Bleach London "Total Bleach" and "White Toner" Review

It's been a while since I've written a review, so I thought I'd write one for you on the home kits that Bleach London brought out a few months ago.

I had a look online for other reviews prior to me purchasing these two products and couldn't really find very many, so was slightly disappointed, as I didn't want to spend money on something that may or may not actually work on my hair! Both the "Total Bleach" and "White Toner" boxes were £7 each, which, considering everything inside, and the after effects, really isn't that bad at all. I decided to go for it and *try* to purchase the boxes - of which I eventually managed to find in two separate Boots stores in London and in Croydon.

I will admit that I feel a little sceptical towards Bleach, as I know people who have had their hair done in their salons and have been disappointed to pay so much for a service with very ill-lasting results. Their at-home "Super Cool Colours" do seem highly priced at £5 for 150ml, with the majority of the pastel shades (from what I've seen irl and online, especially Rose) fading after just one wash, when they are advertised at washing out within 2-10 washes. I think what a lot of people still don't seem to realise about pastel hair colour is that there isn't any special way to create it - you literally mix conditioner with a darker dye; it's that easy! - and almost feel like they need to turn to a professional to achieve such colours.
Comparing the "SCC" to Directions (£1.50-£4/88ml tub) or Crazy Color (£1.50-£3/100ml bottle), you get longer lasting colours for a much cheaper price! Although from what I've seen too, the darker shades fare much better than the pastels, so that's a positive! :)

But I digress, as I'm only writing a review on the bleach.

I tend not to take many pictures with my root regrowth shown, so I have no "before" photo of my roots to show you, but my hair is naturally this colour; (I had to crop this awful photo of me when I was about.... 14(?), sorry, aha)

So getting my hair to white is pretty achievable with bleach to be honest. I was using a box blonde by Schwarzkopf, which never managed to get my roots past a gold tinge, and is super damaging :( And no matter how much toner I used, I couldn't lift the tinge. My roots were last done by Toni & Guy for free because they liked my silver and wanted to help me get rid of the gold band. Success? Sort of. The toner that they used was temporary and waxy, and made my hair ridiculously greasy, and after two washes it was back to the gold band again. Another reason why I don't really go to actual salons, because they don't always know what to do!

 Inside the TB you get a tint brush, mixing tub, gloves, developing lotion, x2 sachets of bleaching powder and an instructional booklet. I'm used to a "one sachet per one bottle" type of bleach, so I was surprised to read that both of the sachets would need to be mixed with the one bottle.

Here's how the mixture looked once all mixed. Normally I would use my trusty Ice Cream tub to mix bleach/colours in and my big Body Shop tint brush, but I decided to give the included tub and brush a go so I could see any pros/cons, and do everything fairly. One con that I found with this mixture is that it took a while to mix evenly, which I'm assuming is because there is a lot of powder. It also thins out after a little while and doesn't stay as thick. The brush was actually a better and easier size for doing root regrowth with and made the application smooth. The bleach actually developed very quickly on my hair which was nice! I put a shower cap over my hair and left it on for 35 minutes (as recommended) and then washed it out. I didn't notice any itching or burning of the scalp until the cap had been on for a few minutes, but then it went away and I didn't feel anything at all.

So these are the end results after I washed out the bleach and I've marked how far my regrowth was to, and how thick that gold band was! I went slightly over the regrowth area with the bleach to lighten up the band (which is definitely not recommended as you're bleaching already bleached hair essentially) and it brought it up to this pale yellow! Very impressed, and my hair was not fried at all! I have these growing bits of hair at the side of my head which often get completely annihilated by bleach but I'm pleased to say they were not!

In the WT kit you get the developing lotion in an applicator bottle, colourant, gloves, and another instruction booklet. Instead of mixing the colour in the applicator bottle, I mixed it in the tub and applied it that way as I find it easier.

The colourant was quite thick, and sort of looked like that old school bubblegum stuff you used to get, aha

And this is the completed mixture. It was this pinky colour to begin with, and as time went on and the more it oxidised, it turned a greyish purple colour. It was thinner than the bleach, but still quite thick, and was again, very easy to apply. It didn't burn or make my scalp itch at all and I left it on for 15 minutes as recommended.

Grainy results shot! I was very impressed with the toner, although there is some small yellowish patches at the back still, but they are hardly noticeable at all. The toner is advertised as semi-permanent and will wash out but I was slightly disappointed to find that a lot of the greyish tones had gone the next time I washed my hair. I carried on with my silver shampoo as per, and also used Directions Silver Toner all over my hair and roots the other night.

this is the kind of shit I send on snapchat

This is no filter, once washed hair after using Directions Silver all over (inc roots)

Overall I am DEFINITELY impressed with both of the products and will definitely purchase them again! I have a Wella toner that I will be trying out too, so once that's done I shall write another review for you all!