How to Get White Hair

White hair may sound like an extreme option but it’s actually pretty versatile as this a basis for many crazy-looking colors and can be customized to your liking. It is also guaranteed to turn heads when done right.

You can get white hair naturally at home without bleach. If you want to use commercial bleach, there are a couple of options. Following are how-to details, toners, dyes both temporary and permanent.

Getting White Hair-What to Consider-Can you 100% Pure White?

How to get white hair, dye, without bleach, naturally at home
How White Hair looks in Pictures

If you want to get a white shade, or white peoples hair-as some people call it, know that it’s quite tricky to achieve, especially if you have dark hair to begin with. White hair generally requires multiple times of bleaching and toning to get it and for this reason, it’s not a good option if you hair is already damaged.

White hair also suits only a few skin tones and in particular:

  • Young pale skin tones with peach or pink or red undertones
  • Medium skin tones with light yellow or blue eyes

If your skin is dark, mature, or you have yellow undertones (Asian or similar) and dark eyes obviously white color will wash you out and might even add years to your face and look. You might be able to pull this shade only with a good amount of make-up as the shade on its own looks pale enough.

The good point though is that you can leave it as it is or mix it with other pastel hair colors to achieve fairy-like hair like light pink, blue, purple, green, etc.

As pure 100% white is very hard to get, common variations of white tried by women include:

  • White blonde hair with subtle beige undertones
  • Off-white/very light beige hair
  • Gray/Silver type of hair
  • Bubblegum type of hair

In fact, if you search the internet, you will see that 90% of the results on how to get hair are not totally white but play among the above hues.

The whitest shade of them all is snow white hair which resembles the color of snow with a subtle hint of silver undertones. This shade though is very hard to achieve at home and it’s best done in a professional salon.

If you are wondering how to get it at home, here are some steps and tips following the rest of the article.

How to Get White Hair Naturally Without Bleach at Home

It’s is very hard to get white hair straight away and with no bleach. However, it is also obvious some individuals get white hair naturally as they age not at their own will but it is the will of nature.

According a 2009 study at the institute of of Biophysics at Mainz University in Germany, it is the natural  hydrogen peroxide created by cells that is responsible for age-related loss of hair color. As you get old hydrogen peroxide accumulates in larger amounts in the hair follicle and in the end stops the production of the color pigment melanin.

Well, hydrogen peroxide is the natural bleaching agent.Unfortunately no one has the ability to make themselves old instantly. No once has control over nature. More so, this agent does not work in away that you would wish it to work.

In a nutshell, there is no natural way to get white hair instantly at home but there is only one bleach alternative: using a high-lift hair dye.  Although this option is obviously not natural, it’s less damaging to your hair than bleach. This option will only work on hair that is already light enough naturally. Some high-lift formulas include:

  • Smart Beauty High Lift and High Lightener & Platinum Blonde Toner
  • MatrixUltra Blonde VV high lift color mixed with 20 volume developer.
  • L”oreal Maji Blonde Ultra in shade 921S/Ultra Light Pearl Ash Blonde mixed with a 30 vol. developer.
  • You can also use a purple/ash based toner afterwards to lift your hair further and correct brassiness. Manic Panic, Special Effects, and Directions contain natural ingredients in their formulas so they turn out less damaging to the hair and scalp. Manic Panic’s ‘Virgin Snow’ and La Riche Directions Semi-Permanent White Toner are great options for this purpose.

In any case, you’ll need both a high-lift hair dye and a cool-based toner to get that snow white shade without bleach.

How to Dye Hair White-Bleaching-Procedure

White hair is nearly impossible to achieve without bleaching your hair first. The fastest way to do this is Whitening using Bleach then dying/toning procedure.

