Are you thinking about turning your yellow hair into a stunning shade of platinum? While platinum hair colors look gorgeous, achieving this look is difficult and can damage hair without the right approach.
You can not just apply platinum hair dye on your hair and expect to get your desired shade of platinum hair color.
This step-by-step guide will teach you all the steps from bleaching to dyeing hair to get platinum hair from yellow hair while avoiding disaster.
Get ready to transform your light golden or yellow hair into striking shades of platinum with the right tools, technique, patience, and care.
Ideal Base Hair Color For Platinum Hair Dye
The ideal base color for a perfect platinum look is light blonde. The lighter your hair, the better the platinum dye will turn out.
Starting with this base ensures that the platinum dye or toner can effectively neutralize any remaining yellow tones, resulting in a clean, icy platinum finish.
The cooler shades of blonde base hair colors are easier to transform to platinum hair, as warm shades of blonde will compromise the chilly platinum color.
Do I Need To Bleach Lift My Yellow Hair Before Putting Platinum Dye?
The answer to this is 100% yes, you must. Platinum is a very light color, and if you do not lift your hair before using the platinum hair dye, you won’t achieve the light, cool color you want.
Platinum hair requires a very light base, specifically a pale yellow, almost like the inside of a banana peel.
Bleaching helps lift the color to this necessary level. As you are going platinum from yellow, one lift should be enough to make your hair lightened enough.
If your hair is a warmer yellow or golden blonde, it might need to be lifted (lightened) twice if one session doesn’t lighten it enough to reach the pale yellow base color.
How to Go Platinum From Yellow Hair?
If you’re ready to transform your yellow hair into gorgeous, luxurious, and playful platinum blonde or silverish hair, follow the steps below!
1. Gather Supplies and Prepare Your Space
Below are all the materials you need to get started transforming your hair:
- Hair bleach
- Platinum blonde hair dye
- Purple toner (optional)
- Plastic gloves
- Vaseline or Aquaphor
- Old towel or rag
- Old shirt
- Plastic bowl
- Tinting brush
- Plastic or glass measuring cup or hair dye beaker
- Timer or your phone
- Newspaper
To prepare your space, place the newspaper on the floor, put on your old shirt, and cover your counter or sides of your sink with towels or rags. Gather all the supplies and lay everything out neatly on one of the towels to prepare.
2. Clean Your Hair
Now that all the prep and setup are out of the way, time to focus on your hair. Whether or not to wash your hair is a hot debate, but the general advice is to wash it 24 to 48 hours before dying it.
Neither freshly washed hair nor extra greasy hair is ideal for dying your hair. If your hair is knotty and super greasy, wash it. If it’s only moderately dirty, this is ideal.
3. Section Your Hair
Divide your hair into a minimum of four sections to make dying easier. If you have a lot of thick hair, you may want to create more sections.
For people with full manes, six to eight sections are better. Try to make the sections as even as possible and use rubber bands or hair clips to keep them in place.
4. Protect Your Skin
Protecting your skin is less important when using mild hair dyes, but the bleach and platinum dyes are harsh.
Generously slather petroleum jelly or barrier cream along your hairline and on the tops and back of your ears. Avoid putting jelly or cream on your hair.
5. Lift Your Hair to Level 10 With Bleach
The ideal base hair color for yellow to platinum transformation is pale yellow which is level 10 blonde.
If you have orangish yellow or golden blonde, it means your present hair color is at level 7. You would need to lift your hair color by at least three shades. This can be done using either a 20 or 30-volume developer.
For a 30-volume developer, expect that your undertones might be sufficiently lightened within 10 to 15 minutes.
If your hair is already light blondish yellow, it can be at level 8 or 9. So do not use a 30-volume developer. Use a 20-volume developer and check the result every 20 minutes.
Remember to work swiftly when applying the product. The time it takes you to apply the developer from the bottom to the top of your hair can also affect the varying processing times for different areas.
So it is better to bleach your root and top first and the bottom of your hair later.
Once you’ve achieved the desired level of lightness, rinse out the bleach completely. If your hair reaches the desired platinum shade with just bleach you can skip all the steps below!
If your hair is still too yellow, it’s time for the platinum dye. Wait 24 to 48 hours before applying the dye as bleaching and dying the same day can damage your hair.
6. Apply Platinum Hair Dye
Platinum dyes are specifically formulated to give a light, cool-toned blonde finish. They are usually more effective when applied to hair that has been pre-lightened (bleached) to a pale yellow.
Look for high-quality platinum blonde dyes, and consider whether you want a platinum blonde or silverish platinum hair color.
Mix your platinum hair dye according to the box instructions. Most box dyes have pre-measured hair color and developer.
If you’re using professional products, the rule of thumb is typically two parts developer and one part dye.
Use the beaker or measuring cup. Mix the developer and dye in the plastic bowl using the tinting brush. Mix thoroughly!
Start with a front section, applying the dye from the roots down. If your roots are slightly darker, let the dye sit on them for a minute before brushing the dye down the hair shaft. You can do this with your hands or the tinting brush.
7. Set a Timer and Wait
Cover your hair with a shower cap when you’re done applying the dye. Set a timer according to the box or hair dye instructions. Again, it’s usually between 30 and 45 minutes.
Since you want platinum blonde, longer is usually better. But if you have particularly thin hair, air on the side of caution.
When your timer goes off, you can rinse and condition your hair as you normally would. Your hair will look darker when wet, so wait until it dries to judge the color results more accurately.
8. Use Toning Shampoo
Once your hair fully dries, assess your color and decide if you want to tone it to be cooler.
If you still notice hints of yellow or your hair has an overall warm tone, the purple toner can help cool down the color so you get the striking platinum blonde look.
Use the purple shampoo on your hair. Allow the shampoo to sit in your hair for three to five minutes, and then rinse it out. If the color is still too warm, repeat this step as needed.
Now, you know how to get platinum hair from yellow! The hardest part is lifting your hair to the right level of lightness, so make sure you thoroughly bleach and lift your hair color before grabbing the box of platinum hair dye!