In today’s post I will be explaining, my darlings, what developer to use with bleach and, in general, how to use peroxides to lighten your hair.
A liquid of humble appearance but that works wonders in the hair. Developers or developer is a chemical that lightens the skin and hair. In hairdressing it is used to remove the natural pigment and deposit the new colour.
It manages to lighten the darkest hair to turn them into super glam light blondes. You know I love getting beautiful shades of blonde, and the only way to get a truly Barbie shade is by using bleach and developer.
Of course, you already know that developers must be used very carefully. Just as it can produce a wonderful effect on the hair it can also destroy it completely.
To make the article a little more digestible and clear I have made a selection of frequently asked questions about developers. I hope you find it useful.
If you are looking for a developer to use with a permanent colour, I suggest you read what deleveloper to use with hair dye.
Do developers lighten hair?
Yes, developers lighten the hair. It is the activator product that makes the dyes and bleaches we use have an effect on our hair.
What it does on the hair is to break the cuticle to allow the colour we want to apply to penetrate the hair and fix on it.
How to use a developer to lighten hair colour
Developers can be used in two ways to lift up hair colours: with dye or with bleaching.
In today’s post we are going to focus on developer used only with bleaching. That is, if we want to lighten the hair between 6 or 9 shades. Soon I will prepare another article about what developer is used for dyeing.
Here you have the article on how to bleach hair at home step by step if you need it. If not, we move on.
Can you bleach your hair with developer?
Yes, developer applied directly lightens the hair. However, the result is usually not very aesthetic. It is usually yellow.
If you have already reached this step, in this post I tell you how to remove yellow tone from hair.
But the worst thing about applying developer directly to the hair is not to end up with your hair looking like a little yellow chicken’s, but with a fiber damaged in depth.
For this reason, it is not recommended to use developer to lighten hair directly. It should always be used mixed with dye or with bleach.
How to bleach hair with developer
To bleach the hair with developer we must mix it with hair bleach. This bleaching usually comes in powder format (white or blue), although it is also sold in cream.
To prepare the bleaching we will use 1 measure of bleaching agent per 1.5 measures of peroxide (developer).
What developer to use with bleach
Now I will explain which developer to use depending on the colour and state of the hair that we are about to bleach.
40-volume developer for bleaching
For medium to dark brown hair, we will need to use a 30 or 40 volume developer.
As 40-volume developer, we definitely have to choose one that will protect our hair. That’s why I chose Schwarzkoft’s Blondme Premium Care Developer as a recommended product. It is a developer that in addition to being top in terms of effectiveness repairs the hair fiber. It is one of the best products on the market as far as bleaching is concerned. Although, of course, it is still a powerful lifter, and we must be careful when using it.
Schwarzkopf Blondme Premium Care Developer 12% 40 Vol
- 40 vol premium developer.
- Integrated Dual Bond Technology to protect hair.
- Optimal performance to achieve maximum lift.
To bleach the hair we must use a peroxide of 30 or 40 volumes for medium to dark brown hair. Of course, as I say, always mixed with bleaching.
30-volume developer for bleaching
As developer of 30 volumes the one I would recommend is Welloxon from Wella. Here we already need the peroxide to work a little more to lift the colour. Therefore I have chosen this peroxide because it protects the hair fiber while lightening the hair:
Wella Welloxon 9% 30 Vol Developer
- 9% 30 Vol hydrogen peroxide.
- Balance between gray coverage and lightening.
- Suitable for mixing with bleaching and permanent colour.
20-volume developer for bleaching
Many people try to use 20-volume peroxide to try to minimize the damage caused by bleaching. I have. However, the 20-volume developer for bleaching will only serve to lighten hair from medium brown to blonde.
If we use this peroxide for darker hair, it is most likely that the hair will only reach orange. At this point, as much as we hope, the bleaching is not going to lift any more. Unfortunately the only solution, my darlings, will be to remove the bleaching, let the hair rest and reapply another with the correct peroxide later. A peroxide of 30 or 40.
Conclusion, better to use the correct developer from the beginning. If you have dark hair or want to lighten a lot, 30 or 40. If you have lighter or already treated hair you can go down to 20.
To use as 20-volume peroxide for a dye, this one can be a good choice. Basically for the same reason as before. It helps the colour to be applied very well to the hair.
Schwarzkopf Blondme Premium Care Developer 6% 20 Vol
- 20 vol premium developer.
- Integrated Dual Bond Technology to protect hair.
- Best for medium lift or to cover grey hair.
What is the strongest hair developer?
In hairdressing, we commonly use peroxides of 10, 20, 30 and 40 volumes. Developers of 40 volumes are the ones developer that lightens the hair the most. As I said, it is the most recommended if you want to lift many tones or the hair is especially dark.
On the other hand, water of 10 volumes is the one that is usually used to dye in dark tones. It is also used for fine or sparse hair as it is less harmful to hair. This peroxide is not usually used with bleach.
What happens if I apply developer into my hair?
Does developer damage hair?
Yes, developer is a chemical that damages hair. For this reason, we must always use it with hair dye or bleach. And even using it in conjunction with these products, we must always be careful. Of course, after treating hair chemically with bleaching you should use specific products for bleached hair.
If you have hair damaged by bleaching here I tell you how I managed to recover my hair burned by bleaching.
What developer to use to cover gray hair
The developer that you must use to cover the gray hair is that of 20 volumes. The reason is that peroxide makes the hair absorb the pigment, but gray hair lacks pigmentation, therefore, in reality a low water will serve us the same.
Even so, it is necessary to continue using developer so that the hairs still have colour.
The complicated thing is to find the ideal point between a water high enough to fix the colour to the gray hair. But low enough so that it does not lighten the hair more than we want.
This Revlon developer that I leave here below seems to me a balanced option for those hairs who want to cover gray hairs:
Schwarzkopf Professional Igora Royal Developer 3% 10 Vol
- 10 vol developer.
- Ideal for setting colour pigments.
- Good value for money.
I hope this post has clarified something if you needed to know what developer to use for bleaching and how to use developer to lighten hair based on your base colour.
As always, see you here very soon.
Happy bleaching!
Deliria Rose
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