Learn Italian: Volevo fare le ciocche più chiare. - I wanted to make the strands lighter.

This is the polite imperfect. By putting the request in the imperfect tense, it softens the tone, making it sound much less demanding than voglio (I want). It works just like saying "I was hoping to..." or "I wanted to..." in English when asking for something.

Can I use the conditional vorrei instead of volevo here?

Absolutely. Vorrei fare... (I would like to do...) is very polite and always correct. Using volevo is a slightly more colloquial, relaxed alternative that native speakers use constantly in everyday situations like at a hair salon, a bakery, or a ticket counter.

What exactly does le ciocche mean in a practical sense?

La ciocca literally translates to a lock or strand of hair. In the context of a hair salon, asking to do le ciocche più chiare is the standard, natural way to ask for "highlights".

Why does the adjective chiare end in -e here?

It is agreeing with the noun it modifies. Le ciocche is feminine plural, so the base adjective chiaro (light or clear) must change its ending to -e to match.