Best Bleaches

The Best Bleaches and toners (purple toner)  include:

  • L’Oreal Quick Blue Extra Strength Bleaching
  • Star Gazer Bleach and Peroxide Kit
  • Clairol Born Blonde Ultra Blue
How to bleach hair white-best bleach
loreal quick bleach

These can effectively lighten your hair up to 5 shades so you can get closer to white hair without strong brassy undertones. Clairol’s and L’Oreal bleaches also contain some amount of blue pigment toner to help control brassy (orange) tones.

Procedure

The procedure to dye your hair is as follows:

  • Make sure your hair is almost or totally dry before applying the bleach as the bleach only works on dry hair. Your hair must have a little amount of oil in the scalp to prevent damage although too much oil will dilute the strength of the hair bleach. In most cases, hair that has been washed 1-2 days prior to the bleaching process are ideal.
  • Wear some latex gloves to prepare your hands and protect them from bleach and harsh chemicals that come with it and avoid getting messy.
  • Get a plastic bowl and brush where you’ll mix your bleach/developers.
  • Mix the bleaching powder with the liquid developer according to package instructions. Make sure that everything is mixed well and there are no obvious lumps of cream or powder.
  • A great addition to this would be a few drops of special corrector like Red Gold Corrector Plus that counteracts brassy tones.
  • Begin sectioning your hair and apply the mixture with a brush from the roots to the tips. If your hair is already light enough to the tips, apply it only on the roots of the hair. Keep in mind that the roots take longer to lighten up so apply the mixture first to the roots and not the other way round.
  • Make sure you have covered all sections and ask somebody to check or at least massage the bleaching mixture with your hands so it gets everywhere. This is very important as failing to do so will result in uneven looking results.
  • Let it sit for 35-40 minutes or as per package instructions. Note: Do not let it sit for more than an hour as this will severely damage your hair, especially if it’s already been chemically processed before. Leaving it any longer won’t make your hair any whiter as it as the bleach is no longer active after some amount of time has passed.
  • Rinse off with a purple/blue based shampoo. Some good product recommendations are found towards the end of the article

Note:

If you have sensitive skin or scalp, perform a patch skin test in the back of your hand to see how your skin reacts to it—if there is no sign of irritation, you can proceed with the bleaching process.

Tip: If you want the bleach to penetrate your hair better, put a plastic wrap over your hair and put a bit of heat with a hair dryer,  a few inches away from your hair of course as bleach with too much heat will literally burn your hair so be careful.

A hair dresser also suggests that leaving the bleach on your hair for 20 minutes and then re-applying it will re-activate the bleach in your hair.

Best Temporary White Hair Dye + Permanent & for Male

If you have chosen to use hair dye to whiten your hair, there two options;

  • Permanent
  • Temporary/Semi-permanent or Demi permanent.

The dyes work for both female and male

Following is a review of the best products for the process.

Best Temporary White Hair Dye-Spray & Chalk

Halloween is the eve when most individuals need temporary means to get white hair.

Temporary white hair spray and white hair chalk are two of the most sought products for this task.To make a temporary  dye at home simply use any of above products especially chalk. Some suggest use of flour but results may not be impressive.

white hair chalk
white hair chalk

Permanent Dye

Bleaching should do most of the whitening. However, there are some products that may help to achieve some permanent results. They include;

  • Hair Color Permanent Hair Cream Dye Light Grey Pearl White Reflect
  • Clairol’s Professional Soy4plex Pure White Creme Hair

White Hair Toner

Toning is process done after bleaching. The main aim of this procedure neutralize or eliminate the brassy hue, yellow, golden or orange tones that may appear on your already bleached hair.

The product used for this task is called a it is usually usually purple-blue tinted.

After toning, your hair gets a natural, shiner, brighter and healthier look with an ashy, dusty, or platinum color.

Some of the top best white hair toners include;

Wella Color Charm, before and after results & Reviews

Wella color charm permanent liquid hair toner This toner uses Liquidfuse Technology to saturate, penetrate and moisturize with all the hair to produce vibrant colour that’s incredibly fade resistant.

