High lift dye is different to regular dyes because it is designed to give greater lightening power that is more equivalent to bleach than a regular blonde dye. This is what makes high lift dye particularly useful as it can often replace the use of bleach and may even be a lot less damaging to the hair and less irritating to the scalp depending on how it is used. Bleach vs high lift dye The choice of whether you should use bleach or high lift dye to lighten hair is dependent on a few requirements that indicate whether a high lift dye will work properly. You can lighten hair with a high lift dye if: You have not dyed it before You only need to lighten your hair by a maximum of 3 - 4 levels If you've used any permanent or demi-permanent hair dye on your hair previously, it will not respond properly to the use of high lift dye generally. This is because the dye doesn't effectively lighten artificial pigment to anywhere near the same extent as it does natural pigment so most of