Start Your Journey to Blonde Hair with the Siren Stylist in VA Beach

You don't have to be born with it. If you've always wanted to go blonde or platinum, there is always way. With some determination and patience, you can get there. Everybody's journey is slightly different, but I'm going to give you the inside scoop. Here is everything you need to know about going blonde, including the techniques, real before/afters, the actual cost and the required maintenance.

Let's Start with Blonding & Platinum Techniques:

When a client says she wants to go blonde, or wants her already blonde hair to be nice and bright, there are a few different ways that I can approach the service. I weigh the options and decide what's the best fit for her desired style and the health of her hair.

Full or Partial Foil Highlights

Depending on the client's desired look, it's possible to create a more obvious blonde look or a brighter blonde hair color with traditional foil highlights. In a full highlight service, I place foils all around the head, even underneath so when the client wears her hair up, the blonde color is consistent. With a partial foil, I cover the top section you would pull up in a half up- half down style, which may give your blonde a boost, but it does not cover the entire head.

Using a foil highlight technique, I can either take fine sections or thick sections of hair to lighten, which gives me flexibility. Chunky highlights around the face have a big impact and give leave an impression of blonder hair. But a full head of foil highlights does not lighten every piece of hair. There is contrast and dimension. 

Bleach & Tone

A bleach and tone service is what we stylists call on-scalp lightening and is used when the client wants that full coverage blonde hair with no roots showing. The bleach is brushed on, starting at the scalp, section by section without any foils, and followed by a toner to neutralize any brassy results. I try avoid this service and I'll tell you why.  When the bleach is applied on the scalp, your body heat causes the bleach to swell so it's hard to control it from overlapping. In the long run, this causes color banding which eventually would require more bleach to correct. Many bleach and tone clients experience hair breakage and come to me for extensions because their hair isn't growing. Instead of a bleach and tone, I suggest a heavy head of foil highlight to achieve similar results with a softer grow out.

Platinum Card

Platinum card is more stylist lingo. It's a blonding service that uses foils and bleach all over the head, applied to every strand of hair. All the hair is divided into small sections, bleach is applied, and the section is wrapped in foil to slow and extend the development time. Because sections are divided by foil, different levels of bleach can be used to tackle different areas around the head. This really helps me get a consistent blonde color, even when the client's current hair color has a lot of variation.

Blonding Without Chemicals

Consider adding blonde highlights with hair extensions. If your hair isn't getting the brightness or the shade of blonde you desire, add those bright pieces with hair extensions to create that effect. I do this myself, most of my bright blonde highlights are extensions. Hair extensions are also a great chemical-free option to add some pops or peekaboo highlights AND fullness.

Real Client Examples:

Now let's look at some real blonde hair examples using some of my clients' before and after pictures to demonstrate these different blonding effects.

Foil Highlights with Face Framing Accent Foils

Full disclosure, this client also added some fusion extensions to her highlight service, but this before and after photo is a good example of how highlights can create an overall blonde statement. She still has a lot of her darker blonde showing, but with chunky face framing highlights, this look really lifts and brightens her up, leaving a blonde impression without going all over, full coverage blonde.

How much did this Foil Highlight Service Cost?

This is a partial highlight with face framing pieces. The cost was about $165. 

Next visit: Because she still has naturally light hair and a lot of dimension throughout, the grow out will be very forgiving. She can go up to 8 weeks before coming back in for a partial highlight to touch up her color.

Going Blonde in Stages

This client was determined to go platinum and was willing to go through the process - and the expense - to get where she wanted to be. On the left, her hair is medium brown with soft highlights.  On her first appointment, I did a Platinum Card technique followed by a toner. No extensions, just camera angle. That's all her length. With the Platinum Card, I was able to lift her to a warm blonde with a shadow root. 6 weeks later, after her hair had some time to rest, I did another Platinum Card with a toner to get her to the bright icy blonde she wanted to be. Both times, I added Olaplex to protect her hair during the lightening process. She also used Olaplex Shampoo, Conditioner and Bond Builder Treatment in between appointments to reinforce her hair.

Next visit: To maintain this look, she can do partial highlight with a toner on her next visit with maybe 1-2 full highlights per year to continue this look. With all that blonde, she should continue to use her Olaplex routine at home.

How much did this Platinum Card Service Cost?

In this case, the first appointment was about $400 and the second appointment was about $300. In total, my client invested $700 to get to the blonde hair color she wanted. What's nice is that because this looks still has some dimension, or a shadow root, that grow out will look great and require less frequent touch ups.

From Red Hair To Light Blonde Hair

This client was ready to go blonde after using red hair dye from e-Salon during the pandemic. Because her natural color was not very dark, I was able to get her where she wanted to be in one visit. But there were a few factors to consider before I started mixing up product. She has very fine, wispy hair so I had to take extra precautions to protect her tresses during the chemical process. I also had to understand more about the hair dye she had been using in order to properly remove it. Luckily a call to the manufacturer answered all my questions so that I could strip the old color with confidence. I mixed a special Redken bleach called Icing, a lightener with a bond builder in it, to give me a low, slow lifting. For added insurance, I added Olaplex.

Next visit: She has dimension at the roots, and her natural color is not super dark, so the grow out will be easy. She can go 6 to 8 weeks before coming back in for a partial highlight to maintain her blonde hair.

How much did this Blonding Service Cost?

I used a Platinum Card technique, along with Olaplex, followed by a toning service to keep the blonde color looking clear, not brassy. The total cost of the service was about $375.

From Shadow Root Blonde to Brighter & Blonder

This client came in with a shadow root dimensional blonde hair color, but wanted to be blonder for summer in Virginia Beach. She wanted to see less dark roots and have more visible, bright blonde. I approached this with a Platinum Card service and adjusted the strength of lightener throughout the head. The result was still a shadowed root, but with much less dark base showing, and the blingy blonde color she wanted.

Next visit: Because we left some dimension at the roots, she can go 8 weeks before coming back in for a Platinum Card touch up service.

How much did this Blonding Service Cost?

I used a Platinum Card followed by a toning service. The total cost of the service was about $330.