Bleaching strawberry blonde hair

What shade are you hoping to achieve?

A really light blonde thinking about going into a pastel or something lighter.

And is there any permanent dye on any part of it still from previous colourings? I know you say you haven't used anything for 3 years but if what you used previously was a permanent dye and it hasn't fully grown out you may have to use a colour remover on those parts first.

Also be aware that getting your hair very light blonde may damage it, your hair is very long so the ends will be quite old. I'm not the best at advising on bleaching as my hair doesn't have any natural red tones, and isn't very long so I'll leave that to someone who is better versed on your hair type, but the best advice I can give you is to take it slow and don't process your hair too much in a short space of time (take it from someone who had to go from hair longer than yours to a layered bob due to breakage!).

There are bleaching and bleach bath tutorials in the bleaching and lightening section that might help in the meantime 🙂

I've only used simi permanent dyes before which were only put on the ends of my hair. I've trimmed all of what was dyed before with trims every couple of months. I know my hair will get damaged but I was just trying to see what people thought might help. Thanks for replying

Use a really good, professional quality bleach and the lowest possible volume of developer. You will get the most lift with the least damage that way.
Matrix Light Master, Schwarzkopf BlondMe, Wella Blondor, L'oreal Infinie Platine, are all excellent bleaches.
Also bleach over coconut oil, and consider adding Olaplex if you have access to it.
I wouldn't attempt to bleach it all in one sitting as it is long and thick. Divide it into two or even three parts so you can get the bleach on quickly and get an even result. It is important with pastels that it is as even as possible, any imperfections in your base will be highlighted rather than hidden.
If you need to bleach a second time, make sure you wait at least a month and check the condition of your hair before proceeding. Use a lower vol developer or dilute the bleach with shampoo to make a bleach bath.

Thanks, I was thinking it would probably be easier to do half at a time because it is pretty thick. I was told by a salon in person that it would probably lift easily because it has natural blonde highlights, which you can't really tell by the pic, because it was taken a while ago, I just used it to show the shade mainly.

Unfortunately that's not necessarily always the case, you never really know until you try to bleach it - my natural colour is light ash brown with lots of blonde highlights (the front is pretty much naturally blonde) but mine will only bleach to a yellow colour (it doesn't go through the ginger stage, just straight to yellow then stays there!) where as my brother has darker ash brown hair (like all of his hair is the darkest shade of mine) and his goes snow white with the first attempt at bleaching!

Like Wicked Pixie says, as long as you wait a month after the first bleach if it doesn't lift to the colour you want you'll be able to bleach bath it, just don't be tempted to repeat the bleach before that!

Thought I would update, I bleached my hair today.. wasn't that easy but I used 30 volume developer and came out with a yellowy color it is quite even so I'm happy about that. I haven't tried to tone it yet because I will be getting the toner and 20 volume developer in the mail tomorrow. I'm not sure if I will go pastel or just stay blonde but that will be decided after I tone it. Btw my eyebrows have always been darker than my hair color so it doesn't bother me much.

What toner is it you are planning to use? I don't think your hair is light enough to tone to platinum/ white so if you're using a toner that you mix with developer it would just waste the toner, cause additional damage but not really benefit you colour-wise.

Hang on and see what some of the others say, as I say I'm not super-well versed in going blonde from warm shades so I could be wrong but just didn't want you to go ahead and tone for it to be a waste of time.

Good job on the bleaching though, it looks like it took evenly!

Yep, if it's T18 or T14 it's not going to do enough to that shade (if anything) to make it worth the extra damage of the developer. I wouldn't use it at all personally. It's never worth the amount of damage it causes as you have to keep using it when it fades.

I did get t18 but i guess I can wait I was just hoping to ash the color down for now, I don't think I will go lighter anytime soon.

I'm always a bit mystified about the purpose of using a toner that needs a developer, especially when you can tone with shampoos and diluted direct dyes that don't harm your hair at all. It seems unnecessarily harsh.

If you want to ash it down use purple or silver shampoo, or make a toning conditioner with some drops of direct dye mixed into white conditioner (someone here will be able to advise on the shades that would be best for you to use).

Okay, I also got some purple shampoo, just haven't tried it yet. How long do you think it should stay on, I know some people leave it on longer than the bottle says.

I was in a similar boat when I first went from auburn color to platinum, the best result I got was from putting the purple shampoo on dry hair for about 45 minutes, it cooled down my hair quite a bit and then I did a deep conditioning afterwards because it does dry your hair out, but other people may have better suggestions, this is just what worked for me. But keep in mind I have pretty short hair so I don't worry about damage too much!