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I’ve had raven hair my whole life. Until recently, just the thought of going from brunette to blonde made me shiver. How could someone like me, a tan-yet-pale girl of Arab and Hispanic heritage and a head of thick, nearly jet-black hair, pull off a Pamela Anderson-level blonde? And yet, about four years ago, images of myself with flaxen hair started to wheedle their way into my brain and park there. I couldn’t shake the urge to go platinum despite this reaction from just about every person I told about my plans to go bottle blonde: a horrified look on their face, followed by a rather hasty, “Why?!”
Well, I’ll tell you why: I just felt like it, a (very much free) opportunity arose, and there’s no better time than the present to try something new. Against the peanut gallery that is my group chat’s advice, I plopped into a salon chair for 10 hours and spent from morning to night going as light blonde as my colorist thought possible.
- Drew Noreen is a hair colorist at Plush Salon in Scottsdale.
- Kylie Bussing is a hair colorist who works in New York City and Los Angeles.
- Harry Josh is a hairstylist based in New York City.
- Michael Canalé is a bicoastal hair colorist.
My blonde inspiration
The idea of jumping on the blonde bandwagon had been brewing in my mind since 2021. While going down a boredom-fueled rabbit hole of Billie Eilish’s beauty transformation throughout the years, one of her early looks caught my eye: silver strands that were nearly black at the roots. I immediately turned to my roommate, showed her the photo, and said, “I could absolutely rock that,” to which she replied with a not-so-gentle, “Dear God, please don’t.”
Since then, going lighter with my natural hair color became a pipe dream of sorts. It wasn’t until three years later, during a trip to Stockholm, that I began to take the idea of changing my hair color more seriously. In Sweden, blonde was everywhere, and the variety that fit under the bill of “blonde” (Wheat! Platinum! Bronde!) had me yearning for a bottle of hair bleach.
The person who really got me to go for it, though, was a fellow beauty writer I met during that trip. I was sharing my woes of being bored with my brunette hair at a dinner table filled with international beauty editors (humble brag) when Humeara Mohamed, a London-based beauty and fashion writer, jumped in.
She quelled my fears with her firsthand experiences of experimenting with color. She whipped out the photo evidence of her stunning journey with hair dye and bleach, including the icy-cool blonde of my dreams. Like me, she also has naturally thick, dark brown hair and a tan complexion, so this was the first time I felt like I could see myself with this color, and I was willing to go through the extensive process of getting it.
Prepping to go from brunette to blonde
I met with three different colorists, only to be immediately shut down. Their reasons ranged from time constraints to the fear of chemically searing my hair in the process. (I found that to be totally fair.) I knew going into this journey that I would have to spend hours or multiple sessions in a salon chair to lift and tone my natural pigment so that I wouldn’t end up with a brassy mess.
Drew Noreen, a hair colorist at Plush Salon in Scottsdale, explained that dark hair has naturally warmer undertones, making it more challenging to lift the color. “Even if you can’t see it, warmth is at the heart of the darkest, ashiest colors,” he said. “When you start to lift, this warm pigment exposes itself and is typically the hardest to remove from the hair.”
As it turned out, a colorist ended up finding me and was excited to take on the behemoth that was my naturally thick, black hair. The public relations team for Goldwell caught wind of my desire to go blonde and set me up with Kylie Bussing, a colorist and Goldwell spokesperson with a knack for brunette-to-blonde transformations. I realize how fortunate I am that they reached out with this service—gratis. Had they not, I don’t know if I would’ve jumped on this on my own dime, mainly due to the cost, which I’ll get into later.
Before I even sat in her salon chair, Bussing and I corresponded over email for about a month to figure out what was actually achievable and complimentary to my skin tone. I sent her some of my inspiration photos along with crystal-clear shots of my hair and, with her expertise, we landed on ashy brown roots that would transition into bright, nearly platinum blonde lengths.
“Based on Jen’s hair color history, I decided that doing a more lived-in platinum would suit her best,” Bussing said. “We left a deeper root that softly melts into a bold and bright blonde, with soft ribbons of dimension throughout.” Having darker roots, Bussing said, gives a softer, more gradual appearance as they grow out.
My appointment
On a sunny morning, Bussing and I, along with New York City-based hairstylist and Kerasilk ambassador Harry Josh—yes, that Harry Josh—met at the Kao Salon Academy in New York City. The first thing they did when I sat in the chair was talk about final expectations. Both took a close look at my hair in person for the first time to examine my current color situation, and a head of 75% virgin raven hair with hints of brassy, chocolate-turned-rust balayage highlights stared back at them.
