Do you have to bleach gray hair to dye it blonde? No, not at all

 

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Can you bleach gray hair or is it bad for your hair?

 

 Do you have to bleach gray hair to dye it blonde? 

The answer is: ABSOLUTELY NOT!

 

To tell you the truth, I have been asked stranger questions about gray hair. Like the myth that says that if you pull out one gray hair you will grow seven. That’s a lie, pure imagination.

The same goes for bleaching gray hair.

 

Why would you want to bleach gray hair?

Did you know that gray hair is hair that doesn’t have any melanin, which is what gives hair its color?

 

Melanin is a protein in hair fiber. It’s responsible for coloring your hair.

But as time goes by, this protein wears out and doesn’t regenerate. So when hair runs out of melanin, it loses color.

Therefore, gray hair has no melanin, i.e. no color.  And if your hair has no color, what would you want to bleach it for? 

Also, gray hair is finer and more delicate, so bleaching could damage it, even causing breakage at the root.

So, in reality, if you want to dye your hair blonde to disguise gray hairs and the rest of your hair is blonde, you should not bleach your gray hair.

You simply apply a blonde dye and the gray hairs will be perfectly concealed.

In this case, you can also get some highlights to conceal your gray hair.

 

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Now, what if your roots are gray and the rest of your hair is dark? You obviously can’t apply a blonde dye directly. In this case, the story changes quite a bit.

And that’s what I’ll talk about next.

 

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When to bleach hair that includes gray hairs

Did you notice that slight difference?

 In this case, we’re not talking about bleaching gray hair, but bleaching hair that includes gray hairs.  It might seem like the same thing, but it isn’t.

 

We’ve already made it clear that you should never bleach gray hair because they already have no color. So over gray hairs, you can apply any hair color, including blonde, without bleaching.

But  what happens if your roots are gray and the rest of your hair is brown, for example? 

 

In this case, you should bleach all your hair before applying the blonde dye, avoiding the gray hairs as much as possible.

 

Let’s say your roots are gray and the rest of your hair is brown 4. If you apply the blonde dye, the gray hair will take on the blonde dye, but the rest of your hair will remain brown 4.

So your hair would turn out two colors.

 

To avoid this, you should apply the bleach mainly on the lengths and ends. Then about five to ten minutes before rinsing out the bleach mixture, you should massage your hair including the gray roots.

Finally, you could apply the blonde dye, to hide the gray hair.

 

Another common question that arises regarding gray hair is whether you should bleach hairs that are white or pale yellow.

And the answer is always the same. You don’t bleach gray hair.

 

Conclusion

You should never bleach gray hairs, no matter what color hair dye you want to use.

Now, if your hair is dark, your roots are gray, and you want to apply a blonde dye, you should bleach all your hair, avoiding the gray hairs as much as you can.

But this is a complex coloring job, so I recommend you go to a professional hair salon. Because if you’re not careful when applying the bleach, you can damage your gray roots, which are already weaker than the rest of your hair.