My DIY Hair Transformation from Black to Purple!

 I've always wanted to color my hair something wild. Back in college, some of my classmates were able to dye their hair all sorts of shades (just highlights, but pretty nonetheless) and I would imagine how I'd look if I managed to get my hair done the way I wanted it.

What stopped me before was fear - fear that my hair would get damaged or that the color I want wouldn't suit me and make me look like a fool or a "wanna be". I also didn't want to turn heads if I attended professional meetings with such a striking color on.

Fast forward to August 2020 and I was done with thinking about other people's opinions and what was considered "professional". (The fact that I also didn't need to attend business meetings anymore since I started online work helped solidify my rebellion, haha.)

This post is a timeline of things I did and products I used to turn my hair from black to purple in under 2 months. Keep reading if you want to change your look at home with minimum damage (yes, this is inevitable).

Where I Started

My hair had previously been treated (bleached, relaxed, rebonded through the years), so while my starting point was dark, it wasn't a "virgin" by any means.

What I Used + Process

August 29

I asked my cousin to help me apply the bleach since (1) I didn't know how to even begin, and (2) I couldn't see the back of my head. She didn't have any experience either so she ended up winging it (with my guidance after I watched a video on bleaching from Brad Modo).

Two weeks before, I had already ordered a bleaching set from Shopee that included gloves, colors - the whole shebang. A few days after getting it delivered, I set out to bleach.

Materials (Bleaching Round 1)

• Hair Dye Tool Set - P139

• Blue Hair Color with Oxidant (Package 4 - color only + Package 5 - bleaching set) - P260

• Damson Hair Color with Oxidant (color only) - P60

Note: The only items that worked for me were the Hair Dye Set and the Bleaching Set. The colorants did nothing for my hair. It's either the product wasn't good at all or we didn't know how to use the dyes properly. (I'm thinking it's the latter!)

The Process

1. Took a shower and waited for my hair to be 80% dry before my cousin applied the bleach. (According to my research, applying bleach on almost dry hair helps the product seep into every strand easier than starting with dry hair.)
2. DO NOT start from the roots, but from the bottom to the top. I left the bleach on for around 35 minutes before applying the bleach on the roots. Leave it in for another 10 minutes.
3. Rinse the bleach out thoroughly with shampoo. (This prevents the bleach from processing further.)
4. I used a Keratin shampoo and conditioner set (bought it from the grocery store so I don't have a link).
5. Then, I used a Purple Keratin Toner to start the process of getting rid of the brassy tones. (The instructions on the bottle was to leave it in for 25 minutes, so that's what I did. Smelled super nice that I still use it everyday, haha!)
6. Finally, before I got out of the shower to dry off, I applied the Milk Remedy Hair Treatment from Watsons) and left it on for 2-3 minutes.

My hair was actually much smoother and healthier-feeling after the bleach for some reason! It was odd, but maybe because I was extra careful to keep my hair healthy, the keratin-milk combo gave it that boost of life, haha!

Here are the results!

September 12

I didn't want to damage my hair in one day (haha!) so I waited around 2 weeks before I had my cousin go back in to bleach my hair for the second round. 

This time, I used a lower oxidize volume (12%) from a different shop. It was definitely more tolerable than the first one, and of course, less harsh on the skin. 

Materials (Bleaching Round 2)

• Hair Bleaching Set (x3 because of my hair length) - P435

The process for this was the same as my first round. At this point, my hair could take more bleach so I went ahead for the second time.

Note: Do a test strand before you do it all over! If after the first bleach your hair turned out stringy, DO NOT do a second round! Your hair will just fall off (based on all the videos I've watched during this time) and the damage will be so irreparable that you have to shave everything off. Yikes!

Toning

After I got a lighter shade, I reckoned it was time to seriously tone the hair and neutralize the copper tones. (Toner won't work on hair levels 7 and below - it needs to be at least an 8 to see any difference.)

I used the D5W5 Purple Shampoo Toner (P212) for this process, and it was really effective! I even debated sticking to gray but managed to convince myself that it would be pathetic to stop my journey towards my goal color, haha!

Here's how it looked like before the toner:

It still looks pretty yellowish here, but after I applied the toner, it become more cool-toned. I forgot to take a photo so I don't have the "after toner" photo here! Sorry about that!  

Applying the Color

September 25

I remember looking through every single dye on Shopee for the perfect shade that had a good amount of credible reviews before finally choosing one: Royal Purple Hair Dye Set (P340). 

I bought 2 just to be sure that it was enough to cover my hair, and it turned out that I only needed one for full coverage. (The other one will be used to color my hair again soon so it stays purple.)

The results:

I totally loved how it turned out! The bleach work was uneven as neither my cousin nor I knew how to properly go about the process, but everything was fixed after the dye. 

I opted for a semi-permanent one (2-4 weeks tops) as I didn't want to stick to a single color for long and it's actually already started fading.

This was my own fault though since I shampooed maybe twice a week since going purple and everyone knows shampoo strips the dye off soooo easily. Not making that same mistake the next time around!

Right now, I'm prepping to color my hair purple again but I'm already excited to go full-on gray once the second color round wears off. 

I'm still taking very good care of my hair by using keratin conditioner, purple toner, and the milk remedy treatment every now and then. My hair's as soft as it was before it went through the change so I haven't damaged my hair a whole lot!

So there you go - my hair transformation process! 

A lot of my friends have been leaving DMs, asking me how I did it and what stuff I used, so here you go, friends! I didn't do a BTS video since I wanted to focus on the actual process and not risk anything by vlogging. It was also a stressful time since we'd never done anything like this at home before. :)

Thanks for reading this far into the post and I hope that if you decide to DIY your hair too, you do a ton of research before doing anything! 

Happy transforming! ;)