The color was a heavy task for Bussing to take on, but my thick, wiry strands were another major factor to keep in mind. “Hair texture often determines how quickly and cleanly you can lift the hair,” she said. “If someone has a fine texture, it will be easier to lift and lighten their hair, whereas someone with a thicker, more dense texture is more resistant to lifting and lightening.”
Typically, such extreme lightening would happen over the course of a few three-plus-hour sessions to maintain the integrity of the hair. “There is a limit to how much hair can lighten in one session before it becomes too fragile and prone to breakage,” said bicoastal colorist Michael Canalé. “For this reason, it’s crucial to space out appointments strategically and stay in close communication with your colorist.”
If you and your colorist have a whole day to spare—and your hair can take a lot of chemical processing all at once—then it can be done in a single, very long appointment if your colorist confirms your hair is healthy enough to handle it. Bussing and I decided to power through one 10-hour session since my semi-virgin hair was thick and resilient. Once we agreed on the lived-in platinum blonde look, Bussing whipped out the foils, concocted a cocktail of professional-level, salon-only bleaching products, and got to work.
First, we did a strand test, which lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, to confirm that my hair could handle the bleaching process without breaking. Then we got started on a grand total of three rounds of bleaching, with the first lasting just over an hour and involving enough tin foil for me to hear whispers from other dimensions. “I took a slow and steady approach to preserve the integrity of [Jen's] hair while being as efficient as possible with my application speed to get her as light as possible,” said Bussing. She applied the bleach in two-inch sections with her rat-tail comb, teasing each one beforehand so that only a few strands got bleached for that multidimensional effect.
After rinsing out the first application, she applied a second layer of bleach to further lighten my hair. This round lasted for two hours, which was enough time for me to wrap up my daily Allure article, get some prep work done for the next business day, and squeeze in a 20-minute telehealth appointment with my psychiatrist (one of the many people who told me not to go blonde). Even after seeing the look of shock on my doctor’s face as I answered our video call with a full head of foil wraps, I felt nothing but excitement to see my final new look.
Bussing focused the third and final round of in-depth bleaching on the ends of my hair to create that bright, vivid blonde. Though it was the shortest round and lasted around 45 minutes, it was probably the most taxing part. My neck was starting to cramp from the weight of the aluminum in my hair, I ran out of tasks to do on my laptop, and trying to eat while my face was covered by foiled sections was harder than I thought it’d be. After rinsing out the bleach, I was freed from my aluminum prison, but we still had more to go.
I instantly felt more excitement after the bulk of the bleaching was over, but my hair was in need of toning. This step also includes bleach, but it’s diluted with a toner and is applied all over my hair, so it’s not as meticulous as the previous bleaching steps (and, thankfully, doesn’t require weighty foil). To neutralize any brassiness and achieve the cool-toned blonde I wanted, Bussing applied a mixture of Goldwell’s LightDimenson SilkLift Conditioning Cream Developer with a 6% concentration of hydrogen peroxide (the bleaching agent) and Silver Brightener (a professional-level toning and lightening cream available only at salons) all over my hair, starting at the roots and then applying it to the ends, for 20 minutes before rinsing it out.
Seven hours into the process, we had reached the final coloring step. Bussing created a “root melt” (a seamless transition between my darker roots and lighter ends at the crown) and applied a gloss over my bleached lengths and ends to create a meticulously styled finish that she aptly described as “expensive-looking.” She applied two different color combinations of hair gloss (a sage-colored cream to my roots and another I can only describe as peanut sauce-like for my lengths and ends) and let that soak in for around 20 minutes. Once she rinsed out the gloss, she gave me a bangin’ blowout, and I was out of the salon by 9 p.m. on the dot, a mere 10 hours after we began.
Thought we were over? In the words of Madison Montgomery, “Surprise, b*tch!” I went back to the salon the next morning for styling, which Josh had planned during my in-person consultation. Obviously, hair color and style coexist, so it was important to me to have a style that reflects my bold, new blonde. I prefer to have back-grazing hair, but a low-maintenance style sounded more appealing to me now that I have to be more mindful about my color-care regimen, so Josh and I both agreed on maintaining my long hair with a three-inch trim and evening out my layers.
