Orange hair was exactly what I wanted oddly enough. (L'Oreal Super Blonde Prelightener Creme)

Member Name: lulu2004

Product:	L'Oreal Super Blonde Prelightener Creme
Date:	28/08/09 (157 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple to use

Disadvantages: Its a scary processs

My Story
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Im not a complete novice when it comes to dying my hair, but bleaching it was completely new territory for me. I have been lots of different colours over the years, probably blonde more often than not, but had recently darkened to a deep red colour by my hairdresser. It was nice, but I had been getting increasingly bored with it. I asked my hairdresser if she would make me peroxide blonde. She politely declined and told me that she would make me blonde again through highlights, but by my reckoning this would have taken months and I just wanted to be blonde again. The expense of highlights every few weeks was going to be scandalous so I began to search for a solution online.

Most websites said "NO!" to even attempt to home-bleach red hair was a no-no. And so I waited, and waited, trying to gather up the guts to just do it. A friend did it, she posted me photographs over her facebook and I was horrified at the initial results. Then she bleached it again and toned it and it was really lovely. She explained how to go about it to me and so I gathered myself together last night when my hubby was out at a work meeting and went in to Asda and purchased 3 boxes of bleach- varying brands. I had L'Oreal Perfect Blonde Pre-Lightener Maximum x 2, and Swarpzkoff Live champagne Blonde. My hair will need the three lifts to get it to the very blonde shade that I am after.

Today I am one box into my blonde process. I used my pre-lightener and I am sitting here typing this review with a head of brassy orange hair! Was this my blonde ambition gone wrong? No, it's actually right! I have a full week to do with orange hair to allow my hair to breathe and regain some condition before I can bleach again.
Because my hair was red to begin with it is going to have to go to Orange and then Yellow before I can tone it down and be blondie again.

L'Oreal Super Blonde Pre Lightener
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If you are familiar with hair dying then the box of the Pre-lightener is nothing out of the ordinary. You open the package and you get instructions, gloves and bottles to mix to get the potion. You will also be advised to do the skin sensitivity test. I didn't do this... my bad! I know that was a silly thing to do but I've used colourings so many times before that I reckoned I would just go for it. I shouldn't have admitted that in the review, but I am sure I am not alone in my disobedience.

I wanted to bleach my hair as strongly as I could so I added both of the sachets of lightening boosting powder to the developer bottle. I then added the colour tube of creame to the bottle, closed it, shook it and snapped off the nozzle tip as directed to by the instruction page.

I had watched a video on You Tube of an American girl doing a tutorial on how she bbleaches her hair and it was really helpful. She had given tips on how to get it even and how important it was to leave your roots until the last moment. She had even added a picture of herself when she had bleached all the hair at one time rather than adding the bleach to the roots later- it was not pretty, but it gave me the heads-up to know that when the instructions say to leave your roots until last... they really mean it!
I segregated my hair into 4 sections as advised and I massaged the cream down the lengths of my hair, leaving the top inch of my roots completely free from the cream. It said to leave for 20-30 minutes. I decided to go the whole hog and waited for the whole 30 minutes. I could see the lengths and tips of my hair lighten within 10 minutes. It was a brassy orange yellow shade. My roots were still mousey brown. It was a very unattractive sight!

After the 30 minutes were up it was time to tackle the roots. I was very afraid of this part as the roots take the bleach very quickly and completely and I had seen some horror images online. I was also afraid of chemical burns on my scalp as that was another horror story I had read.

I went along the same process and added the product to the roots of my hair and waited a further 30 minutes (In for a dollar, in for a dime eh?) and in the mean time I had an MSN Messenger conversation with my friend who told me I was insane to be doing this to my hair!

I washed it off using only water and although my hair looks atrocious in colour at the moment I was not expecting anything else as it is impossible to go from dark to blonde in one attempt.. What I am really happy about is that the colour is even, and my roots are quite well done too. Its even kept in reasonable condition. At this stage I could redye it to its natural mousey brown but I am going to give the second bottle of L'Oreal a wiz in a few days time, In the mean time I am conditioning like crazy using the little bottle of conditioner that came in the box.

My Views
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All in all, the whole experience was not as traumatising as I thought it would be. This has been a very good product and although its is scary to do this to your hair, the result has been that my hair has lightened around 4 or 5 shades in one go. It is still in healthy condition (probably wont be next time!) I didnt feel any burning or tingling on my scalp at all.

Instructions were clear, all of the bottles and powders were easy to use and the gloves were the best quality that I have ever used. I will post photographs when I use this product again next week so that you can see the difference it has made. It costs around £6.99 in Asda.

Lulu2004©

Summary: Not a decision to take lightly at all