The additional mild formula is perfect for producing delicate shades of blond — such as beige and platinum and neutralizing unwanted warmth after lightening. Wella colour charm t18 white lady is best suited for toning pure dual refined blondes

Review-Wella Color Charm T18, before and after

Below is a  video reviewing this toner formerly known as white lady.

Other best professional toners

Following are more other best professional toners for white hair

  • Panic Semi Permanent Hair Colour Dream Virgin Snow
  • Brilliant Silver White Hair Toner
  • Clairol Pure 40 Volume
  • N’Rage Bleach And Toner Kit
  • Virgin Snow
  • La Riche Directions White Toner Semi-Permanent Hair Colour 88ml
  • Jerome Russell BBlonde Highlight Spray

How to dye your Hair White Blonde

The process for dying your hair white blonde is the same as above. If you are going for  a beige white blonde and not a total white, you can do so with the following formulas:

  • L’Oreal Excellence Blonde Supreme 01 High-Lift Extra Light Blonde
  • Wella Color Charm in shade 10A/1030 Palest Ash Blonde+ Color Charm 40 vol. developer

The above formulas will work applied once or twice in light brown, dark blonde, or medium blonde hair.  If you want to know the process of getting white blonde hair from darker hair, check out the relevant section in this article.

How to dye your Hair White Blonde
White Blonde Hair

White Hair from Black, Blonde, Red & Dark Brown

If you would like to get snow white hair from black or dark brown hair,  you’ll have to use both a  bleach first and a high-lift hair dye and toner afterwards.

This is the process most salons use to transform dark hair into a pale snow white or beige white blonde shade fast, even though you risk some amount of damage. The detailed steps of the bleaching process are already mentioned earlier in the article. The basic process remains as follows:

  • Apply the bleach to your hair mixing it with a 30 vol. developer (for medium brown hair) or a 40 vol. developer (for dark brown to black hair). Goldwell Oxycue Platin Dust Free Bleach and L’Oreal Ultra bleaches are great professional grade options. Divide your hair first and use foils to avoid overlapping.
  • Leave the bleach on your hair for 30-40 minutes or as instructed in the package. If everything goes well, you should end up with a pale yellow blonde shade. Black hair though will have to repeat the bleach application for another 20 minutes to lift hair to a light yellow blonde shade. Notice: in 90% of the cases, bleaching dark hair will leave a trace of yellow or orange undertones and this perfectly common. To correct this, you’ll have to use afterwards a blue/ash based toner or high lift hair dye.
  • Rinse your hair with a purple based shampoo to help control brassy tones. Comb and dry your hair as usual. Note: hair must be at least 90% dry to follow with another hair dye or bleaching process—otherwise you will end up with uneven looking results.
  • Apply a high-lift hair dye with blue or ashy undertones like Matrix Ultra Blonde VV high lift color mixed with a 20 or 30 vol. developer. If your hair is not that damaged and has obvious brassy tones, use a 30 vol. developer. If not, go for a 20 vol. developer which is a safer and less abrasive option.
  • Leave the mixture for 25-30 minutes. To prevent scalp irritation and dryness, you can absorb excess product with a cotton swap between the hair partings.
  • Rinse with an ash-based shampoo like Clairol Shimmer Lights fast. Do not leave it to the hair more than usual as it will start to turn gray or purple (unless you don’t mind getting a purple hue). Follow with a deep conditioner on the tips, rinse and dry your hair as usual.

If you want to go the safer route and get this shade gradually with less damage, bleach your hair 2-3 times following a two-week break between each bleaching time until you get to a light pale yellow shade that doesn’t look very orange. Then follow the lifting or toning procedure as above.

Remember that it’s almost impossible to get your hair from black to snow white with a single bleaching process and in most cases, 2-3 bleaches and a toner will be needed to get to light pale blonde shade like this. You can eventually get there by bleaching your hair every 1 or 2 weeks, following with a treatment, and then bleaching it again till it’s light enough to apply the toner.

How To Take Care of your White Hair

White hair is the palest blonde shade possible and for this reason, it requires extra amount of care to make it look nice and healthy—or at least less damaging.

