- If you take the necessary precautions, bleaching will not permanently damage your hair.
- But to make sure your hair is strong enough to withstand the process, it’s important to assess how healthy it is before bleaching it.
- If your hair isn’t healthy to start with, you shouldn’t bleach your hair. What you should do is take some time and strengthen your hair so you can bleach it later. We’ll go over how to do just that in this article.
- After bleaching your hair, it’s important to add deep conditioning treatments to your hair care routine to prevent your hair from becoming dry and breaking.
As everyone knows, salons all around the world use hair bleach.
Like any other chemical process, it has to be done correctly. And to be honest, it’s hairdressers -not the hundreds of bloggers who upload basic tutorials to the internet- that know how to use bleach correctly.
Not only that, but a hairstylist will be able to assess your hair and see if it can withstand the effects of bleach.
If your hair is weak or damaged, to begin with, the bleach will damage or even fry it.
And that damage is permanent. Which means the only way to fix it is to cut off the fried hair. What mean by fried hair is that the entire length of the hair is damaged, not just the ends.
Just like how doctors know how to treat diseases, hairdressers know all about hair health.
Hairdressers can not only see what’s on the surface of the hair, such as the color, but also what’s inside the hair fiber, such as underlying tones.
To minimize the damage, it’s important to take a few precautions before bleaching your hair.Would you like to know what they are?
If so, keep reading, becuase in this article we’re going to dicuss:
- What bleaching involves, and why you should take all the precautions you can
- How to get your hair ready to be bleached without causing lasting damage
- How to care for your hair after bleaching it
If you’re thinking of bleaching your hair, the most important decision isn’t whether to bleach it or not. It’s whether you decide to bleach it yourself or find a professional.
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How Does Bleach Work? Why Should You do All You Can to Protect Your Hair?
First things first, let’s go over exactly what bleach is.
It’s a chemical reaction that uses lightening agents like hydrogen peroxide to open the hair’s cuticle and lifts melanin, the hair’s natural pigment, to lighten your hair color.
Bleach removes your hair’s natural pigment to lighten its color.
While it sounds simple, lifting the protective layers of the hair can cause your hair to lose moisture. Leaving your hair dry, weak, and prone to breaking.
All of this means that bleach is an aggressive process that weakens and thins your hair. This is why the best thing you can do for your hair is get it bleached by a qualified professional.
Because bleach can potentially be damaging, it’s important to assess the health of your hair, and if it’s been dyed before.
Depending on the health of your hair, bleach can permanently damage it.
What do to before bleaching your hair to prevent permanent damage
If your hair is healthy, you can go ahead and bleach it. If it’s not, there are some steps to take to get it ready to be bleached successfully. How?
- Trim your ends to prevent any damage from spreading throughout your hair.
- If you’re a swimmer, avoid swimming pools for a month before bleaching your hair. It’s hard to predict exactly how the bleach will react to chlorine, but it won’t be good.
- Deeply condition your hair once per week with masks, ampoules, and cream baths.
- Avoid straitening or keratin treatments like the plague -especially if they use formaldehyde- because they modify the structure of your hair. Bleach chemically straightened hair, and you may end up frying it.
- Hairdryers and straighteners should also be avoided since they dry out your hair.
- Finally, don’t wash your hair for at least three days before you bleach it.
Another factor to keep in mind is whether you’re bleaching dyed hair or unprocessed, virgin hair.
Bleach can have pretty strange effects on dyed hair. Dyeing your hair changes its structure and the color of its pigments.
If you bleach dyed hair, the chemicals lift the artificial pigments from your hair. Which can result in hair that’s several different colors. In other words, a disaster.
So, now you know just how bleach works, and how to prepare your hair for the salon visit.
But what should you do after your hair is bleached? It will be damaged -not permanently- but it will still need some special attention.
How to Care For Your Hair After Bleaching
It takes a lot of work to get to this point, so don’t give up and risk ruining your hair now.
It’s just as important to pay special attention to your hair after it’s bleached.
- The best thing you can do is condition it, which gives it back some of the moisture it lost while being bleached.
You can use cream baths, ampoules, conditioning treatment, and anything else that can moisturize your hair.
- Remember we said not to use heat styling tools for at least a month before bleaching your hair? This is just as important after you bleach it.
- If you have the budget for it, invest in high-quality shampoos and conditioners designed for damaged or dry hair.
Lastly, make sure to use a wide-tooth comb to detangle your hair, especially when it’s wet. Remember, wet hair is always more fragile.
Conclusion
Bleach, when used by a professional who takes into account the health of your hair, does not permanently damage it.
Not only that, but you can restore lost moisture and minimize damage with conditioning treatments after bleaching your hair.
Of course, it’s just as important to condition your hair before bleaching, to strengthen it, and get it as healthy as possible before processing your hair.
Now it’s your turn to share: Would you rather find a professional to bleach your hair, or take the risk of bleaching it yourself?
