When it comes to the pursuit of perfectly unnatural, unapologetically bleached-blonde hair, Pamela Anderson is the blueprint. In Pamela, a love story, the ’90s icon confirmed that though she was born a brunette, she started experimenting with blonde hair color from an early age. After years of practice, Anderson knows a thing or two about lifting, lightening and highlighting — and below, she shares her thoughts on how to bleach your hair in the most iconic way possible. 

1. Be born a literal icon (but rely on a little help).

“I experimented with Sun-In spray in Canada,” she tells Tudum. (Anderson was born and raised in British Columbia.) “Everyone else was doing it at the beach. My mom, dad and brother were all towhead babies — I was the odd man out, and platinum was calling my name.”

2. Don't get discouraged by your initial results.

Anderson says the Sun-In didn’t work exactly as intended (“My hair basically turned into the color of a manila envelope,” she says in the film), but when she booked her first job with Playboy and came to Los Angeles, things changed. 

“The Playboy hairdresser just added a thousand highlights,” she tells Tudum. “At least then my hair was a champagne blonde, and not [an] envelope.”

3. Buy box dye — literally any box dye.

Ever since, Anderson has largely kept her hair that same, signature shade of blonde. What’s more, instead of relying on professional colorists, she’s taken matters into her own hands — literally.“I can’t sit in a salon,” she says. “I’ve been in makeup chairs a lot in my life. My time is treasured.”

“I just grab any blonde off the shelf,” she says. “I use cruelty-free brands and change them up.” 

4. Mix developer and lightener as instructed on the box.

Instead, she colors her hair at home, with box dye anyone can find at a drugstore — her mom, Carol, first taught her how to do it. Anderson says she refreshes her hair color about once a month, or more frequently if she spends a lot of time in the sun or the ocean. Her hair has been blonde for so long, she says, that the process is less about lifting her color and more about brightening it up. 

5. Follow the timing on the box— unless you're Pamela Anderson, in which case wait 20 minutes.

“It only takes 20 minutes now, and I only color my roots.”

6. Read. Bake. Do whatever you want, because you're at home.

The best part of dyeing her own hair, Anderson says, is that she can chill while the dye is working its magic.“If you’re at home and no one is there, you can do anything,” she says. “I love to bake and read.”

7. Let your dogs sniff you.

Anderson also appreciates the support of her at-home salon companions. “My dogs don’t mind the smell,” she says. 

Pamela, a love story is streaming on Netflix now.