Can I Bleach My Hair After Dyeing it? How long should I wait to bleach it?

how long should i wait

Yes, you can bleach your hair after dyeing it. But, before you do it, you should evaluate your hair’s health.
To bleach your hair, it needs to be perfectly healthy. If it’s not, it will suffer during the bleaching process and end up damaged.

It happens all the time. You fall in love with the color you see on the box of dye, but then, after using it in your hair, you realize that it wasn’t actually the color you were dreaming of.

And that’s when desperation and searching for quick fixes starts. And one of those quick fixes is to bleach your hair. But you shouldn’t forget that bleaching your hair is an aggressive chemical process.

That’s why if you’re considering bleaching your hair because you don’t like the dye you used, you should keep in mind a few things.

Your hair’s health, because if it’s fragile or dry, you can’t bleach it.
The color of the dye your used, so you know how many times you’ll need to bleach your hair.
The color you want to use after bleaching your hair. Ideally, you should use a color two shades different from the one you have in your hair now.

Do you think your hair can handle anything you do to it?

Let me tell you a story.

I was in my salon, browsing through new color trends on Instagram when a very desperate woman came in. She had used a chocolate-colored dye on her hair, and she didn’t like how it turned out, so she decided she wanted to bleach her hair.

Do you think she went into a salon to get a professional’s help? No, of course not. Why would she talk to a professional hair colorist when Saint Google exists?

She bleached hair as quickly and with as little care as you might try out a new shampoo. And the consequences were terrible. Her hair ended up copper at the roots, and the ends were wine-colored.

But that’s not even the worst of it. Her ends stretched like gum, making it impossible to comb them.

What happened?

She burned her hair during the bleaching process, and unfortunately, the only solution was to cut out the most damaged parts. And, then, to even out the color, use a new dye.

What’s the moral of the story?

Don’t think your hair will be okay through everything you do because it won’t be. Hair fiber isn’t steel.

And you will have to put up with the consequences, like burned hair and damaged ends, which might make it, so you need to cut 8 inches or more off your hair.

You can bleach your hair after dyeing it, but you need to be sure of a few things first. Do you want to know what they are?

If so, keep reading, because I’ll tell you:

How many sessions of bleaching your hair you’ll need before you use a new color
How to prepare your hair before you bleach it
How to choose the new color you will use on your bleached hair

You can skip what I’m about to tell you, but your hair might depend on you following the advice I’m about to give. It’s up to you.

Tabla de Contenidos

How many times you will need to bleach your hair depending on the color dye you used

at the bathroom

As I said initially, the color dye you used on your hair would be key when it comes time to bleach it since bleaching dark hair is not the same as bleaching medium-colored hair.

That’s why I want you to take a deep breath and take a few minutes to think.

Are you sure that you want to get rid of the color you have in your hair right now?

I ask because it will take 15 days for the dye to settle into your hair since during that time, your hair will continue to expel excess pigment.

And that means that you won’t be able to know exactly what the final color is until those 15 days have gone by. So, my recommendation is not to rush into it.

Wait those full 15 days, during which time, you can decide if you really don’t like the color or not.

If you don’t want to wait or 15 days have already gone by since you dyed your hair, and you still don’t like it, then let’s move on to the next step. The moment of truth when you bleach your hair.

And to get started, you need to consider how many times you’re going to need to bleach your hair to get rid of the dye in your hair. All you need to do is look at the table below and find your hair color to find out how many times you’re going to need to bleach your hair.

Dark colors: 2-3 rounds of bleach

Black 1
Dark brown 3

Medium colors: 2-3 sessions of bleaching your hair

Brown 4
Medium brown 5

Light colors: 1 bleach session

Light brown 6
Medium blonde 7
Blonde 8

Now you know how many times you’re going to need to bleach your hair to get rid of the dye you don’t like. Let’s move on to another super important topic: your hair’s health.

How to moisturize your hair before you bleach it to make sure it’s ready to undergo the chemical process

If your hair is fragile, dry, or opaque, you’re going to need to moisturize it before you bleach it.

There are a million products out there that can do that.

Hydrating keratin masks: these masks are excellent at repairing hair fiber, leaving your hair soft and shiny. You can use these masks every 48 hours until you’re ready to bleach your hair.
Essential oils: whether it’s coconut, argan, or almond oil, any will be great at nurturing your hair because they repair it from the inside. You should use them every day on damp hair on the middle and ends of your hair.
Cuticle-repairing products: these products repair your open hair cuticles from the dye chemicals, like the bleach mix you use with dye. You can use these products from the root to the ends of damp hair and leave it in without having to worry about rinsing.

You can use any of the treatments by themselves or in combination, but never at the same time because you’ll end up with greasy, weighed-down hair. For example:

If you use a keratin mask on Monday, then on Tuesday you can use an end-repairing product.
If you repeat the mask on Wednesday, you can use argan oil on Thursday.

Do you need to do more than one round of bleach before using a new dye?

First of all, if you already bleached your hair once and you still need to bleach your hair again, I recommend waiting 15 days between the treatments.

It’s key to leave some time between bleaching sessions to allow your hair to recuperate. And during those 15 days, you can use any of the above nutritive treatments that I mentioned.

We’re almost to the final steps, which is when you’ll need to choose a new color for your hair.

What color dye can I use after bleaching my hair?

To find out what dye you can use, you need to think about what color your hair was before you bleached it.

If you’re thinking about using a light color, it should only be two shades lighter than the color you used earlier.

Why do I say that if you got rid of all of that color by bleaching your hair?

Easy, because if you go off the color you get by bleaching your hair, it might be hard to figure out what color you have based on the color palette.

You should also try to even out your color since bleach doesn’t have the same effect on every single part of your hair. For example, your roots will lighten faster than your ends.

So, if you use a new color based on the color you get by bleaching your hair, your hair might be unevenly prepared for the new dye.

Here’s a list of options you can choose from.

If you bleached your hair after having a dark color:

Black 1, you can use a dark brown 3 or a brown 4
Dark brown 3, you can use a medium brown 5 or a light brown 6

If you bleached your hair after having a light color:

Brown 4, you can use a light brown 6 or a dark blonde 7
Medium brown 5, you can use a dark blonde 7 or a blonde 8
Light brown, you can use a blonde 8

If you follow the information in the table, you’ll see that your new dye evens out any areas that might have been uneven after bleaching your hair.

Once you use the dye you’ve chosen, I recommend keeping up with a moisturizing schedule. You can use a hair mask every 15 days and reparative oils every day.

Now, all you need to do is look in the mirror and decide what’s best for your hair. What color will you use on it?