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If your hair is naturally black, changing its color is tougher than for those with lighter hair colors. Black hair has concentrated pigment, so adding color has no effect. For this reason, you need to lift your natural color with bleach before dyeing your hair another color. As bleach processes, it takes hair through a series of tacky, brassy shades like copper, orange and yellow. The trick to avoiding tacky color is to keep going and bleach until you reach a light blond. After this, follow up with dye of any shade you'd like.
1.
Open up a bleach kit. It will include bleaching powder and developer cream. Developers have a strength rating of 10 to 40 volume. For black hair, go for 40 volume.
2.
Divide your hair into sections to make it easier to work through. Split it in half, then split each half in half again. Clip each portion up.
3.
Drape a towel over your shoulders and pull on plastic gloves. Bleach is strong stuff, and it'll damage whatever it gets on, including your clothes and skin. Be careful.
4.
Use a brush to mix up the powder and developer in a bowl.
5.
Grab a 1/2-inch piece of hair from the back of your head and brush it with bleach. Don't bleach your roots, because the heat from your head will cause the first 1/2 inch of hair to lighten faster. You'll do your roots later.
6.
Work your way through your whole head, brushing bleach on section by section. When you've done all your hair, go back to your roots and brush bleach onto your root area. Work that bleach in by massaging your hair with your fingertips.
7.
Wrap your head in plastic wrap. It keeps moisture and heat in, which speeds up the lightening process.
8.
Watch the clock and leave the bleach in for the designated time period. This is where things can get tricky. As hair lightens, it turns a ton of scary, tacky colors, and you may be freaking out and wondering what you've done to yourself. Stick with it until your hair is pale blond.
9.
Rinse out the bleach once the bleach is done processing. Apply conditioner, leave it on for five minutes, then rinse again.
10.
Mix up hair dye according to the box directions. Since your base color is now light, any color will take beautifully.
11.
Apply the hair dye and massage it thoroughly into your head. Leave it on for the instructed amount of time, then rinse. Now, admire your fabulous new hair color.
