What to Know About Going Blonde

Three photos of hair side by side. In the photo to the left there is long red hair, the middle photo is shorter dirty blonde hair, photo on the right is shoulder length bright blonde hair.

Back in October of 2020 I started going blonde from ginger. The decision ultimately came about because I was furloughed from my job, no longer had a dress code to follow, and had wanted pink hair since I was a kid. Not being a natural light blonde I knew I would need some bleaching to get to the shade of pastel pink I wanted. I learned a lot about hair and the coloring process during my appointments. Without further a-do here are the top 3 things I learned about going blonde.

Patience, Patience, Patience

After my first session of bleach, there was certainly a difference, but not as big of one that I had hoped for. The time it takes for you to achieve your preferred level of lightness depends on so many factors. Like weather or not you’ve dyed your hair before and what color your hair is at the time of bleaching. I would say it took 3 sessions to really see the bright blonde I pictured in my head.

Please Go to a Professional

There are so many tutorials out there of how to bleach your hair at home, but I am begging you to please see a hairstylist. Bleach is a harsh chemical. Things can go really wrong with it. You can destroy the integrity of your hair strands, you could burn your scalp. There is a reason people go to school for this.

My Hair Stylist’s Instagram

Emily smiling with medium length blonde hair and burnt orange chunky sweater

Home Care

Home care will make or break your hair color. You cannot expect to maintain salon results while using V05 shampoo. Going blonde, you must have a purple shampoo in your routine if you want to keep it bright with as little yellowing as possible. Note: you can overdo purple shampoo. I accidentally turned some of my strands a nice silvery color when I left purple shampoo (mixed with conditioner) on my hair for 15 minutes hahaha!

Emily wearing a purple hoodie with pursed lips and left hand in hair. Hair is medium length and blonde with a couple silver streaks — Here you can see some of the silver

With bleaching also comes damage, its just a fact. You can minimize the damage by investing in a bond building shampoo and conditioner. Olaplex is a big one right now, but my favorite is amika! It’s less expensive than Olaplex and was recommended to me by my hair stylist, so I trust it.

Close up on Emily’s face. She is looking at the camera with a neutral expression. Blonde hair is above shoulder length and curled.

These are the top three things I’ve learned while being blonde. It’s been fun for a while, but I think I’m going to go back to being ginger soon! Having red hair feels more ‘me’.

Have you significantly changed your hair color? Or have your own top tips about maintaining blonde hair? I’d love to hear about it below!

As always, thank you so much for reading, it means so much to me. Until next time, stay fab! Xoxo,