DIY Ombre: Bleach Dark Brown Hair to Blonde Without Too Much Damage

So, before I put the purple in my hair I did an ombre using bleach. Last time I did a DIY Ombre at home, I used box dye and pretty much fried the shiz out of my poor hair... I tried everything known to man to put some moisture back into my frazzled hair, but eventually I just had to cut most of it off and start over. This time, I wanted to try and protect my hair as much as I could , so I did a few things differently...

First, I went to Sally Beauty and bought  ION Color Brilliance Powder Lightener, ION Sensitive Scalp 30 Vol Developer and Wella Color Charm Toner in T18, 'Lightest Ash Blonde'. Then I went to Walmart and bought a jar of Coconut oil! Coconut oil has been widely purported to have great moisturising and protective benefits for hair, so I decided to try it out and see if it worked.

1. I coated my hair in the coconut oil, enough so that it was fully saturated, but not dripping. Note: I've also heard good things about protein filler and conditioner baths, but I have only tried coconut oil so far.
2. I mixed 1 part bleach powder with 2 parts 30 Vol developer. 30 Vol is the highest you should go if you have dark brown hair, in order to not damage it too much. I applied the bleach mixture to the ends of my hair and worked up with my fingers, blending it by just dabbing it and rubbing it from the top down, getting a little higher each time. TIP: Use dishwashing gloves, they have textured bumps on the fingers that help with blending!
3. I wrapped my head in saran wrap/cling wrap and left the bleach in for 40 minutes, heating it for about 20 minutes with my hair dryer. The ION Sensitive Scalp developer was amazing, it didn't sting my eyes or burn my scalp at all. After 40 minutes, I washed my hair out thoroughly with plain water, making sure to wash until all the coconut oil was gone. TIP: Sometimes the coconut oil can leave the hair feeling slimy/oily so really make sure you wash very well to get it out!
4. If your hair is as light as you want it, then you can move on, however mine wasn't quite where I wanted it, so I repeated steps 1-3. Note: My hair still felt quite smooth and hydrated after bleaching it twice, I can only attribute it to the quality of the bleach and the coating of coconut oil. It wasn't in quite as good a condition as before bleaching, but it was much better than last time I bleached it!
5. I then mixed 1 part 30 Vol Developer with 1 part Wella Color Charm Toner in T18, 'Lightest Ash Blonde', applied it to where I had bleached my hair and left it on for 20 minutes. This is to cancel out the yellow/orangey tones in your hair after bleaching. Note: You can use coconut oil before applying this as well, but I didn't.  I have heard of some people experiencing the toner not grabbing onto the hair because of the coconut oil, so I didn't want to risk it.
6. Washed it out really really well with a generic brand Purple Toning shampoo from Sally Beauty and viola! This was the result:

My hair is still semi damp in this picture, as I didn't have time to dry it before I dyed it purple. I think the blending is pretty good (for having done it myself! Can't see the back of my head..) and I love the light brown to white blonde progression! It's definitely a lot less orange than last time I bleached my hair. My ends are still relatively soft and retained moisture without a lot of bleach damage. This is pretty amazing, seeing as I went from dark brown to white blonde at the tips! I definitely think the combination of the protective coconut oil and the ION Sensitive Scalp developer helped a lot with avoiding damage. I hope this helps next time you plan on bleaching your hair!

I'll be posting about my custom blend of Special Effects dyes to make a pretty purple very soon, so stay tuned!