Why has my hair turned out orange? | Abingdon | Didcot | Wantage | Oxfordshire

If ever you have got bleach on your clothes, you will know that bleach removes colour! It’s a simple process when it comes to visiting bleaching hair. Bleach simply removes pigment (colour) and it does this in stages dependent upon how long it’s left, the starting colour, health of hair and strength of bleach. 

When bleaching, the bleach progresses through ten levels that reveal underlying tones before achieving the desired lightness. For the purposes of below, level 1 is black and level 10 is the lightest blonde. This is balanced against bleach being allowed to process for up to one hour only before the integrity of hair is called into question. Starting with darker hair, the process can take time and typically proceeds as follows:

1. Level 1-3: Black to dark brown hair begins to lighten, revealing deep red tones.
2. Level 4-5: Medium to light brown hair appears in auburn or red-orange shades.
3. Level 6: Dark blonde emerges with prominent orange tones.
4. Level 7: Medium blonde presents as a lighter orange.
5. Level 8: Light blonde with yellow undertones becomes visible.
6. Level 9: Very light blonde, now a pale yellow.
7. Level 10: The lightest blonde, near platinum, emerges as a soft, pale yellow.

Each stage requires carefully timed applications and often more than one session, especially for those with darker hair. Bleaching is a gradual process that may stress the hair, so proper care and conditioning between sessions are essential.

In the examples above, you might rightly be thinking ‘if bleach isn’t a hair colour, why am I using it?’. A blonde hair colour directly deposited on black hair won’t lighten hair to your desired colour so the combination of bleach aligned with a toner (the bleach lightens and the toner ‘grabs’ the bleach to apply your desired colour). So even if your hair looks orange after bleaching, it’s not necessarily the worst colour you can achieve, Toners play a key role in achieving the final shade, neutralising any brassy or undesired tones to give a cooler or more natural finish.

The reality is that bleach won’t deliver the same result for each person and the closer your colour to black, the harder it will be to lighten. When factoring in trying to lighten over existing applied colours, this can mean that the process can take longer and precautions should be taken. For more information on all over bleaching, here’s a blog on scalp bleaching.