If you’re a hair bleach virgin or are bleaching someone’s hair, your best bet is the Colourette Bleach Cloud because it’s so easy to use and inexpensive (Php599). Bleach Cloud, along with Sky Dye, is Colourette’s first foray into hair color.

First, a few tips before you start using Bleach Cloud:

1. Make sure you haven’t shampooed for at least two days before bleaching. The oils and dirt on your scalp will protect it from the bleach.

2. Bleach your hair in portions, even if your hair is thin.

3. Do a strand and skin test hours before you start bleaching. This is important as you might be allergic or your hair may break. It’s best to do the strand test on the skin at the back of your ear. As for the strand test, do it on around 30 strands of hair.

4. Not gonna lie, it’s difficult to bleach your hair yourself. Find a bleach buddy who’ll do it for you or at least help you.

5. Using foil is helpful but not required.

6. Just follow the instructions on the manual (written in several Filipino dialects) and you’ll be okay.

7. If your hair is thick, you’ll need two boxes of Bleach Cloud.

8. Be prepared for pain. Bleaching hurts the scalp.

9. You’re told to bleach the ends first before the roots, which you should do for only 10 minutes, BUT this should be done on a case-to-case basis. The family member whose hair I bleached needed her roots and ends bleached at the same time. We followed the ends-first rule the first time we bleached her hair and she ended up with uneven color so the next time, I did the whole strand and the results were much better.

10. The bleach should stay on your hair for not more than 45 minutes to one hour.

11. I love the bowl, brush and gloves provided with Bleach Cloud but the truth is, the bowl isn’t enough to hold the solution once you’ve used everything so either find another (bigger) bowl or mix the solution in batches.

12. After you’ve completed the application of Bleach Cloud, you need to wrap the hair in a moistened (sprayed with water) plastic bag.

After you bleach your hair, it’s supposed to be at least eight times lighter than your original color, otherwise the color you apply (Sky Dye) will not show. Realistically, you’d need to bleach your hair twice for best results. What I like about Bleach Cloud is that it lifts the hair color more than the 3-5 times that it claims to. I also loved that it was not extremely damaging on the hair. There was some damage but it was not extreme.

After bleaching and shampooing off the product with purple shampoo (L’Oreal Serie Expert Magnesium Silver, which also serves as a neutralizer), applying Sky Dye (also Php599) is a breeze. I mixed the color (Mood, a silver cloud) with some Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector against the advice of someone from Colourette and I’m glad it worked. By the way, Olaplex is a a treatment helps to strengthen and protect your hair.

Overall, I was very happy with the results. It wasn’t perfect but considering that I’d never bleached anyone’s hair before, the finished product exceeded my expectations.

Get Bleach Cloud and Sky Dye from Colourette Cosmetics on Lazada and Shopee.