How long do you process your hair when you bleach it?

Contributor: K101 K101
Just curious, since I happen to be sitting in front of my laptop with the cutest plastic cap over another plastic cap (sort of like what lunch ladies wear) on my head passing the time on EF. Yep, I said cute! LOL. Kidding this cap is the farthest thing from stylish. But, I do have an actual question.

When you bleach your hair (frost, highlight, go blonde, etc.) how long do you process (leave the bleach in before rinsing?)

For me, I'm going on 2 hours now. I *have* to process for at least 2, sometimes even FOUR hours in order to fully lift and leave me with white/blonde. My hair is a rich brunette, so it takes forever, even using volume 30 cream developer and a violet professional powder for super dark hairs! My hair has always been pretty resistant. Back when I only used bleach from a drugstore, I'd need to process for sometimes 5 hours! Talk about horrible.

Everyone says "omg! Your hair will be ruined" when they hear of people leaving bleach in longer than 1 1/2 hours. That's not been my case though, not when using a good repair cream afterward and skipping every other day of washing.

So how long do you process, for those of you who bleach? Does it take you longer than average to lift and do you have to allow extra time to fully lift?

Tell me, while I sit here scalp tingling, all about ya'll's dying experiences! I'm finding it hard to even stay awake long enough to rinse! I actually did fall asleep for hours once after bleaching -- 5 hours total, and it turned out actually looking great. Lol. Lucky me.
Answers (private voting - your screen name will NOT appear in the results):
It takes less than 25-30 minutes for bleach to fully process & lift to a light blonde in my hair.
It takes about 1 hour for my hair to fully process and lift.
1  (14%)
It takes about 2 hours for my hair to fully process and lift.
5  (71%)
You think 5 hours is bad? Try this: I have to leave my bleach in longer than that just for it to lift! (Please share. That'd definitely be a bummer!)
3 hours is about the time it takes to fully process/lift my hair.
4 hours is how long it takes to fully process/lift my hair.
LONGER?!
1  (14%)
Total votes: 7
Poll is closed
10/11/2012
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Contributor: js250 js250
The good news--the older I get the less time it takes!! Now the real bitch is adding the color to my white hairs. I have a big huge white area where I got scalped in the wreck and they sewed it back on. Not fun!!

I am down to 1 1/2-2 hours to lift color from my brown hair. I used to be like you with the 4-5 hour processing time but again--that is one good thing about being older!! Or, I finally have it trained, lol!!
10/11/2012
Contributor: LavenderSkies LavenderSkies
I am fairly experienced in this field and the common rule is that bleach starts to lose its power after one hour of being on the hair, or if it has dried already. Also, I suggest you complete the process in intervals rather than all in one go, and do deep conditioning treatments in between these intervals to salvage the damaged hair.
10/11/2012
Contributor: K101 K101
Quote:
Originally posted by LavenderSkies
I am fairly experienced in this field and the common rule is that bleach starts to lose its power after one hour of being on the hair, or if it has dried already. Also, I suggest you complete the process in intervals rather than all in one go, and do ... more
You know, I've heard that a lot too, but it's actually untrue for the mixture I use. I mean, I can see the color of my hair and then 3 hours later see such drastic change, so thankfully, some solutions do continue their process. And about it drying, I use processing caps any time I bleach my or someone else's because it prevents the drying out of the formula and will hold in your own body heat, which sort of causes the bleach to take on a bubbly form and foam up a bit. Due to that, the formula actually does not dry up. It would if in an air conditioned area without the cap though.

I don't really have the isssue of damaged hair, as I said in the post "may people say it damages their hair, but that's never the case with mine."

I bleached last night and now it's around 2AM and the hair turned out great! Like I said, I use a good conditioner and skip between washes after bleaching so that my hair does not damage. I guess everybody's hair is different, but I find that doing "intervals" doesn't benefit me anymore than doing it all at once. I actually didn't care much for that method, which I only tried years ago, and it seemed to more throw me off track than do any good, then I'd have to go through the whole process of conditioning again, and that just means MORE washing and drying than if I done it all at once. So I think this one fits my stubborn hair most, but I do use 30 volume creme developer, so that also makes it process probably a tad faster than the weaker volumes, which would probably take me two days (seperate intervals) to actually lift the crazy stubborn hairs.
10/12/2012
Contributor: K101 K101
Quote:
Originally posted by js250
The good news--the older I get the less time it takes!! Now the real bitch is adding the color to my white hairs. I have a big huge white area where I got scalped in the wreck and they sewed it back on. Not fun!!

I am down to 1 1/2-2 hours to ... more
LOL, well now I can have something to look forward to That is so neat that hair changes like that.

Yikes about the injury from the wreck. It made tears in my eyes thinking about having your scalp sewed back on. Oh my, you poor thing! You're one strong woman missy.
10/12/2012
Contributor: Alyxx Alyxx
When I do bleach my hair it usually takes between 1 and 2 hours to lift to a yellow blonde. I don't bother waiting longer or doing a second application because I bleach it to lighten it enough to dye it a gingery / strawberry blonde shade. And I just bleach my roots, unless I am changing the whole color. Or dying it pink, but when I do pink I let it get lighter that usual. My hair is naturally a dark brown shade, and it doesn't really like being lightened. It doesn't get burned or damaged, but it just stubbornly refuses to get very light.

I think the longest bleach application I've ever been present for, though, was around 3 hours getting an Asian guy with black hair down to a lightish blonde. We called him the "blasian" after that (blonde Asian) and I took a good bit of pride around campus at having been the person who was responsible for it.
10/12/2012