet a different product which didn't yield any better results. Within a week of that I tried a third product, which has ended up being the product I now use to keep my roots up with. That product is Clairol Born Blonde Maxi.
As you can imagine I did quite a bit of damage to my hair after processing it 3 times within a 2 week period. In the very beginning I was very smart in the way I cared for my hair and it stayed in great condition. I had heard about "conditioner washing" for damaged, very thick/coarse hair or ethnic hair and decided to give it a try so that my blonde locks would remain as healthy as possible. Basically it is exactly what it sounds like, washing your hair with conditioner instead of shampoo. Now I know what you're thinking, "Oh, gross"! But honestly it really does get my hair very clean without stripping it completely of healthy natural oils. Shampoo will completely strip the hair of all dirt and oils, even the oils that are good for your hair. I take a half of a palm full of conditioner and massage it really well into my scalp and throughout my hair and then rinse it really well and thoroughly. For good measure I also used a light weight leave in conditioner by Garnier and switched it out occasionally with Organix Argan Oil.
In this picture you can see how much thinner and yes, shorter my hair had become because of breakage:
The only option I left myself with was to chop it all off. Now I am back to conditioner washing and leave in treatments and my hair is bouncing back and getting healthier every day. The best conditioner I've tried and keep going back to is by Tresemme. It leaves my hair clean and silky feeling.
Now, about maintenance of my roots. I still use the Clairol Born Blonde product, but am very careful to only apply it to the new growth at the roots and not spread it to the hair that is already blonde. The directions don't call for this but I put an inexpensive shower cap over my hair after I've applied the bleach to my roots. I find it aids in the blonding process as it keeps the natural warmth from your head in and lessens the amount of time that the product needs to stay on the hair which also lessens the amount of damage it can do. I know it is a hard concept to grasp, not using shampoo, but I am here to tell you that I am a firm believer. My over-processed hair was in good condition and doing just fine until I picked up that bottle of shampoo.
Since I've gone back to conditioner washing there has been a noticible difference in the feel and appearance of my hair. It does take patience and a little getting used to, but is totally worth it. It does take longer as you have to spend a little extra time massaging the conditioner into the hair to help it break down dirt and styling products and spend a little extra time rinsing to make sure that the dirt and hairspray is rinsed away. I highly recommend you do what I did and reasearch it on the internet and youtube. Some people refer to it as "co-washing". It is the basic principle behind Wen products. You absolutely do not have to spend that much on a conditioner to achieve the desired results.
Yes, that is some pretty orange hair!!! This was obviously not the right product to lift my hair from dark brown to true blonde. Within a week of this process I processed it again with yet a different product which didn't yield any better results. Within a week of that I tried a third product, which has ended up being the product I now use to keep my roots up with. That product is Clairol Born Blonde Maxi.
And this was the final result after giving this product a try:
As you can imagine I did quite a bit of damage to my hair after processing it 3 times within a 2 week period. In the very beginning I was very smart in the way I cared for my hair and it stayed in great condition. I had heard about "conditioner washing" for damaged, very thick/coarse hair or ethnic hair and decided to give it a try so that my blonde locks would remain as healthy as possible. Basically it is exactly what it sounds like, washing your hair with conditioner instead of shampoo. Now I know what you're thinking, "Oh, gross"! But honestly it really does get my hair very clean without stripping it completely of healthy natural oils. Shampoo will completely strip the hair of all dirt and oils, even the oils that are good for your hair. I take a half of a palm full of conditioner and massage it really well into my scalp and throughout my hair and then rinse it really well and thoroughly. For good measure I also used a light weight leave in conditioner by Garnier and switched it out occasionally with Organix Argan Oil.
This worked absolutely wonderful on my hair and it remained healthy and fabulous. I couldn't believe that I had done so much to my hair, yet it was beautiful and bouncy. I don't know if it was a moment of insanity or pure stupidity, but I decided that my hair was just fine and I should go back to shampooing it. Big mistake, huge mistake, monumental mistake, ok you get the idea, it was a mistake. Within weeks my hair had major breakage, split ends and visible damage that no styling products could disguise. Hence my new haircut. In this picture you can see how much thinner and yes, shorter my hair had become because of breakage:
The only option I left myself with was to chop it all off. Now I am back to conditioner washing and leave in treatments and my hair is bouncing back and getting healthier every day. The best conditioner I've tried and keep going back to is by Tresemme. It leaves my hair clean and silky feeling.
Now, about maintenance of my roots. I still use the Clairol Born Blonde product, but am very careful to only apply it to the new growth at the roots and not spread it to the hair that is already blonde. The directions don't call for this but I put an inexpensive shower cap over my hair after I've applied the bleach to my roots. I find it aids in the blonding process as it keeps the natural warmth from your head in and lessens the amount of time that the product needs to stay on the hair which also lessens the amount of damage it can do. I know it is a hard concept to grasp, not using shampoo, but I am here to tell you that I am a firm believer. My over-processed hair was in good condition and doing just fine until I picked up that bottle of shampoo.
Since I've gone back to conditioner washing there has been a noticible difference in the feel and appearance of my hair. It does take patience and a little getting used to, but is totally worth it. It does take longer as you have to spend a little extra time massaging the conditioner into the hair to help it break down dirt and styling products and spend a little extra time rinsing to make sure that the dirt and hairspray is rinsed away. I highly recommend you do what I did and reasearch it on the internet and youtube. Some people refer to it as "co-washing". It is the basic principle behind Wen products. You absolutely do not have to spend that much on a conditioner to achieve the desired results.
Here I am today with a much shorter, but healthier 'do. Please feel free to ask me any questions about my hair care and the products I use and about conditioner washing.
/emoticons/
