Basics, How to Bleach hair.

To bleach your hair, you NEED (absolutely with out a doubt, you can't get around it) a few things.

• Bleach Powder
• You have three options for colour, white, violet, and blue. Blue bleaches are usually the strongest, then white, then violet. I only recommend violet for highlighting already light hair or toning purposes, otherwise, go for blue or white. My favourite bleach is Salon Care Blue Flash ($28 at Sally Beauty). 
• Liquid Developer
• These come in two types, and each type comes in four strengths. There is creme developer and clear, for bleaching ALWAYS use creme developer, it have more buffers and conditioners, using clear developer will allow the bleach to eat right through your hair. Then there are different volumes 10, 20, 30, and 40. 10 is the weakest, 40 is the strongest. You need to use some discretion with this, but I personally use 40 most of the time, sometimes 30. 
• Something to mix in.
• Use a plastic bowl. Any bowl as long as it's plastic, and no one will miss.
• Something to mix with.
• You can use your tint brush if you have one, if you don't a plastic spoon will work.
• Gloves
• You can buy gloves pretty much anywhere you can buy the bleach and developer, or you can do it the hardcore way and snatch a few from work, or get a friend to if they work at Subway or something. If you get your hands on a pair of thick latex (or whatever) gloves, keep them even if they say they're disposable, don't throw them out until they tear or something.   

You can buy bleach kits, but pay attention to what they include. Most regular strength ones give you 30 vol. developer, "extra strength" kits offer 40 vol. They also usually include gloves, and maybe a small tint brush. If you're only bleaching your hair once, they're fine, but prolonged use will cost you way more money than it's worth. 

Then there are some things your should have, that you can skip if you really don't want to use them.

• Tint brush
• Really handy to have around, (I have three), they're great for mixing your bleach concoction, and really helpful for getting product around your roots. You may find that you don't like to use them, but personally, I like to use the brush to apply to my roots, and then blend it out with my hands. 
• Paper towels/old towels no one likes
• For cleaning up bleach messes, drying your hair, and all the good towel-y stuff things you can do with them. 
• Baby wipes
• These are great to keep on hand to wipe off quick messes of bleach, but also if you get and bleach on your skin, you need something wet to remove it, otherwise it will continue to burn, baby wipes will make quick work, then you can wash it with soap and water when you're done applying. 
• Foil
• Ah, the foil debate. First off, buying hair foils can make your job go by faster and be neater. But it's also a huge waste of money. Cutting strips of cheap foil will work great as well. Foil is good for making sure you get all your hair evenly coated and also helping the bleach to process faster. Good for if you're bleaching a lot of long hair, not necessary for bleaching roots.
• Shower Caps
• I always like to wear a shower cap, just because it's good to keep your bleached hair from touching your chair or your walls or anything. They also keep heat and moisture in. If bleach dries on your hair it will fry your hair more than it'll lighten it, so once it dries, wash out and reapply. Heat helps the bleach to process faster, so that's also why foils help and why your roots will bleach faster than the rest of your hair.

To begin bleaching: 

YOUR HAIR: should be dirty, or at least not freshly washed and dry. You can have as much product in it as you want, as long as it's kind of dirty. Comb through it to make sure it is a tangle free as possible. If you're bleaching your hair more than once in one day, I recommend using conditioner when you wash through, and loading your hair up with cheap serum. If you just washed out a bleach job, blowdry it or wait until it's dry before you bleach again.

THE BLEACH: depending on your bleach, your may need different amounts of developer to bleach powder. Generally, start with 1:1 ratio, and then you might have to add more developer or powder. Or just read the directions. And mix until it's smooth, no lumps. (Tip: add small amounts of developer, mix, then add a little more, it takes longer, but it'll be a lot easier to smooth out). Some people prefer a thicker bleach mixture, others a thinner, but it's up to you. 

APPLICATION: 

General bleaching: If you're bleaching all of your hair, there's no "proper" way to start (back to front, front to back) but I like to split my hair in 2-3 inch horizontal sections, then split those vertical sections to apply the bleach to the length. I start from the back, and work my way up to the crown of my head, then I just do vertical sections for the top. 

Using your tint brush (or your hands) start applying the bleach about two inches from your roots, and work it downwards to the tips, and then go back and cover the roots. This way, you'll end up with the most even bleach coverage. 

Root touch up: I still like to start from the back to the front, using the same kind of sections as before, but when I do my roots, I only apply bleach to the roots. I personally apply the bleach to my roots, then pull any excess a little onto the length so it blends, but some people have other ways of doing it that will end up with less damage to your hair. 

WAITING: How long you leave the bleach on depends on your hair and which developer you are using. If you're only lightening it a little bit, make sure you check often. If you're trying to go from black to blonde, (or any extreme lightening) you may find that after an hour or so, the bleach had dried out and your hair still isn't light enough. Wash it out and reapply. I usually tell people to set a timer for 45 minutes, at 45, if your hair is perfect, go ahead and wash it out (duh), if it's nearly there, leave it on for another 15 minutes to make a full hour, if it's not even close, wash it out, and reapply the bleach, fresh bleach is more effective than dried out bleach.

WASHING OUT: When you go to wash the bleach out, use cool-lukewarm water (as cool as you can stand for however long it'll take you.) but not cold. Hot water will burn and cold water will make it impossible to wash out. Gently shampoo your hair to get all traces of bleach out (I really like to use baby shampoo for this step), especially if this is your last bleach before you dye your hair. If you're going to use a normal hair dye or more bleach (normal hair dye, anything you mix with developer), go ahead and use conditioner to make your hair a little easier to work with. If you're going to use a conditioning creme dye (Manic Panic, Raw, Directions, Special Effects) or a hair mask skip conditioner and go on. 

POST BLEACHING: I really don't recommend walking around with bleached hair, that hasn't been toned or dyed. If want wait to bleach your hair another day before dying, you can tone it, but I suppose it's not necessary. But your final product should be dyed or at least toned.