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Natural Red to White blond (to blue) - bleach brand advice
Posted 2 years, 1 month agoHI! I have actually posted here once before about 2 years ago, after a L'Oreal quick blue bleach + blue dye disaster left me with an absolutely legendary green stripe in my hair and deep feelings of failure. It's been 2 years and the desire for blue and purple hair still has not left me, and as I have one year of college left I am realizing that my window to be totally free in my self expression is closing. It's kind of now or never, and I want this blue hair.
These are the things/relevant facts I know about my hair, most of which I learned last time. -My hair color is naturally red/auburn. It's very similar to Karen Gillan's color, a dark red with a slightly blondish/brownish undertone. -It's very, very thick and virgin. The only part which was ever dyed was the blonde patch from the last bleach attempt 2 years ago, which was long ago cut out. -It's very resilient. The lightest patches from the previous attempt's stand tests were bleached 3 times in one day with L'Oreal quick blue and 30 vol developer. They were moderately damaged but not breaking, falling off, melting, or any of the other severe bleach damage symptoms. I grew these patches completely out and cut them off over the span of a year or more, and while they remained a little straw-like, they never developed any of these other more severe reactions. The posters on my previous thread were concerned that even though these sections seemed fine immediately after the triple-bleaching, they would start to show worse damage over time. This never happened and they remained more or less perfectly fine. -It's extremely hard to lift. 3 rounds of quick blue and a round of homemade purple toner only ever got my hair to a lightish yellow blonde. My biggest problem is the warmth of my natural hair color, which even when bleached and toned, seems to want to hang around. This was my downfall with my first blue hair attempt. When I put the blue dye in (manic panic atomic turquoise), the hair was still too yellow underneath, and sadly yellow+blue makes green.
The general consensus on my previous thread was that the bleach I was using was not very good quality, and that my hard to lift hair would need a more powerful and higher quality bleach to get the color I want. Because the blue dye I am using has a greenish base, it can come out more green or more blue depending on the color it's put over. As I want sort of tealish blue, it's 100% the right color dye to use, but because I want to be more blue than green my base is going to have to be a very, very light and well toned white blonde. A quick look through images of people who have used this dye show it varying in color from mostly green to bright blue - I definitely want to stay on the blue side, so I have to make sure my base is very, very pale. My eventual goal is blue and purple hair, either as an ombre or with chunks of the colors. I haven't fully decided on a pattern yet.
So after all that, here's the TL;DR and the central questions: 1. Has anyone here successfully taken natural auburn/red (not dyed red) to very very blonde/white and then to blue, and if so 2. What products did you use? This is the very core question. I am hoping to find someone with similar hair to mine who can recommend something that worked for them. I am really looking for a product that can do this 3 or less rounds of bleach. I was told before that getting where I'm trying to go could take as long as six months and as many as 5 or 6 rounds of bleach with several weeks in between each one. I will freely admit to not having that kind of time or patience. I've been looking at Schwarzkopf Blond Me, which was suggested before and has stellar Amazon reviews. However, I would really like to hear a testimonial from someone with hair like mine before spending the almost $30, because this is somewhat a budget operation and after spending nearly $40 on supplies the last time and having it fail so completely, I really can't afford to buy another expensive tub of product only to have it not work again. The quickblue is gathering dust under my sink as it is.
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The problem you're having would be solved by using a different "blue" semi-perm. I've tried MP Atomic Turquoise on multiple level bases, going all the way to very pale yellow blonde (the color you would tone with a diluted purple to get to white) and it still comes out green on me. I cannot get that dye to end blue, although it did fade to the perfect shade of mint once. Anyway.
I used Quick Blue for years and never had a problem with it (my hair is dirty blonde, not red, so less helpful). If you can get your hair to a yellow blonde with no orange or gold tones, any bright blue and/or purple will work. I've used MP Shocking Blue, Rockabilly Blue, Blue Moon, Ultra Violet and Purple Haze, all over a yellow blonde base and they gave color true to swatch. If you mix 1 part Enchanted Forest and 2 parts Blue Moon, you'll get a bright jeweltone teal. You can dilute any of these with conditioner to get less intense payoff, but it doesn't sound like Atomic Turquoise is really the right option.
Bleach over coconut oil, with Ion Absolute Perfector (cheap Olaplex knock-off you can get at Sally's). If you have stubborn sections that won't lift, there's a bleach called Roux Violites that's super effective but it's only sold in the 1oz packets not a large tub so it's better for spot-bleaching or shorter hair.
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I had wondered if perhaps my choice of blues was part of my problem. When I look at photos of the Atomic Turquoise, it seems to come out anywhere from candy blue to pure green, on different people. The swatches here on hair crazy for the Atomic as well as for Pravana's Neon Blue are EXACTLY the color I'm trying to get. My problem I think is that I do want just the slightest breath of a greenish hue in my final color - very blue, bright blue, but edging on aqua. The Shocking Blue, Rockabilly Blue, and Blue moon shades are much, much darker and deeper than the color I want to end up with. Blue Moon is definitely in the right hue family though, just a little too deep and a little too purple (and not by too much - I actually really like the color). I wonder what color atomic & blue moon mixed together would give me. Hmmmmm. With reference to the other bleach, 1 oz packets aren't really the best option for me: I have a LOT of hair. It's not super long but it is very, very poufy and thick. It's a proper beast.
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I get you. I suggested Violites for spot-bleaching because it is very, very effective. It would honestly be difficult to control if you were doing a lot of hair but if you have a few bits that won't lighten all the way? Good option to have up your sleeve. Don't bother with it if what you end up using gets you to the base you want, just a work-around option in case you need it. :)
Any of the blues mentioned can be diluted with conditioner (anything without silicones---silicones can interfere with how the dye takes) to make them less dark. The purple in Blue Moon doesn't show on hair if it's over a slightly yellow base, it comes out straight bright cobalt blue. You could try adding a bit of Blue Moon to the Atomic Turquoise---Blue Moon is the stronger color, so I'd add that bit by bit to the AT instead of the other way around---and that might give you the ideal aqua you're looking for.
The different swatch colors are down to the different bases, different processing, previous colors overlapping, etc, etc. Manic Panic's Atomic line is kind of neon pastels, so they're less forgiving/show more of the underlying base tones/don't cover as much (compared to something like Midnight Blue, which gives a much similar result for everybody). Pastels are hard.
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An update!! I've done my first test patch and I'm actually thrilled!! It's beautiful! It is however still: -a hairrrrr too green -a hairrrrrr too dark. I'm going to do my second test patch with some different combos of atomic turquoise, rockabilly blue, and conditioner, and perhaps my whole head tomorrow, depending on how it turns out. Once I do, I'll post a full list of what I did and how. But for now, a photo of my triumphant test patch! One question: for anyone that has NEON neon blue hair, like the swatch here on this site for atomic turquoise: how much conditioner did you mix with the dye? The straight turquoise is the right hue but too dark, and I'm not sure how many parts of each I need - a lighter base is not an option, I got my hair as light as it's ever getting LOL.
