DIY: How To Lighten Roots at Home Between Highlights- Bump the Base (in 10 minutes)

I wanted to share with you how I lighten my roots at home myself in between highlights with my stylist. I am not a hairdresser and don't have any training (although I often wish I did!). These directions were given to me by my Stylist when I asked how I could lighten my base between highlights when I just can't take anymore of my roots!

A bit of background first: Unfortunately, I don't suit my darker hair. I was a blonde kid and like many people my hair grew darker as I got older. I have been highlighting my hair for as long as I can remember. I used to do it at home with the cap with the holes in it- ouch! Eventually, I had to get it professionally done and the results are much better but highlights are pricey! from around $70 for partial highlights (the crown area) to $100 and up for a whole head (this isn't including the cut and style!) Not only is it expensive, but my stylist is pretty far from me so I only go every 3-4 months. I've tried some stylist locally but found the one's that I went to were either not consistent or over-processed my hair to the point of tons of breakage!  I've even tried going back to different shades of brown more times than I can count and I've learned that I look best blonde.

My natural colour is between a level 5-6 from what I've been told and although it's very ashy and dull, it pulls a LOT of red! If I was a true level 6, as many hairdresser think I am, I could probably get a nice blonde with a box of hair dye in the ash family without it pulling so red and having to resort to bleach. I have seen a few well known stylist who told me I was a level 6 and they could get me a gorgeous blonde with just one step (not having to bleach and then tone), but, it always came out some shade of orange!

So, when the mood strikes and I can't take anymore, I go to it with my Stylist's valuable instructions in hand! If you are interested in giving this a go, here are the deets....

Here is what you'll need: 

• 20 vol developer (Goldwell 20 volume)
• hair colour (Goldwell 10P)
• mixing bowl
• Tint brush (I got my mixing bowl and tint brush in a kit at the dollar store)
• shot glass (I use for measuring)
• gloves
• Towel and clothing you don't care about getting dye on
• a clock or timer

The colour I use is Goldwell Topchic in 10P (for"pastel pearl blonde" it's a cool tone to keep as much brassiness out as possible)

Mix a 1:1 ratio of dye to developer. 1/2 of the tube of dye is 30g. (I use a shot glass to measure the developer)

1:1 Ratio

Mix well:
Here is your product ready to be applied

Instructions for application:

• Shampoo hair and towel dry
• comb through hair
• put on gloves
• apply your toner (mixture) to roots with brush, sectioning with fingers or end of brush
• massage toner into roots throughout the hair
• leave on for short time, keeping an eye on it for desired results (approx 6-10 minutes) -this is the tricky part for me; if I leave it too long it does get lighter but I get more orange to it, if I get it just at the right time, I get a lighter, softer brown/dirty blonde look. (I don't have a trained eye for this so sometimes it comes out better than others, but it's always better than the super-dark roots) 
• rinse dye out thoroughly
• condition
• rinse 
• apply leave in conditioner if you like or other styling products and style

These are my roots from the top view (yuk, I know) and to make matters worse, I have a few grey hairs right where I part my hair! And a side view. This is about 2 months of growth since my last highlights:

Here are the final results (my hair has been dried but not styled.) It's not perfect, but definitely softened the look.

Here is a close up of the final product (again, just a rough blow dry, not styled.) As you can see, it really does soften the drastic difference between my highlight and my natural root colour, softening and blending it with the rest of my hair- it's def. an improvement from my original roots! I left the product on for about 8 minutes and it did come out with just a hint of orange to it this time, not as ashy as I would like, but it sure beats the dark roots. And, it will buy me some time before I have to go see my stylist and shell out $150 for highlights, cut and blow-dry. Note: I do have a few grey's where I part my hair and this volume of developer is not high enough to cover them, plus, leaving it on for only a few minutes is not long enough for grey coverage. Therefore, If you have a lot of grey's I wouldn't suggest this method, but if you only have a few this will help blend them in.

My stylist said it's better to leave it on for less time rather than more to avoid getting it too light or too brassy, and if it's not light enough just repeat the process another day.

Note: if your hair is even a shade lighter than mine, you should get great results!

You can purchase Goldwell 10P and other similar products linked here. Goldwell 20 volume developer is linked here.

I am so happy I asked my hairdresser how to do this. It may not be perfect but it really makes a difference for me, not only in how I feel about the way I look, but it saves me some time and money. The hair colour is only about $12 for 2 applications! The developer bottle is not expensive and will last a long time since you only use 1 oz. The gloves and mixing bowl with brush are only a few dollars and I reuse the same ones each time.

Let me know if you try this or if you need anymore details on how I do this.

xo Amy