Christine KellerNews flash: It’s 2020, and the balayage hair trend is still “in”. Why shouldn’t it be? It’s a simple, low-maintenance look that many can pull off. Many brave souls out there achieve balayage hair from the comforts of their own home, because you can be heavy-handed or light-handed with the bleach and it’ll still work and you’ll still look good. The question is: are you using the best bleach for balayage hair?
Here are some of the most sought-out balayage hair bleach products on Amazon:
Schwarzkopf BlondMe Color Powder Bleach Premium Lift 9+
The Schwarzkopf BlondMe Color Powder Bleach is a powder lightener that is said to be best paired with the BLONDME Premium Care Developer. The mixing ratio is quite flexible for this powder bleach – one part of this bleach may be mixed with 1.5 parts to 2.5 parts of the developer – so you can mix it into a consistency that you can work with best. It’s a strong powder bleach and it won’t need help from plastics or foils to lift color especially just for freehand highlights for balayage hair.
The premium powder bleach weighs 450 grams, and it effortlessly lifts up to 9 levels for both colored and natural hair. It works on very dark brown and even black hair, and works with far less damage than many other powerful bleach formulas. It has over 400 positive reviews on Amazon, most of which recommend the product for its less damaging formula.
Read This Next:
You shouldn’t leave on the bleach for too long though. Package instructions say to only leave it on for no longer than 45 minutes, because leaving it on for longer might damage your hair and even irritate your scalp. Negative reviews mostly consist of allergic reactions, so it’s always recommended to do a skin test first.
Clairol Professional BW2 Hair Lightener
The Clairol Professional BW2 Hair Lightener is an extra-strength lightener designed to give subtle to intense hair lightening effects on hair of all kinds and colors. The developer mixing ratio is a more straightforward 1:2, and the bleaching time depends on the hair lightness you wish to achieve.
Many recommend this extra-strength hair lightener for achieving blonde hair from very resistant dark hair. That’s how powerful this hair lightener could be. The balayage’s sweeping highlights can be dramatic too, but you can achieve the subtle sweeping highlights in no time with Clairol’s BW2.
It comes in an 8-oz. tub and a little goes a long way, so it can be far less expensive than buying individual kits every time you bleach your hair. It’s also an all-around hair lightener, so you can always use it for more than just balayage.
Again, many negative reviews are due to the lack of skin and strand testing. You can work with hair for decades and there would always be that one product that works on anybody else’s but won’t work for you.
Read This Next:
RAW Beyond Bleach White Out Kit
Many who bought this product were satisfied because it did indeed turn even darker hair blonde. However, the small size meant that many had to purchase more than one kit for full hair application. It is just about the perfect size for highlights and especially balayage since you don’t need much to achieve the subtle sweeping highlights.
The toner included reaped mixed reviews though. Some found that the toner turned their hair blue. Some said that it wasn’t as strong as they would’ve expected. Some absolutely loved it and buy the kits just for the toner.
L’Oreal Paris Colorista Bleach, Highlights
Read This Next:
Overall, buyers thought that it was very easy to use. It will do some damage to your hair as it’s bleach after all. You just need to follow the instructions and make sure to check your hair for changes every once in a while. L’Oreal also recommends buying this product two days ahead of time so you can properly test the products on your strands and your skin.
As for the cons, it’s easy to see that this product does not contain much bleach. One kit contains 4 products you’re supposed to mix altogether, coming down to about 120g of bleach plus a brush applicator. If you have thick hair, you might want to purchase more than one of these kits even for just balayage hair.
Conclusion
If you ever find yourself wanting to try out or retouch your balayage, we’d recommend the Clairol Professional BW2 Hair Lightener. It’s an inexpensive way to achieve the balayage hair color, and the big tub means you may even have some leftover for retouches. The mixing ratio and the instructions are both pretty straightforward too.
Over 2,000 positive reviews should be enough to tell you that this is definitely the best bleach for balayage hair. Just remember to do a skin and strand test first before you use it all over your head.
Featured Image Source: Flickr @Stacy Prince
