Do a patch test first

A small mixture of bleach and developer applied to the the scalp to check sensitivities and allergies.

Check your Customer's Hair Condition. 

Make sure the hair is strong and has not lost its elasticity.

Check the hair level and assess how many levels you need to lift by.

Be realistic. Your choice will determine developer choice.

Choose the correct strength of developer 

Use bleach with 10 Vol. developer for gentle color washing.

Use bleach with 20 Vol. developer for color stripping and controlled lifting (1-2 levels)

Use bleach with 30 Vol developer for lifting of 3 levels of lift and more.

Get the right mix.

The recommended mix is is 1 part Ugly Duckling Brilliant Blonde Powder Bleach Lightener with 2 parts developer.

You should try and get a gravy-like consistency, watery enough for easy application.

But not so watery that it drips off your brush.

Bear in mind that the you need to really saturate the hair fibre with your mix. So a very dry mix will not help.

Also bear in mind that bleach mixture will tend to dry out and stop being active when it does so.

For full head bleaching, apply in fine sections starting from the back.

Divide your client's hair into sections.

To do this, part your client's hair down the middle from the front of your head to the back.

Then once more from ear to ear.

You will now have four quadrant sections which you need to tie up with sectioning clips.

Now you can let one section down and begin working on just one section at a time.

Work Your Way Round the Head.

Take very thin mini-sections and apply your bleach mixture with a dye brush. You can use foil also if you like. 

Start from the back at the bottom, where your hair is the thickest.

You then need to move through each of the other sections until your hair is covered fully.

The quicker you do this, the more even the colour result will be. An even bleaching gives the best result.

Dealing with Hair Near the Scalp.

It is a good idea to not apply to the roots immediately or else they will end up lighter than the rest of your hair due to the warmth of your scalp.

Instead, return to this area later in order to give this area less processing time.

This way you will get a consistent result from roots to ends.

Use 20 Vol when applying near the scalp.

Even when applying onto the root area, never apply bleach directly onto the scalp.

Instead, try and stay 1/8 inch away from the base of the root area.

Don't worry: Ugly Duckling bleach mix will travel up and will lift the hair all the way up to the base.

Keep Checking Your Client's Hair Color Level through Processing Time.

Keep checking the hair color level as it develops.

You need to be ready to rinse as soon you get to the desired hair color level. 

The maximum development time is around 30 minutes.

If you have not attained your desired hair color level, don't panic.

Just rinse off and re-apply a fresh mixture rather than let it process longer.

This time use only 20 Vol developer. It will be enough!

8. For Ash Blonde Results, Please Lift to Level 9 (see below)

Sometimes, colorists make the mistake of under-bleaching and this only ends up in a hair color result which is too yellow, too brassy, and not blonde enoughleaving your client disappointed.

Emulsify and Rinse.

After development, emulsify, rinse and wash with an acidic shampoo. 

A Purple shampoo and mask is recommended: it will close the hair cuticle and tone away any remaining yellow.

In addition, the use of products with Bond Protect will help strengthen the hair and make it plumper, stronger and healthier.

We recommend you use Brilliant Blonde Purple Toning Shampoo and Mask to help tone away any remaining yellow.

And we recommend you use Brilliant Blondexx hair treatment with Bond Protect to strengthen and plumpen and make hair stronger.

Acid based hair care in general always help to close the hair cuticle. All Ugly Duckling hair care products are acid based.

After Bleach, Tone.

For getting an attractive hair color result, you will need to do a second color application after bleaching ("Toning").

Ugly Duckling's best selling toners Intense Pearl Blonde and Intense Silver Blonde. These have extra lift and are particularly recommended when there is still yellow in the hair after bleaching.

For extra strong pigmentation when toning, you can also use Pearl Blonde, Silver Blonde,  Extra Light Platinum Blonde 10.2 and Extra Light Cold Ash Blonde 10.1b can be used.

You can also use Ugly Duckling's new Blondify toners. These work in just 10 minutes. They are ammonia-free and give very good natural blonde results.

Mix your toner or color with 10 or 20 Vol depending on the lift that you have after the bleach and apply on the full head.

Process.

Emulsify and rinse.

BRILLIANT BLONDE ON CAUCASIAN HAIR

Before Bleaching

After Bleaching

Final Result After Bleaching and Toning

BRILLIANT BLONDE ON DARK HAIR

WATCH THIS VIDEO OF AN INCREDIBLE DARK TO BLONDE TRANSFORMATION USING BRILLIANT BLONDE - DONE In 1 Sitting!