Keep in mind that it’s only because my strands have strength that could rival rope that this relatively minor cut was an option. “Because [Jen’s hair texture] was still in great shape, we were able to keep her length,” Josh said. If your hair is finer or more prone to breakage, Josh suggests being prepared to take off more length when going through an extreme bleaching process.
My brunette-to-blonde transformation
Immediately after my final cut and ’90s Victoria’s Secret-esque blowout from Josh, I felt like a woman born anew. From then on, I was no longer Jen—I became Jen 2.0: brighter and bolder.
Having a head of light blonde hair just felt right to me in ways my original color didn’t. Once I stepped out of the salon for the second and final time, I took to the streets of lower Manhattan with my head held higher and blonder, feeling giddy while trekking to the subway station to surprise a few fellow beauty writers I had dinner plans with.
How much it costs to go from brunette to blonde
Here’s the thing: As much as I would love to end this off by saying every brunette in the world should go bright blonde at least once in their life, I recognize that, under normal circumstances, it’s an expensive transition, and budget is important to keep in mind. Again, my sessions with Bussing and Josh were gratis, and I wouldn’t have made this change if I were footing the bill due to the initial cost alone.
A hair transformation like mine is far from a two-step bleach-and-tone and will require quite a bit of time and effort. Therefore, expect your colorist to charge accordingly. After all, they’re dedicating a big chunk of their schedule to give your hair the TLC it needs to survive an intensive process.
Canalé says that a brunette-to-blonde transformation like mine can cost anywhere between $300 to $500 per hour, depending on who your colorist is (an apprentice usually has a lower rate than a master colorist, but keep in mind that the former has less bleaching experience than the latter) and your hair’s current color, texture, and overall health. You may need two to three sessions, each one lasting approximately three hours.
I did the math for you: The overall bill is around $1,800, minimum, and that’s before tip (which, if you want to keep your colorist in good graces, should always be at least 20% of the total). Since I required about 10 hours of service, my session cost would be somewhere between $3,300 to $5,500, but, again, my appointment was gratis. Don’t forget maintenance appointments, too: Though these are shorter and therefore relatively cheaper, Bussing says that you should opt for bleach and toning appointments every four to six months and glossing treatments every six to eight weeks to touch up roots and maintain your overall brightness and tone of your color.
TL;DR: Going and being blonde is pricey, so keep that in mind before you decide to book your appointment (and, for the love of all that is good in this world, don’t even think about attempting this yourself).
How I upkeep my bleached blonde hair
Switching up my routine for my newly bleached hair wasn’t too hard, but there was certainly a learning curve. I have a full step-by-step breakdown of my at-home maintenance routine, but here’s the gist: toning and moisturizing are key. First, a purple-tinted shampoo is crucial for maintaining tone. “Using a purple shampoo or conditioner every third wash will help to eliminate brassiness,” said Bussing. Be careful and don’t use it every wash because these products can stain your hair with a pink or lavender tint. To keep from overwashing and dulling my vibrant color, I deep-cleanse my hair about once a week with a clear, color-safe shampoo and whip out my ultraviolet ones every third wash.
In terms of texture, my hair certainly isn’t as thick and soft as it used to be. I learned very quickly that I had to increase moisture and heat protection for my strands to survive in my care. Bussing also suggested that I keep heat-styling to a minimum, and when doing so, use heat protection as my hair is now more fragile. Before rough-drying, I apply two products that both condition and guard my hair from high temperatures: the Oribe Supershine Moisturizing Hair Cream and Sutra Heat Guard Heat Protector. When I’m blow-drying, I make sure I’m using the lowest heat and slowest speed setting to avoid tangles, breakage, and brittleness. For good measure, I’ll apply one more layer of heat protection with Oribe’s Gold Lust Dry Heat Protection Spray before using any other heated tools to minimize any searing. Even after all of the heat protection and moisture replenishment, I’ll still need a heavy dose of hair oil on my ends and lengths to revive their soft, smooth texture post-styling.
Overall, going blonde is hands down one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for myself. I’m so happy with my final look, and the upkeep has been easier than I thought it would be. That being said, I’m in a particularly privileged position to have access to the dream hair team I had for this journey. If you’re questioning whether you should go blonde, I can’t give a definite yay or nay. Final words of wisdom: Go forth and be your blondest self if you wish, but just keep in mind that it’s not a simple switch. You’ll have to dedicate time, hair health, and money.
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