Because I have naturally medium blonde hair, I've always gone to the salon to get it lightened to platinum and it hasn't ever cost me more than 30-50$ in the past.
Since then I've had terrible experiences with LA salons, and particularly now that I use alternative dyes I'm going to need to learn to use bleach on my own.
I'm willing to pay a little extra for brands that don't do significant amounts of damage but still work great - unlike generic stuff, such as Manic Panic Flash Lightening kits.
Any recommendations? What have you guys tried that was really successful, or that by word of mouth you know is a good product?

My favourite is L'Oreal Platinum. It will probably set you back about the same as a salon visit but you should have enough there for 6 or so root applications. I found it didn't give any tight scalp sensation, didn't burn or itch and I had noticeably less breakage. It doesn't seem to give that awful just bleached texture to the hair.

A woman who works at a beauty store also reccomended L'Oreal to me.
Consider yourself lucky: since your hair is naturally blonde, you can use lower-volume developers. The higher the developer volume, the more damage to your hair. You should find the lowest volume that will work for your hair; if it will work at 10-volume, that will be a lot less damaging. Developer cream, which greatly affects the damage level for your hair, is generally inexpensive.
Also, if you bleach your hair more than once in a row, wait a couple days between bleachings (or at least one day).

I'd have to agree that L'Oreal is excellent. It lightens pretty evenly and nicely. I have very thick dark brown hair naturally and I've gotten my hair to a golden shade with one application left in for 30 minutes. It was Super Oreal Blanc with 30 volume developer.

Also I always use cream developer. The thicker consistency

Other bleaches I've used:

Jerrome Russel Bblonde-Works pretty good. Lightened my hair to a yellow blonde in only two applications left on for about 20 minutes each. My hair was in relatively good condition for being lightened that much. I used 30 volume in that.

Born Blonde bleach kit-Its not too bad. Lightens pretty good, but it damaged my hair more than the previous two. Also 30 volume.

Raw White Out Kit- This bleach lightens hair in a flash, but only because it is 40 volume. This bleach was the only one that got my hair to very pale blonde, almost white. Maybe because I didn't attempt to get that light with the others. Unfortunately it also made my hair feel and look like a broom by the time i was done bleaching.

Jude, is that Platinum stuff only available to those who are licensed?

It might be that way in the US. Here anyone can buy it because there aren't restrictions on hair products. It's part of their professional range so you may need a Sally card or similar to buy it.
You can probably get it online easily enough.

The powder part is actually a paste. I think it has something waxy in it and you mix it with a really thick cream developer. I think it's important that you use the developer from the same range so if you are buying it don't cheap out on the developer.

I've always used swartskopf. Love it. :)

On a lot of these online stores where i can find hair dye, I keep finding this one called "Flash Lightning." anyone heard of that?

CatJay wrote:
On a lot of these online stores where i can find hair dye, I keep finding this one called "Flash Lightning." anyone heard of that?

I think that is the one from Manic Panic. Definitely not a good bleach from what I've heard. Leaves hair splotchy and dry if you can even get it to a light enough color.

Yeah Manic Panic bleach causes a lot of damage, has a very strong odor, and typically is pretty uneven. My hair was fried with 1 session of that stuff, and my sister's hair too fried pretty badly in the past.
I have 2 cream developers by Loreal (20 and 30 volume, which should be more than enough) so I think I might try that first.
I have another question - so I have the two cream developers (under the name Loreal Oreor). What exactly do I need to buy to complete the bleach, uh, product? What would it look like, and how much does it typically cost?

It's a little pouch of bleach powder. I think it's somewhere around 4 dollars if i remember correctly-depending on the size of the pouch.It should have been next to the developer. Make sure it is the same name as the developer you got.