Being platinum blonde, I have tried a lot of bleaches over the years.
Here’s the bleach that I have been using lately for my last few root touch ups and why I absolutely love it. I think it’s going to be my go-to staple from now on (at least until I get ballsy enough to try the next thing).
And no, I am not being endorsed by Mon Platin or any other haircare brand. I just want to share with you what has truthfully been working for me to maintain my blonde hair without breaking it (I’m obsessed with long hair 😉).
I’ll do another post later reviewing all of the bleaches that I have ever used (…and I’ve used A LOT) and which ones I found worked great for me, as well as which ones I would not use again, at least not for my own hair’s needs.
Before & After
My natural hair colour is between a level 6 and a 7. It just looks darker in this photo relative to the light blonde hair next to it.
Despite my hair being fairly light naturally, it has very deep warm undertones. My hair pulls a lot of gold when it lifts – A LOT. In fact, when I use any lightener with 30 volume on my roots, I have to let it process for at least 45 minutes, or my hair won’t get to the palest yellow shade – the yellow in my hair is “stuck” after only 30 -35 minutes of processing. And then I can’t tone it platinum or silver with all of that yellow.
The predicament that I’m in whenever I bleach my roots, is that I need a bleach that is strong enough to get past that strong yellow undertone (which is a result of the sulfide bonds in your hair), but that won’t break my hair because I love how long my hair is without any extensions.
To stay platinum blonde, I need to do my roots every 4-6 weeks, so I can’t be using a lightener that’s too damaging or that expands/swells too much and will overlap a great deal.
Here’s the final result of what I need my bleach to do for me:
What did I use? How did I use it?
Without further ado, here’s a picture of the bleach that I am LOVING for my root touch ups:
I have used if for 3 consecutive blonde touch up sessions now and I must say, my hair’s condition is just fine. It did not break my hair.
I even overlapped it on my previous bleached mid lengths about a month ago to get rid of some residual yellow undertones from the past. I mixed it with 20 volume, applied and massaged it into the areas where it was needed, and let it process for 30 minutes. My hair felt fine afterwards without any breakage.
As you can see, Mon Platin’s Antibreak Bleach is a white bleach. Usually anti-yellow bleaches are purple or blue in colour, so I was a little nervous to try this bleach because I was unsure of its efficacy.
The other thing to know about this bleach is that after you mix it with developer, it stays in its creamy/liquidy consistency. It does not swell or expand. It stays the same. I LOVE this because it means that if you have little space to work with, you don’t have to worry about overlapping with previously lightened sections as much. It won’t suddenly grow and expand on you and bleed out of a foil or into the midlengths.
The other thing to know about this bleach is that it has a plex already mixed into it. You don’t need to add Olaplex, Fibreplex, Colorplex, or whatever else it is that you might normally use. At first, this also made me nervous because I do not use any plex’s in my own hair because of how stubborn the yellow pigments in my hair are. I tried using Olaplex with 40 volume in my hair one time with another company’s bleach and my hair wouldn’t budge past a bright yellow and I had to bleach my hair all over again without Olaplex. Since then, I have avoided plex’s in my own hair (even though they give great results in other people’s hair). However, the plex in this Mon Platin bleach didn’t stop the lifting process in my hair.
I was also told that this bleach is gentler than Mon Platin’s Blondy blue bleach and you can use it twice in one day on a client and their hair won’t break. I have not personally tried to use it twice in a row, back to back on the same section of hair, so I can’t comment on this. Do a test strand first if you are considering this to make sure the hair will be okay. I was also instructed that the first application could be with 40 volume and the second with 30 volume. I have only ever tried it on myself with 30 volume though (and it was enough), so I can’t tell you what would happen on my roots with 40 volume.
My root-touch up process:
N.B.: Whenever I do root touch ups, I alternate between starting at the front and starting at my back. This way, if there is still any yellow from the previous session(s), I can overlap the bleach slightly if needed to correct it. This will also avoid any uneven look of bleaching, which I sometimes see in people’s hair, where their stylist always starts bleaching at the front for every touch up. The result of this is that their hair at the back of their head remains slightly more yellow than at the front. This will occur if the back always has less processing time than the front with every session. To avoid this, balance out processing times by alternating where you start your root touch ups every time. If you started at the front this time, next time start at the back (and vice versa).
1. Mixing ratio: I mixed this lightener 1:1.5 with 30 volume and I was happy with the consistency.
2. Take very thin sections when doing a root touch up for anyone who wants to be palest yellow blonde
3. Apply to all the root area and avoid overlapping with previously lightened hair.
4. I do not use a heater or dryer when I do my roots. I just put a pop-up on my head and let it process. The reason I like to use a pop-up is because it keeps the bleach from drying out too much and it also traps the natural heat from my head to help with the lifting. This natural heat is not as unevenly concentrated or as harsh as the heat from a dryer
5. Every 10 minutes or so, I check the bleach underneath the pop up, especially near the hair line. I also check the bleach on the front top of my head (that’s where my hair tends to stay the most yellow). I go through my hair in small sections and if I see the hair has absorbed a lot of the bleach or if the bleach is drying out, I just apply a little more, while being careful not to overlap.
6. I let my hair process for at lest 45 minutes. I check the sections as it’s going. If after 45 minutes, it doesn’t look ready (meaning there’s still a little more yellow than what I’d like), I add a little more bleach where needed and use my judgement to leave the bleach an extra 5 or 10 minutes.
7. I love to wash the bleach out with cold water. It feels so good and reduces any irritation if you have scalp sensitivities. I then tone as style as desired.
So there you have it, folks! That’s the bleach that I’ve fallen in love with recently and how I use it on my roots.
Stay tuned for more tried and true colour procedures, from yours truly, the Hair Stylist Guide team!