I’ve wanted to go platinum for a long period of time, however I wasn’t entirely sure if I could pull it off, and the memory of an asian girl in my high school with bright yellow/orange hair stuck to my mind. One other thing that put me off going blonde was the connotation that I went blonde because I was trying to be white or I am ashamed of my asian heritage. Truth is, hair is now simply an expression of personally the same way fashion is.

I’ve embraced the platinum look for a few months now and thought its time to share my experience. I did all this at home, for those of you that are hair professionals are probably cringing, but I don’t really care much for my hair - my thoughts are its just hair, if i don’t like the result I can dye it back or worse case scenario I will go in for a new hair cut. This takes me back when I went for the chop and I had long hair - to about my waist and I went in for the chop (a lob - one time I did go a full pixie cut) the hairdresser was freaking out more than I was. She continued to check that I was definitely sure I wanted to go for the chop. Its just hair, it will grow back.

**Please note, this is what I found works for me, I'm not a hair professional, what worked for me may not work for you**

So after a lot of research these are the products that I find that help me get to a platinum blonde in the least amount of processes. Schwarzkopf Blonde Me range - the bleach powder and the cream developer in 6% (20 vol) and 2% (6 vol) . I also use Cureplex by HiLift (I tried to find Olaplex but couldn’t find an online retailer that sold it without a licence). Cureplex is suppose to help reduce damage to the hair by rebuilding the bonds in the hair that is damaged during the bleaching process.

First round of bleach consisted of the bleaching powder, 20 vol cream developer and Cureplex No 1 and left on for 1 hour (when I first bleached, I was consistently checking the integrity of my hair every 10 minutes after the 30 minute mark - but now I know my hair takes about an hour to get to the yellow stage).

In the shower I go and rinse the bleach off, follow with Step 2 of Cureplex. Towel dry and see the bright yellow I have on my head. The second round of bleaching I switch to the 2% (6 vol) cream developer with the bleach powder - if I’m a the orange phase I might use the 20 vol - it depends on how my scalp if feeling). This sits on my head for another 50 - 60 minutes again before rinsing off.

After my second bleach I go through with a purple shampoo to help tone the yellow down. If it has gotten me to the pale yellow stage, the shampoo itself itsenough to tone my hair. But if its a little strong the yellow I will either wait a few days and go for a 3rd bleach with the 6 vol ( if I use the 20 vol for my 2nd bleach I usually don’t need to , but if I used the lower developer it does mean a longer process - but less damage to your hair).

If i’m lazy and can’t be bothered with the 3rd bleaching round or if my scalp was to sensitive this round I will just proceed to toning. Again the type of toning I do will depend on how my scalp was feeling and how quick I wanted the results.

TONING is essential! Without it I would be walking around with bright fluorescent yellow hair - not a pretty sight. It is is also the hardest part to maintain. Asian hair has a lot of red, orange and yellow tones once you remove the pigmentation, so if you ever see bright orange hair, they haven't toned or not enough.

Need to tone it NOW! If I want to instantly go to the clean platinum I would opt for a toning product that requires a cream developer like the Affinage Toner in Ice or the Wella T18 White Lady. As these products require a cream developer, there is still an irritation to the scalp, so if I had a bad go with the bleach (which at times happens) or my hair feels super damage I won’t use this toning method. I've tried a few developing toners, and my picks are Affinage in Ice of BlondeMe in Ice. Wella T18 is very popular on youtube, however is hard to get a hold of in Australia. I find Wella toner does not last as long as Affinage or BlondeMe range.

Slow and steady tone - If i want to tone my hair without causing further damage to my hair I would go for the conditioner route. Basically you mix a whole lot of conditioner with a touch of semi-permanent violet hair colour (I’ve been using manic panic). Alternatively you can use Manic Panic in Virgin Snow (your hair literally has to be super pale yellow to an almost white for it to work. The good thing about this conditioner method is it causes no further damage to your hair, your hair feels really smooth once you rinse it out and it also helps soothes the scalp. I do fine this method to be not as effective as use a proper toner that requires a developer, but maybe 2 sessions and I’m generally happy with the results. You do have to be careful not to put too much pigment in the conditioner or else you turn out to have purple hair.

And thats it! I had been touching up my roots up every 6 weeks. Stay tune for more information and review on products I use to maintain my colour.