When you're making a dramatic change, be ready to open your wallet -- wide. "An average starting price is $250," Lewis says. "But some colorists, especially those with celebrity clientele, can charge up to $1,000 for extreme color changes."

And in addition to plunking down dollar bills, you should be prepared to spend some of your precious time. A lot of time. I'm talking like an entire day.

"You're going to be in my chair for about six to eight hours, sometimes more, and that sort of time commitment requires pre-meditated scheduling," Moon says.

The worst thing you can do to your stylist is schedule an appointment for a "color change" (for which stylists typically allot three to four hours), without letting him know you expect to go full-fledged blonde. I learned this the hard way. I scheduled my first appointment for for 5 p.m., but I soon realized I'd be in the salon past midnight if we tried to do the transformation in one night, so I scheduled a second appointment for the following weekend. In total, I spent three hours in the salon on my first visit, lightening my dark brunette hair to a light brown. Then during the following visit, we spent nine hours making the full transformation. That's a total of 12 hours.

The moral of the story: Be prepared for the time commitment, and communicate with your stylist so he can schedule accordingly.

Before you step foot in a salon, deep condition your strands. It'll give hair some hydration before it runs the marathon of hair processes, according to Lewis.

"Pre-prep is just as -- if not more -- important than post-prep," Lewis says. "Healthy hair takes color better and more evenly. I always recommend my clients start preparing their hair a week or two prior to their appointment with a deep conditioning mask twice a week." We like Christophe Robin Regenerating Mask with Rare Prickly Pear Oil, $69.

While you're at it, give your hot tools a break for a couple weeks before your appointment. However, if you just can't stand to be away from your curling iron for more than a few days (or if forgoing a blow-dry is out of the question), use a heat protectant spray, like Tresemmé Keratin Smooth Heat Protection Shine Spray), $5.99.

I firmly believe that with a little confidence, any woman can rock any color. (I mean, the proof is in galaxy hair, right?) However, there is a trick to help determine which blonde hue looks best on you.

"There are so many factors that go into what shade will look best on an individual," Lewis says. "But skin tone and eye color are major players."

Moon and Lewis agree that as a general rule of thumb, fair-skinned women generally look better with warmer shades (bronde, golden or sandy), and the dark- or olive-skinned ladies pull off cooler shades better (light bronde, ombres and platinum). Though they note there are always exceptions.

"Eyes can change all the rules," Lewis says. "I lean more toward cool tones for blue and light eyes, and my brown-eyed girls tend to look better with warmer shades of blonde. Green eyes are like chameleons. Depending on skin tone, they can go either way."

If possible, Lewis recommends his clients go as far as to visit a wig shop and try on a variety of colors prior to their appointment, as it offers the most realistic idea of what the major change will look like.

We live in an advanced society where it's finally possible to protect your hair as you bleach the absolute sh*t out of it. Before the dye comes out of the bottle -- or even before you book your appointment -- ask your stylist what process they use to prevent damage as they lift color. It could be your best insurance policy.

Olaplex, a process that reduces the amount of damage done to colored hair, works to preserve the moisture and proteins in your hair after the bleach's chemicals have penetrated the hair shaft.

The B3 Brazilian Bond Builder is a similar hair-saving process that has gained popularity among celebrity stylists. While bleaching your hair can fry your strands by stripping the hair cuticle and depleting its moisture, this process replaces those stripped bonds in the hair's cellular membrane complex. For those of us who don't speak colorist, basically it's preventing your hair from losing any hydration. And because it doesn't contain any water, it can process hair color faster than Olaplex -- meaning less time spent frying your hair.

"This is the new generation of hair color," Lewis says. "Bond builders, like the B3 Brazilian Bond Builder, are widely available to stylists. While it's becoming increasingly uncommon that a stylist wouldn't use a bond builder, there are still many that aren't using it because it's relatively new technology."

If your stylist isn't using a bond builder, you should get the hell out of there, Lewis says. Without one, your stylist will have to do the change slowly over a period of months, or risk doing major damage to your hair, he explains. Don't be afraid to straight-up ask your stylist about what measures they're taking to reduce damage -- because your hair deserves protection, damn it.

If you're expecting to walk out of the salon with Elsa-like ash-blonde strands in your first visit, you may be in for a rude awakening. Truth is, most of you will be a bit brassy.

"I have never told someone no to going platinum blonde in one session," Lewis says. "However, for those whose hair can't handle that sort of process, I usually recommend stages, as do most colorists, going at least three weeks between sessions. On the first visit I can get them to a light caramel brown with highlights. The second, I get them to a soft blonde with highlights, and in the third, platinum."

Any time you have to strip color from your strands to make it lighter, you fight your hair's natural undertone pigments, and if you've colored it in the past (guilty), it's kind of like battling an entire box of crayons. Think back to when you were a kid in art class. When you mixed all your paint colors, you got brown. In order to get white (or in this case, blonde) you have to first remove each of those colors in the mix. The undertone you hit first is usually red or orange. Past colors and your hair strand strength will determine what shade you can get to in one visit.

If your copper mop is really bringing you down, you can tone down the brassiness between sessions with a purple shampoo, like Joico Color Endure Sulfate-Free Violet Shampoo, $33.99.