… then you know that the biggest trick to great color is getting the hair really well stripped of color before you dye. I myself am merely rocking my gray at this point, but my daughter has joined many of her peers in rotating through a rainbow of bright colors for the ends of her hair, and I’m happy to assist for now. (Someday she may not want neon pink hair at, say, a job interview. But for now, who cares?)

Anyway! I bought this 3-pack of Clairol Balsam Ultra Light Natural Blonde from Amazon the last time they had a coupon, and we’ve been very happy with it. For one thing, the same color will cost you $7-$12 for a single box at the drug store, and this is currently $3.57 for 3 boxes with an available $2 coupon, plus you can order via Subscribe & Save for free shipping and even greater savings. For another, it does a decent job of stripping color without completely frying my kiddo’s hair, though we are very careful when doing this stuff. (Try saturating hair in coconut oil before bleaching/coloring to counteract the chemicals some.)

This probably isn’t the right stuff to buy if you want to be blonde as an end product, but it’s perfectly serviceable for us darker-haired types who want to lighten and then dye another color.