If you want to keep it on the cool side and prevent brassiness, use a cool-based shampoo like Scruples Platinum Shine Brightening Shampoo (Sulphate Free) and L’Oreal Professional Series Expert Silver Shampoo.

Deep conditioning and treatments once a week are also a must for maintaining white hair. Good conditioners and treatments for this purpose include:

  • Light Blue Shade Conditioner
  • Davine’s Alchemic Silver Conditioner
  • L’Oreal Ever Pure Blonde Brass Banisher Conditioner
  • Redken Custom Tone Blonde Idol Conditioner
  • Joico Color Endure Conditioner

If your hair tips seem already damaged enough, no amount of treatments will fully correct the problem and you’ll have to trim your hair to encourage new hair growth.

To avoid any further damage, it’s not necessary to dye your hair length and tips especially if they are already white enough. Once you have dyed your hair to a white blonde shade, you will only have to dye your dark roots afterwards preferably with a bleach and a high lift hair dye with cool undertones. Follow with specialty shampoos and conditioners as mentioned above and you won’t have to dye all your hair again.

Video Tutorial: Get White “Granny” & Platinum Hair

Get White Granny

How to get Platinum White

4 Comments

  1. Actually, as a stylist of 10+ years, purple(violet) is the opposite of YELLOW on the color wheel…as blue is the opposite of ORANGE on the color wheel. That being said, whatever works for YOU is what you should absolutely go for!!! I can’t explain why the blue worked better considering what YOU had was obvious pale YELLOW hues to combat…but at the end of the day; WHO CARES!?! This particular process will be different for EVERYONE. It really depends on how damaged your hair is and how receptive to color it is. I would say that your hair was NOT, in fact, as dead or porous as you thought! It was resistant to the violet tonor and needed a MIX; a ratio of 2:1 blue AND violet (blue being the 2 and violet being the 1). In simpler terms, 3 quarters of a bottle or jar of the blue and the last quarter (or 1/4th a bottle or jar of the violet). In using this ratio, you’ve covered ALL bases and achieved the desired color AND will have no pale yellow/brassy “show through” when your tonors begin to fade or wash out. Also, in using this formula, the tonor will actually CANCEL OUT the undesirable hues rather than cover them up…giving you virtually a maintenance free platinum “icy” look until you decide to go a different route!! As always, if you DO see any yellow brassy show through, simply applying this same tonor again will nip that right in the bud without any real hastle! You may also want to try 3/4th Manic Panic slate blue (I think that’s the name…it’s a grey with a blue base) and 1/4th Manic Panic virgin snow (very very light purple and most commonly used as a tonor…violet base) to try this theory. The reason I chose these products is because of the following: Manic Panic colors are Vegan…all moral beliefs aside, that means it’s INCREDIBLY gentle on your scalp. It will cause NO irritation or burn which is WONDERFUL considering the damage the bleaching process can yield. With ANY toner on prelightened hair, you want to WATCH IT…taking a warm wet towel and rinsing a small section in a couple different areas so you know how it’s processing on your unique hair type. Remember!!! : you can always add more…you CANT add less. Sometimes using a violet or blue color additive (JUST A DIME SIZED AMOUNT) will be helpful if not necessary. ALSO, these color products are NOT permanent and will easily wash out with some clarifying shampoo (TIP: a harsh dish soap works better than anything I’ve found to date!!!) ALWAYS refer to the color wheel guys…it will never lie!!!!! Anything can be corrected if you know that wheel!!!! Good luck and have a blast expressing your unique self through the art of color and color correction!!!! ? Any further questions? Please email me at Madelynnlynn@yahoo.com!!! I’m Madeline of MadMax color and correction services. Thanks for your time!!! ?

  2. Hello sir or madam
    I want to do my black hair turn into the white permanent
    I love white hair any trick for natural and permanently white hair?

    1. I am having partly white hair. I love white hair and i would like to have full white hair permanently.

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