In recent years, the hairdressing industry has seen a marked increase in the number of clients who want to go blonde but don’t want to use bleach. For a long time, there was simply no way to cater to these clients and you couldn’t dye dark hair blonde without the use of bleach. That changed with the advent of high lift hair color, and now it’s possible to dye your hair blonde without the bleach powder. Or at least, in certain circumstances.
What is high lift dye?
Many people are afraid of bleach because of the horror stories they’ve heard about melting hair or scalp burns. This is a problem perpetuated through the use of bleach by people who don’t know what they’re doing and haven’t taken the time to learn about the product before they go ahead and bleach their hair. Combine a lack of direction, making the bleach too strong, and using bleach on hair that is already highly damaged and you end up with a widespread fear of bleach.
Bleach is not the enemy and is actually a highly useful and necessary product in all salons, but more and more people are being lead to believe it is too harmful to use. As such, hair dye manufacturers discovered a new market to penetrate and high lift dye was born to cater to those who refuse to bleach their hair.
High lift color is permanent hair dye, but it works slightly differently to other hair dyes because of its unique composition. High lift colors contain more ammonia, more dye pigment, and are mixed with a double ratio of 40 vol developer. This leads to a hair dye that lightens your hair more effectively than other blonde dyes yet still tones it during the lightening process.
High lift hair color vs. bleach
High lift dye was invented to replace the use of bleach for those who didn’t want to bleach their hair, but it is not interchangeable with bleach. The uses of high lift hair color are fairly constrained and it can only reliably be used on virgin hair that is already a dark blonde color, or at most a light brown shade.
A regular blonde hair dye mixed with 30 vol developer can lift around 2 – 3 levels, or in other words, lighten hair from dark blonde to a medium to light blonde color. It does this whilst toning the hair, whereas the use of bleach requires you to tone your hair separately as an additional step. High lift hair color offers a boost to lightening, equivalent to about 1 extra level on top of what a regular blonde dye would achieve.
Although you can lighten your hair up to 4 levels using a high lift dye, you’re also restricted to using it on virgin hair because like other hair dyes, it will not lighten dyed hair. Dye doesn’t lift dye and if you’ve dyed your hair, you will need to use hair dye remover and bleach to lighten it. This means that you need to already be a natural blonde to use a high lift blonde dye. If you apply one of these dyes to brown hair you will end up with a regrettable shade of orange.
High lift hair color vs. bleach
High lift dye was invented to replace the use of bleach for those who didn’t want to bleach their hair, but it is not interchangeable with bleach. The uses of high lift hair color are fairly constrained and it can only reliably be used on virgin hair that is already a dark blonde color, or at most a light brown shade.
A regular blonde hair dye mixed with 30 vol developer can lift around 2 – 3 levels, or in other words, lighten hair from dark blonde to a medium to light blonde color. It does this whilst toning the hair, whereas the use of bleach requires you to tone your hair separately as an additional step. High lift hair color offers a boost to lightening, equivalent to about 1 extra level on top of what a regular blonde dye would achieve.
Although you can lighten your hair up to 4 levels using a high lift dye, you’re also restricted to using it on virgin hair because like other hair dyes, it will not lighten dyed hair. Dye doesn’t lift dye and if you’ve dyed your hair, you will need to use hair dye remover and bleach to lighten it. This means that you need to already be a natural blonde to use a high lift blonde dye. If you apply one of these dyes to brown hair you will end up with a regrettable shade of orange.
High lift or bleach?
| Hair condition | High lift or bleach? |
|---|---|
| Dark hair | Bleach and tone |
| Dyed hair | Hair dye remover and bleach |
| Natural blonde hair | High lift dye |
| Natural light brown hair | High lift dye |
| Natural red hair | Bleach and tone |
Is high lift dye less damaging?
The most popular misconception surrounding high lift hair color is that it is dramatically less damaging than bleach. This is not completely true though. The damage of a high lift dye or bleach are roughly equivalent, and this shouldn’t be the primary factor used to determine which product you use.
