Greetings. I’m Bahri, formula and product expert. Today I want to talk to you about haircolor lightening without bleach.

We’ve received lots of questions about the ways in which you can lighten your hair without using bleach. Today we’ve decided to explain it to you.

First, we have to decide what type of hair we’re dealing with. Is the hair healthy and strong enough for you to go for this procedure or not?
Sometimes people try to use wine color or black color dye on their hair. Keep in mind that if you've done the same only bleaching will lighten your hair. Even after using bleach, they will damage the hair, and the only way is to use removers. In this process, a remover is first used and then the hair is bleached to reach a certain level as long as the hair can take it. This is the general process used for hair with hard colors on.

For other types of hair with natural colors, or even with a principled dye, we can use something called two-phased dye. This means that you cannot reach the level you want with a single-phase dye. We assume that we have a healthy and natural hair we want to work on. The hair could have a dye or be in its natural color. To lighten hair, we never start with the root. The root loses color too fast and you will end up with an asymmetric colored hair at the end. Hence, we’ll start with the stem, one centimeter from the root and add lighteners such as triple zero dye or 12/1 and 12/2 colors. Sometimes you see the word “lightener” written on some dye packages. These are dye colors used to lighten the hair in a two-phased dye. You should know the lightener colors in whichever brand you are using. Usually, 12/1 and 12/2 are the lighteners. Either way, you can use any color with lightening ability.

We’re going to work on the hair, one centimeter away from the root, using lighteners and 12 percent oxidant. This percentage of oxidant is only used for healthy hair. Not damaged or dyed hair. If the hair is really healthy you can also add one teaspoon of decoloring powder. One teaspoon for short hair, two for a medium volume of hair and a whole spoon for long hair. If you don’t want to use powder, you can use ten to fifteen centimeters of decoloring cream. Using a spoon of decoloring powder and 12 percent oxidant will increase the lightening power of your formula. You can lighten the hair up to level seven or even if it is a thin hair, to level eight without using bleach. This was the process we have to do on the stem and not the root.

Wait thirty minutes for the formula to affect the stem. To work on the root, use a nine percent oxidant and no decoloring powder. Because, since the root is closer to the skin and warmer, the product will have an increased effect. If you combine the oxidant with powder, you’ll burn the tissue. But using the formula I just explained, you can lighten the root without problem. After applying the product to the root, wait twenty minutes. So far you’ve waited fifty minutes overall for the formula to affect the root and the stem. Thirty minutes for the stem and twenty minutes for the root. After the first phase is over, rinse the hair and dry it. Let’s move on to the second phase.

After rinsing and drying the hair after the first phase, you have to recognize the level to which the hair has been lightened. Choose the right color for that level of lightness based on your client’s preference. For example, if the color is lightened to a level seven, then you might want a chocolate color in that level or natural color. Hence, after the color is chosen based on the level of lightness, you can add the product to the root at the same time. At this stage, you won’t add the product one centimeter away from the root, because you have already lightened the root. Start adding the product starting from the root to the end of the stem. Give it thirty minutes for the formula to take effect and rinse and brush afterward. This concludes the process of two-phased dye for healthy hair.

The majority of the hair types you have to work on aren’t healthy hair. They have been bleached or dyed multiple times. As a result, they have lost their resiliency and become thin, so the previous method is not useful for these hair types.

Here we want to explain how to apply the two-phased dye for slightly damaged hair or hair with multiple dyes. We use the same technic but with a slight difference. Since the hair is slightly damaged, we can’t use the 12 percent oxidant anymore. We use the same lighteners, such as triple zero, 12/1 and 12/2 or any other lightener you have in your color catalog. You will also have to use oxidant nine percent. You can also use 12 percent oxidant if the hair is thick. But under no circumstances should you use powder. You can also add a bit of decoloring cream, but only if the hair isn't damaged too much. Then it's nine percent oxidant plus a bit of decoloring cream.

After waiting for thirty minutes, you can add the product to the roots. This formula should consist of your lightener, plus six or nine percent oxidant level. If you added decoloring cream to the stem, you can use a nine percent oxidant level without decoloring cream. Otherwise, the oxidant should be weaker for the root, so just use the six percent oxidant level. So, keep in mind that using or not using the nine percent oxidant depends on the use of decoloring cream on the stem. This is the first phase for our dye.

For the second phase, we have to repeat the same process as before. We can choose our color depending on the level reached during the first phase. Add the product to the root and the stem at the same time with a combination of six percent oxidant. So here you'll have to dye the hair from root to the tip at the same time using a six percent oxidant, like a normal dye.

This is the method used for damaged hair which can lighten your hair without using bleach. Don’t expect a bleach from this method. The two-phased dye will only help you take the hair and change its color to a lighter one so you can achieve a better dye.

Thank you and goodbye.