I've been bleaching my hair for 5 years now and I have never heard of the coconut oil method. But when I heard that it eases irritation on the scalp, I knew I had to try it out!

All you have to do is melt enough organic virgin coconut oil to fully saturate the hair you want to bleach. For me, this was just the roots and ends of about 1/4 of my head. Then once your hair is nice and oily, you leave it on for a few hours. Most say overnight but if you don't want to wake up in a puddle of grease, maybe just apply it in the morning and bleach later on in the day. When you use coconut oil before bleaching your hair, the coconut oil adds to the natural oils in your hair to protect your scalp (because you should be bleaching hair that has not been washed in a day or two anyways).

On to the actual bleaching.

1. Gather all of your supplies

Bleach powder

Developer

Gloves

A shirt to potentially ruin forever

And toner.

Optional tools:

Tint brush

Comb to separate hair

2. Combine your bleach powder and developer

Follow the instructions on the bleach and mix accordingly.

Now we apply!

My roots have grown out quite a bit so this may take a while.

3. Section your hair

Section it into pieces that are about 1-2 inches and apply the bleach. Once the bleach is fully coating the hair, cover it in foils, or if you're doing your whole head, put a plastic bag over the head to keep the bleach from drying out.

4. Then you play the waiting game, checking your hair often

At this point, I did begin to notice how little my scalp was burning compared to how it normally feels.

5. Once the hair is lifted to your liking, take the foils out!

6. Great! Now we rinse and dry so that we can tone

7. Follow your toner's directions and apply

Some toners may look a little peachy when you apply them to the hair but it's not actually making your hair that color. Some more ashy blonde toners do this.

8. Once your toner's time is up, rinse it out and allow your hair to dry

I normally wait until the next day to actually wash my hair so I don't wash away any residual toner. This is also another great time to apply more coconut oil to heal any scalp irritation you did experience throughout the bleaching and toning processes.

9. Once you've washed and dried your hair, enjoy your new blonde-ness!