When you lighten hair with dye or bleach, it is the oxidation from the developer that is causing your hair to lighten. It does this through a chemical reaction with the melanin pigment that is inside each hair. This melanin is what gives your hair its natural color, and by discoloring it with oxidation, your hair becomes lighter.
Damage to your hair isn’t a result of the use of bleach or dye itself though. The damage that occurs is a side effect of the oxidation process that is occurring inside the hair shaft. Whilst oxidation is necessary to lighten melanin and activate the dye molecules so that they become permanent, this oxidation also affects the structure of your hair. When the keratin protein comprising your hair structure is oxidized, it weakens, leading to damaged hair.
From this you can understand that damage to your hair is directly related to the amount of lightening that takes place, through the amount of oxidation. If you were to lighten your hair 3 levels with a high lift dye, or 3 levels with bleach, the amount of damage would be exactly the same because although both products are formulated differently, both work through oxidation. The oxidation lightens your hair, and damages it as a side effect.
The main benefit of high lift dye over bleach in this sense is in being less drying and cutting out the additional toning step that bleaching requires. Dryness compounds damage during hair lightening, so anything you do to keep your hair nourished and conditioned during the process will minimize damage. Bleach is a lot more drying than most high lift dyes.
How to apply high lift dye
High lift hair color is applied like any other permanent hair dye. You will see the best results by sectioning your hair out into four sections and applying it one section at a time. To do this, part your hair down the middle from your forehead to your neck, then once more from ear to ear and clip each section with a sectioning clip to hold them in place.
It’s standard protocol to begin by applying dye to the back left section of your hair, but this isn’t set in stone. Start wherever is easiest and quickest for you. You may even prefer to work down in both sections at the back of your hair then switch to the front and finish it off. Where you start and how you progress really just depends on what you feel is easiest.
Work from the top of each section down to the bottom by taking thin layers of hair and applying the high lift color to each side. It is also preferable to apply the dye to your lengths first and then go back and apply the dye to your roots 10 – 15 minutes into application so that the heat from your scalp doesn’t lead to lighter roots. This is more of an issue with bleach, but it can also occur sometimes with high lift colors.
Once the dye is completely applied, leave it for up to 50 – 60 minutes to process, depending on brand. High lift color has a longer development period than other dyes because the extra time is necessary for it to lighten your hair substantially. You can rinse it out after this time has passed.
If your hair is closer to brown than blonde when you apply the dye, you will most likely still need to tone your hair again after the high lift color is rinsed. This occurs even when using an ash blonde high lift and is unavoidable. Dark hair simply can’t be toned by the high lift and it will only lighten your hair. You will need the appropriate toner to complete the color.
Lift booster
Hair dye brands will sometimes produce a lift booster product that is designed to be added to their high lift color. Lift booster is essentially an ammonia supplement that boosts the ammonia content in the high lift.
Ammonia acts as a catalyst, driving the decomposition of the peroxide in the developer into active oxygen that oxidizes and lightens the melanin in your hair. More ammonia means that more oxidation can take place, and lift booster can provide up to 1 more level of lift when mixed into your high lift color.
Should you wish to use lift booster, you should only be using it if your hair is in good condition. High lift colors are just as damaging as bleach in most cases, and adding lift booster will increase the lightening, but this means more damage as well. You also shouldn’t use it if you have a sensitive scalp.
After you dye your hair with a high lift color, it may be necessary to tone your hair. Like all hair color, this dye will fade with time too, and a regular maintenance routine is the best way to keep your hair looking great and prevent it from becoming brassy.
You will also need to condition your hair thoroughly after using a high lift, just like when you bleach your hair. For this purpose, a conditioning treatment or a deep conditioner is all you will need. Add a protein treatment like Redken CAT Reconstructor and your hair will look and feel great long into the future.
