How to lighten your hair with bleach (BEFORE/AFTER PHOTOS)

I'll be showing you how to lighten your hair with bleach! It's super easy and cheap, but you'll have to be careful while doing it. Now let's get started:)
I have been dyeing my hair with store-bought permanent black dyes for the past 5 years, but I got sooo goddamn tired of it. Especially in the winter - my complexion is not very dark, so black hair made me look like an Addams family member (and trust me, back in my black metal fuck yeah days I wouldn't mind that).
You probably know that colours bought in the stores are much harder to get rid of and that's why I was 100% sure I'll have to go to the hair salon and bleach my hair professionally if I don't want to end up bald.

I did went to the hair salon, the guy wanted around 200€ ($240) for making my hair lighter (I wanted the black-brown ombre effect) which is completely ridiculous.. Other salons weren't much cheaper - the entire process would cost me a minimum of 150€.

To me, that's a little bit excessive. Let's be real, 150€ for bleaching my ends? You gotta be kidding me. Couple of days later I spotted powder bleach and hydrogen at the local shopping mall for 3.5€ and I decided to give it a go.
I was extremely nervous, as I've never done this before and I had no idea what to expect.

Well, it was easy-peasy-japanesy!


What will you need:
- Hydrogen (I used 9% hydrogen, but you can also buy a 3%, 6% or 12% version. I would recommend 6% or 9%)
- powder bleach for hair bleaching (anyone would do)

Schwarzkopf hydrogen and Kozmetika Afrodita powder bleach

Warning! DO A STRAND TEST FIRST!!

Comb your hair, make sure it has absolutely no nots or anything - it has to be completely straight! That's important because you want to know how high with bleach you can go - no one wants weird unbleached patches of hair in the middle of their head. I made that mistake and I had to re-bleach that part. Argh.

Mix powder bleach and hydrogen as it says on the instructions - it's usually 1:2, but make sure. Mix it up until you get a soft, creamy liquid. Put it on your hair thoroughly and use a comb to transfer the mixture all over the part of your hair that you want bleached. Make sure you do that in the house, direct sun light can have very different effect on the hair + wear a T-shirt that you won't miss!

*Be very careful when applying the mixture and wear protective gloves.*

When you're done leave it on 15-40 min (or less, if that's what it says in the instructions!). Carefully observe what's happening with your hair - you will see it going lighter and lighter, so when you think it's enough, just wash it out with a shampoo. Bleach is not very hair-friendly, so make sure you use a good conditioner after washing it out - I use Syoss and it's a gift from heaven, for real! Best conditioner I've ever tried!. Use oil for ends and leave it on for 10 min then wash it out.

Some people say bleach ruined their hair, but mine weren't damaged at all... at least not more than they were before. I had to cut off an inch of split ends, but I should've done that months ago, so it was not due to bleaching.

Warning!
Depending on the natural colour of your hair, you WILL end up with a slightly different tones in your hair - brunettes will get the brassy red effect, blondes yellowish etc. It can be fixed with a Wella Colour Charm toners or shampoos made for that purpose.  I ended up with a slightly brassy brown colour and I love it, so I didn't use any toners. I never wanted to go blonde, just lighter.
*I'm no trained professional, so I won't be responsible for any damages that may occur.*

Sorry for the bad quality of photos, I really should buy a camera.
Before:

After:

It does look a bit different but thats due to different light 

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments:)

x0x0,

Sasha