I just recently dyed my hair back to its original brunette color after having blonde hair for about two years. I had my friend bleach it at home for me, from a box, on a whim because I needed to get rid of some grown out and faded red and I thought this was the easiest way. This means I had done absolutely no research prior and had no idea how hard it was to maintain blonde hair, or even how to bleach is properly. So with that being said, I thought I would provide some tips about becoming a blonde bombshell based on my experiences, since I found out the right way to do it after it was too late. Hopefully this will be of good use to someone who is about to take the plunge. It's really fun to have blonde hair, but sometimes it's a nuisance.

MOST IMPORTANT TIP!

My first tip for going blonde is a major one so please listen closely. Do not use bleach from a box and try to do it yourself. Let me repeat that in case you missed it...do NOT try to bleach your own hair! I beg you. Learn from my mistakes. It didn't come out as light as I wanted it to and since I was dying over reddish-brown hair, it came out a strawberry color mixed with a lot of bright, brassy, orange and yellow tones. I freaked out a little bit and then promptly drove myself over to the nearest Sally Beauty Supply store and picked me up some toner (because that's what Google told me to do). I had no idea what toner was, and basically it's just a formula that helps cancel out the brassy tones and makes you look more naturally blonde. There are also different colors of toner depending how yellow or orange you are on the brassy scale which means you need either a more blue or purple toner, and if you are doing it yourself (which, again, I strongly suggest you don't do) you also have to mix it with the right strength of developer. See why I say you shouldn't do it yourself?

Now, by this point, I had more of a natural blonde going on, but it was still pretty dark and a little orangey. I kept it that way until my roots started to grow out after a couple of months and then I tried to fix those...myself. I apparently didn't learn my lesson and tried to bleach my hair, once again, at home with another boxed dye. I didn't stop at the roots either, and I tried to dye my whole head again with the hopes of making it a lighter blonde. On a side note, I did this the night before a lengthy trip to New Jersey for a huge convention where I would be meeting people I really look up to and admire. Bad idea, because obviously it didn't turn out great since the rest of my hair got lighter but my roots were still a darker shade of blonde.

DON'T WAIT AND FIND A PROFESSIONAL

Months went by, and instead of a couple months this time, I waited way too long (about six months). I guess this is the next tip: don't wait until your roots grow out so long that when you finally decide to get them done at a salon by a professional, the hairdresser even messes it up. Yes, that's what happened to me. The hairdresser I went to tried to make my dark brown roots as light as the rest of my hair and I came out with discolored hair and a distinct diving line across the middle of my hair where the root dye job was done and the dye job I had done months and months before collided. This might be another good tip to keep in mind: try to find a good hairdresser or a color specialist who knows a thing or two about bleaching hair. That's why the nest time my roots grew out I took a trip to another, more reliable hairdresser, and thank goodness I did.

$$$

That's the hairdresser I have now and she was, and still is, my hair-saving angel. She color corrected my entire head of what was a bleached mess, and made me look like a platinum blonde goddess. I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say it was cheap, but it was very much worth the money and saved me from any more embarrassment and trouble. So my next piece of advice is to make sure you save money or have a good steady income to be able to afford the trip to the salon every two or three months because maintaining blonde, and especially platinum blonde hair, involves a lot of upkeep.

That includes in between salon visits as well. I spent plenty of money on purple shampoo and conditioner (yes that is a real thing, yes it does come out purple, no it does not dye your hair purple). It keeps those nasty, brassy tones at bay. I also spent a little money on conditioning treatments and/or some type of hydrating leave-in spray. This is because when you bleach your hair, you are literally stripping it of its natural color which results in some pretty dry, brittle hair. You can normally buy little packets of conditioning treatments for pretty cheap at places like CVS or Walmart or you could spend a little extra and get it done at the salon. I only did that once though, and to be honest, I don't really see the difference so I would suggest saving some money and just doing it yourself. Another product I bought was swimmer's shampoo for the summer months when I wanted to be in my pool all the time but not come out looking like a seaweed monster. Hint: chlorine is what turns blonde hair green.

LOVE IT!

Overall, just remember, don't bleach your own hair, find a good hairdresser, don't wait too long in between salon visits, make sure you have some money set aside to keep your golden locks looking good, and most importantly, flaunt it! I ended up getting so light from spending all my time in the sun that my hair was practically white, and since normally it's really hard to achieve that color, I told my hairdresser to have fun and dye my hair purple! I had been wanting to do a pastel color ever since I started this bleaching journey and I finally got light enough to be able to pull off such a beautiful lilac color. Actually, it was more orchid which faded a little more on the pink side so that was fun! I would have continued my blonde or pastel colored journey but I was graduating college and summer was drawing near again and I simply just didn't want to upkeep the roots anymore and I wanted to have hassle-free hair for the summer, so I decided to go back to brown.

EXTRA TIPS

You can't go from black or brown hair straight to platinum blonde. It's going to take a few times going back to the salon to achieve your dream hair so just be patient. You don't want to fry your hair off in one sitting. Also, I suggest taking it easy with heating tools like blowdryers, straighteners, and curling irons. You don't really want to dry out your hair anymore than the bleaching already does. If you must though, I would try buying a heat protectant spray to put in your hair beforehand. For the last tip: after going so incredibly light with my hair color, my hairdresser had to dye my hair three times in one sitting to get me back to my natural color because my hair wasn't absorbing the brown dye and it looked translucent. So just keep in mind that your last salon appointment might be the longest session out of all of them.