First, if you are going three shades or more lighter than your original color, you are going to need a bleach. If you have a perm, it is not a good idea to bleach over that as it will severely damage your hair. If you have previously bleached your hair and have more than a month’s worth of growth, this could cause an off-color stripe where the new bleach and old bleach meet. Most salons call the brown to blonde transition a double process, but some hair color packages don’t explain what these means. Hair is made up of primarily red and black pigments and, as you lighten your hair you remove the black, leaving behind red. This is what causes that orange or brassy look so many “bottle blondes” sport instead of truly gorgeous gold. If you are going for a warm, honey blonde you will bleach your hair, then lay a color down on top of the lightened hair. However, as time, environment and shampoo wear on your hair this can cause your bleached color to come through and dull the blonde. When you...