Lady Gaga Documented Her Black-to-Blond Hair Makeover

When Lady Gaga sets her mind to something — a red-carpet look, a show, a costume — she really commits. So it should come as no surprise that when she decided to go back to platinum blond from the deep black locks she’s been sporting lately, it wasn’t a gradual process but a 24-hour bleach blitz. And she shared it all on Instagram, naturally. It took 13 photos.

 

A photo posted by @ladygaga on May 21, 2015 at 7:11am PDT

With her genius “blond mad scientist bleach warlock” Patti Song on hand to make over Gaga’s locks, the long day started with a post of the tools of the trade — rubber gloves, mixing bowls, combs, clips — and the caption, “Let’s f—ing party.” Next was a selfie in which the singer is wearing oversized sunglasses atop a face mask, a bronze wrapping around her hair (which at this point has been in progress for eight hours) and her heart-shaped engagement ring from fiance Taylor Kinney in plain view.

 

A photo posted by @ladygaga on May 21, 2015 at 7:32am PDT

When she next showed off her progress, Gaga’s mane was a reddish brown. She captioned the shot, “Loosening the color, keeping the hair healthy and strong. Like long delicious love making. Or more boringly a [turtle emoji]. Slow and steady wins the race.” Aspiring colorists take note: Gaga’s Instagrams are essentially a lesson in how to lighten hair.

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A photo posted by @ladygaga on May 21, 2015 at 7:46am PDT

She took the laboriously slow hair-color opportunity to also give love to her skin, with the aforementioned plant stem cell facemask, and then later a collagen lip jelly mask, which she said is “good for hydration and plumping with no [needle emoji] or silly bruising!” Burn, #kyliejennerlipchallenge!

 

A photo posted by @ladygaga on May 21, 2015 at 11:54am PDT

 

A photo posted by @ladygaga on May 21, 2015 at 8:37pm PDT

More tools snapshots, a call for whiskey and the bleach part finally started. Said Tony Bennett’s pal in her caption: “We are using a virgin bleach application, NOT balayage. That means ‘to sweep’ in French, I prefer not to use this kind because it will create a more highlighted look which I don’t want. I want a clean solid classic blonde.” Hey, girl knows what she wants.

 

A photo posted by @ladygaga on May 21, 2015 at 9:39pm PDT

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The pair also used coconut oil to keep her scalp calm during the intense process. After toner, Gaga shared a no-filter photo of the final Barbie-worthy results, with the caption, “The method we used was to take me from a black Demi-Permanent to a very translucent sparkly white blond. Although it was painful at times on the scalp, I like to avoid using any barriers with bleach so it’s as reflective and translucent as possible while still healthy. Advil and pound a few Pinot, but rinse immediately if the scalp is burning too much not worth it to get blisters. You can always reapply bleach.”

 

A photo posted by @ladygaga on May 21, 2015 at 10:09pm PDT

They do say beauty is pain. Now we know what a day in the life of Gaga is like.