Bleaching Deer Hair

[dsaavedra 0]

i want white or at least very light colored deer hair. i kno you can bleach hair to get this result. would normal house-hold Clorox bleach acheive this task? i tried it once, but i figured it would take a while, so when i returned, i found a dish full of bleach, no hair, no hide, just bleach . the bleach totally dissolved everything. if i put the hair in bleach and supervised it, will the household bleach turn the hair white and still be useable? :dunno:

[ashbourn 0]

It is very rare to find deer hair that will bleach pure white. For that type of bleaching special products work best. Clorox tends to make the hair brittle. I buy most of my hairs bleached and they range from a cream to ginger to a light brown.

Joe Fox

[ashley 0]

You don't need to bleach deer hair for white.You'll find it on the belly of the deer.

Otherwise normal hair bleach in the hair care range should lighten it but you won't get pure white.

[JoeBillingsley 0]

From A.K. Best's Dyeing and Bleaching Natural Fly-Tying Materials:

 

"Mix six scoops (a small plastic scoop comes in the Clairol can) of Clairol Basic Professional White, Extra Strength Powder Lightener with a little hot water to make a paste. Keep thinning this paste until you have a two-cup container of a thin milky solution. Pour this solution into your dyeing pan. Then:

• Add one cup of forty percent volume peroxide and mix the two ingredients thoroughly.
• Add one half cup ammonia and mix thoroughly.
• Add four cups hot tap water and mix thoroughly again."

Make sure you've saturated your deer hair first with a warm, weak soapy solution.

It works very well. Keep stirring the mixture to make sure all the hairs get soaked well AND don't breathe in the fumes.

 

Joe

[Alex_F 0]

The above method is by far the best but as Ashley says get white belly hair, it pretty much pure white to start with and is the #1 stuff for dying bright primary or secondary colours.

[dsaavedra 0]

well i know that belley hair is gonna be white. and i dont have any . all i have is body hair. i also knew that i wuoldnt get pure white. o well...guess ill just have to buy some.

[Ronn Lucas 0]

Don't go near the hair with Clorox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will not remove colour, it will only dissolve it. A 50/50 mix of water/hydrogen peroxide will bleach hair as will hair bleach. ALL bleach including that will damage/dissolve hair if left on too long. You will only get it bleached to a tan colour, same with feathers.

[dsaavedra 0]

ok. but i only have household hydrogen peroxide...3% i think. will that still work? :crying:

[arkfisher 0]

3% peroxide won't work well, and it is difficult to get a hold of 40%...(unless you're a chemist ) As always you want to be very cautious when mixing household chemicals. Ammonia is relatively easy to come by at the local walmart in the cleaning supplies and it's relatively concentrated. The reason that Ammonia is used is because it is basic or alkaline and causes the "scales" on the hair to open up and accept the peroxide better which results in a more thorough bleaching.

 

I would think that 10% peroxide would work, it would just take longer. You can probably get it at the local pharmacy..they may even have more concentrated that that. You also want to take into account that peroxide starts to decompose into water and oxygen and therefore loses it's potency after being exposed to the air for a while. So I'd try it overnight and if it's not good enough, change out the solution and do it again.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Richard

[Ronn Lucas 0]

The 3% will work but as has been said, it will take awhile. The recipe I gave you was for that strength. I use "hot" bleach that hair dressers use and it is fast.

[Steve P 0]

Or if you know a taxidermist or want to get to know one I would suggest asking him what he uses if he does any bleaching, I helped my buddy who is a taxidermist bleach out an entire doe hide last year to make a false pie bald full body mount to go to the national competition and it turned out stark white like nothing I've seen before but as everyone else has said use extreme caution in doing so the stuff we used was extremly caustic and we wore respirator masks and thick rubber gloves while bleaching the hide. But it gave us some remarable results. Most every taxidermistI know or have known is the kind of guy who will trade barter or help out anyone if they ask nicely so you might give that a try and see if they could hook you up with a butter bowl size container of powder and let you copy the instructions. Just my .02 worth on the subject.

Steve

[Guest]

is there a different solution for feathers or do use the same. I want to bleach peacocs eyes

[dsaavedra 0]

for peacock eyes, just pour a lil clorox in shallow dish and sit the peacock eye in it. wiggle it around untill alll the green fuzzies are gone. DONT LET IT SIT UNATTENDED!!! if you do leave it in there for too long, the entire thing will dissovle. i have bleached one peacockeye and it turned out great.