Lightening your hair doesn’t have to mean going completely blonde (though of course that is one option). Bleaching products can be used to create all kinds of beautiful effects, and if you are up for a bit of experimentation, there are lots of things you can try at home using a hair lightening kit from the drug store (though if you have never dyed your hair before or had it lightened, it is always best to have it done professionally).
Here are four very fashionable ways you can give yourself a great new look using bleaching techniques:
Balayage
Despite its exotic sounding name, balayage is actually quite a simple thing to do yourself if you know your way around home hair coloring.
Balayage is effectively a type of highlighting, however rather than being done by carefully coating strands and developing them in foils, the lightening solution is applied in a freehand manner to mimic the natural lightening effects of the sun. you can use a special brush for this (included in balayage kits by hair colorant brands like L’Oreal), or you can just apply using the nozzle of the dye bottle and distribute using your fingers. There are full instructions and tips for home balayage at diyexperience.com.
Ombre
Ombre is the softer version of the ‘dip dye’ style that was in fashion a few years ago. While the ends are still a different color to the roots, in an ombre, the colors blend into each other gradually. You can do this by using bleach on the ends of your natural hair.
Start by applying bleach to the very ends of the hair. Leave this to develop for a while, then add bleach to the next inch or two. Repeat this process a couple of times, so that the hair at the end has the longest development time, and the highest part you are dying a very short development time.
Streaks
Streaks are very chunky, uniform highlights. You can have multiple streaks, or one bold one for contrast at the front of your hair (you can then make your streak section stand out even more by using an unnatural color over the bleach, like pink or blue).
Crazy Colors
There has been a massive trend in recent years for bold hair colors and effects created using multiple fantasy colors – such as ‘mermaid hair’ and ‘unicorn hair’. However, what not everybody realizes is that you need a very light base in order for these colors to show up in all their glory. Unnatural dyes on anything darker than light blonde hair tend to come out duller and murkier, and pastel shades won’t show up at all, aside from maybe an odd tint. This means that unless you are already very blonde, you’ll need to bleach any sections you want to color with these types of dyes.
As you can see, bleach has far more uses than transforming you into a blonde, so why not make one of these styles your new look?