How To Get an Icy White Blonde Hair Color
This ultra-light hue is endlessly cool.
July 02, 2024
We’ll come right out and say it: White blonde hair is not for the faint of heart. This ultra-light hue is bold, daring, and requires more upkeep than your standard golden blonde. But if you’re willing to put in the work to keep it bright and brass-free, white blonde is one of the coolest hair colors you can choose (pun intended).
If you’re toying with the idea of trying the striking silvery hue for yourself, keep reading. Ahead, we’ll break down everything you need to know about how to get white hair, including tips on lightening your hair and how to care for it once you’ve taken the plunge. Plus, we’re sharing 10 icy white blonde hair ideas to help inspire your makeover.
How To Get a White Blonde Hair Color
While achieving white blonde hair does take some work, it’s totally doable—even from the comfort of your own home. All you need are the right tools and a bit of patience. Check out our tips on how to dye hair white blonde below.
1. Manage your expectations
Transitioning to platinum white hair is a process—quite literally!—that may take several bleach jobs to achieve. This is particularly true for anyone who’s starting with hair any darker than a medium blonde. Another reality is that icy blonde hair isn’t exactly low maintenance. You’ll need to touch up your roots every four to six weeks, minimize your use of hot tools, and add brass-fighting products to your haircare lineup to keep your silvery strands looking their best. If you don’t think you can make that kind of commitment, you may want to consider a less dramatic hair color, such as honey blonde or bronde.
2. Choose your approach
As we mentioned earlier, achieving an icy white blonde hair color may take more than one bleaching session. For this reason, many choose to leave their transformation in the hands of a professional stylist. If you do decide to DIY it, you’ll want to make sure you have the right products on hand—specifically, a white blonde hair dye or bleach. If you’re starting with dark or medium brown hair, we recommend reaching for the L’Oréal Paris Féria Hyper Platinum Advanced Lightening System Bleach. The deep conditioning bleaching system lightens hair up to eight levels in a single use and comes with an anti-brass conditioner that helps ensure your color stays cool. Those starting with a light brown or blonde hue can use the L’Oréal Paris Colorista Hair Bleach & Lightener At-Home Kit. Whichever you choose, be sure to read the instructions on the packaging thoroughly before getting started to help ensure a seamless bleaching experience.
Keep in mind that in some cases, bleaching can leave your hair looking a bit brassy. If you’d like to cool down your hue without lightening it further, you can snag the L’Oréal Paris Féria Power Toner, Long-Lasting Anti-Brass Toner in Ice Blonde. The ammonia-free formula neutralizes unwanted orange tones in as little as five minutes and helps reinforce bleached strands for smoother, shinier-looking icy white blonde hair.
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3. Use a color-safe shampoo and conditioner
Once you’ve achieved a white blonde hair color, you’ll want to head to the store and stock up on haircare products. Bleached hair requires extra special care, and that means you may need to use different haircare products than you had previously.
Since bleaching always causes some degree of hair damage, we recommend starting by snagging a strengthening haircare system, such as the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Bond Repair System. The three-piece lineup includes a reparative pre-shampoo treatment, a gentle shampoo, and a nourishing conditioner that work together to help reinforce weakened strands from the inside out. The trio is suitable for all color-treated hair and can be used daily (or as needed) to help strengthen damaged hair.
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4. Add a weekly hair mask to your routine
Adding a hair mask to your weekly routine is a great way to give your white blonde hair some extra moisture. To avoid disrupting your hue, it’s best to pick a formula that’s designed for color-treated hair. We love the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate Free Simply Clean Elastic Fiber Masque, which envelops hair in nourishment to help boost softness and shine.
5. Tone your strands
As with any blonde shade, white blonde hair can start to turn brassy over time. To help keep those unwanted yellow tones away, we suggest using a purple toning shampoo once or twice a week. The violet pigments can help neutralize yellow tones to keep your white blonde hair color vibrant and cool.
To cleanse and tone your hair, snag the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate Free Purple Shampoo for Toning Blonde Bleached Hair. As the name suggests, this pigmented formula is uniquely designed for bleached strands, and it helps diminish brassiness within a single use. Follow up your cleanse with the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate Free Purple Conditioner for Toning Blonde Hair to help hydrate, moisturize, and further tone your white blonde strands.
If you’d prefer to tone and condition your hair in a single step, opt for the L’Oréal Paris Le Color Gloss One Step In-Shower Toning Gloss in Platinum Pearl. This in-shower toner helps neutralize brassy tones, boosts shine, conditions, and adds a soft, pearlescent finish to blonde hair—all in 15 minutes or less.
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10 White Blonde Hair Color Ideas
Now that you know how to get white blonde hair, you’ll want to decide how you want to rock the statement hue—there are plenty of on-trend ways to rock the bold color. Find 10 of our favorites, below.
Icy white blonde hair
Classic white blonde hair bridges the gap between pure white and pale blonde, with a slightly silvery finish. It’s the perfect choice for anyone seeking a chic yet edgy take on a traditional blonde.
White champagne blonde
Like its slightly deeper counterpart, champagne blonde, this unique hue features an ultra-subtle pinkish undertone. The result is decidedly romantic—and especially flattering for those with fair, cool-toned skin.
Platinum white hair
Platinum white hair is just about the lightest hair color there is—the snowy, vibrant hue is devoid of any noticeable pigment or warmth. Because this shade is so stark—and, therefore, tricky to nail—we recommend visiting a professional to achieve this brilliant ivory color.
Silver white blonde
For a slightly more subdued take on white blonde hair, this silvery shade is hard to beat. It’s bright and striking—but boasts a soft, smokey silver overtone for a touch of softness.
White blonde balayage
Balayage is a highlighting technique that involves hand-painting the hair to achieve a natural-looking sun-kissed effect. Because balayage highlights start a bit down from the root, you don’t need to touch up your hair as often as you might with traditional highlights. As such, the lived-in look is ideal for those seeking a bold transformation but not ready to commit to monthly salon visits.
White blonde money piece
A vibrant white blonde money piece is another great hair color option for those unwilling to commit to a high-maintenance hair color. This playful look involves bleaching just the strands around your face and leaving the rest of your mane darker for a high-contrast, tone-on-tone effect. And should you find yourself bored with the white stripe, you can always dye the bleached strands a fantasy hue later down the line.
Icy blonde highlights
For an ultra-dimensional white blonde hair color, consider highlights. The vibrant, cool-toned streaks help brighten your mane, creating depth and contrast without the need for an all-over dye job. We love how icy white highlights look when woven throughout an ash blonde base, but it works well on bronde and light brown hair, too.
White blonde with lowlights
If you’re torn between white blonde hair and a slightly warmer (but still bright) shade, there’s a simple compromise: do both. We love how warmer wheat-colored lowlights add dimension to vivid white hair and lend the vibrant look a subtle summery vibe.
Rooted white blonde hair
Hitting the salon every few weeks to touch up your roots can be a pretty big commitment. If you want to go white blonde but aren’t up for frequent touch-ups, consider a rooted white blonde. With this edgy look, your natural roots will be purposefully left intact, which allows you to stretch out the time between touch-ups.
White blonde and pastel
Because white blonde hair is, well, white, it’s the perfect canvas for experimenting with fantasy hues. For a subtle pop of color, consider weaving multi-colored pastel highlights throughout a silvery white blonde base—it creates an almost iridescent effect that’s hard to resist.
Read Next: 20 Best Blonde Hair Colors for Every Skin Tone
Photo Courtesy of L'Oréal Paris
