Original hair color
For a blonde color result, your starting hair color should be no darker than light brown.  If your hair is medium brown, we recommend the Poly Blonde Intensiv Aufheller Ultra Plus.

Lightening dark hair
Hair color products for home use can only lighten hair to a certain degree – lightening is facilitated by hydrogen peroxide.  The more hydrogen peroxide the coloration contains, the lighter your hair will become.  By law, however, the percentage of hydrogen peroxide in home lightening products can be no more than 6%.  Therefore, you can only lighten your hair by a few shades.  If you desire more intense blonde shades, consult your hairdresser.

Grey Hair
Some blonde shades remove existing pigments from hair and also give it a new color. These blonde shades may not cover grey hair absolutely.  Most only cover the first signs of grey.  Please consult the package instructions!
One exception is Poly Color Creme hair color: It is able to cover even completely grey hair reliably.

Here’s how it works:
With hair lightening, the color pigments (melanin) of the hair are removed – first the darker color pigments (eumelanin) and then the light reddish color pigments (phaeomelanin). For more about color pigments, see also Natural Hair Color.
Your natural hair progresses through various stages of color change – if it first has a dark blonde natural color, it will become reddish-orange and then go through an orange-yellow phase.  Only then is the desired light blonde color achieved.

Reddish Tinge
Do not fall short of the recommended coloring time!  This can lead to undesirable color.  Sometimes hair develops an orange tinge (see above: How Lightening Works).  In this case, repeat the entire coloration process again from the beginning, keeping to the recommended time.
Note: Overshooting the prescribed time will neither change the color nor damage your hair.

Yellow Tinge
Sometimes hair obtains a yellowish tinge after lightening.  This is usually because the hair was damaged before coloring.  In addition, the product used may not suit your natural color.  However, you can neutralize a yellow tinge with a silvery-ash color: e.g., silvery blonde or light ash blonde.

Blonde hair color products include:

Lighteners or Bleaches
These remove natural pigments without depositing new colorants.  With these products you can achieve the most intensive lightening.  You can lighten hair up to seven shades.

Lightening Shades
Here the natural color pigments are removed and new color pigments are deposited.  Thus you give your hair a new color palette – for example, from a cool ash tone to a warm honey blonde.  With these colorations, you can lighten hair up to four shades.

Blonde Highlights
Thick highlights or natural color reflexes – with Poly Blonde Strähnchen you create your own look.  With the easy to use applicator, you can get attractive highlights or blonde accents – with little effort!

Palette offers a wide array of lighteners, bleaches and highlights.  Check out the large selection within the Palette Intensive Color Creme, Palette Permanent Natural Colors and Deluxe product lines.  You can use the easy shade selector to pick the right lightener / bleach for you.

Hair Damage from Lightening
Be sure to apply the products correctly – follow the directions carefully and use the accompanying hair care products.  The proper use of Schwarzkopf & Henkel’s Poly Blonde products prevents any structural damage to hair.

If your hair is damaged, changing your color could be problematic.  We recommend that you first color one strand to test the result.

If you have had bleached hair for a long period of time, apply the new color only at the roots (see Root Touchups).  Otherwise your hair may become too stressed.