- If you want to bleach your hair after using box dye, you’ll have to wait two weeks.
- However, if you colored your hair with a dark box dye less than two days ago, you can use a color remover instead of bleach. It’ll be less damaging than bleaching.
- Finally, if you dyed your hair with a blonde box dye, you can apply a darker dye instead of bleaching your hair.
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When I was asked about how long to wait to bleach the hair after coloring it with box dye, I immediately put myself in this woman’s shoes and thought “she must have colored her hair and didn’t like the result.”
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Are you in the same situation? I understand your desperation. But you shouldn’t take any decision lightly.
First, it may not be necessary to bleach your hair. However, if you still want to bleach your hair, you should wait two weeks.
Why? That’s what I’ll talk about next.
If you applied the box dye less than two days ago, you could use a color remover instead of bleach
The color remover will remove the box dye and leave your hair the same color it was before you colored it.
Why?
Because the remover only removes the artificial color of the hair dye. It doesn’t remove your natural hair color, as bleaching would.
Therefore, you don’t need to wait two weeks for your hair to look its natural color again.
- If you applied black, brown, red, or orange box dye, I advise you to use a color remover instead of bleach.
- Alternatively, if you applied a blonde box dye, you don’t need to use a remover or bleach. Instead, you can dye your hair again with another color.
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You can find several brands of color removers, such as COLOR OOPS, COLOR FIX, COLOR B4 and COLOR PREP.
The kit includes everything you need.
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- Mix the contents of bottle 1 in bottle 2 and shake until they blend.
- On your dry hair, apply the product from roots to ends.
- Massage your hair so that the color remover completely penetrates your hair fiber.
- Cover your hair with a shower cap, and leave it on for 20 minutes.
- Then, rinse your hair to remove the color remover. I recommend not doing this in the shower because you should use hot water.
- Let the water run for 15 minutes while you massage your hair.
- Remove the excess water from your hair and wash it with shampoo and conditioner.
Don’t worry if there are still traces of box dye left. You can repeat the process three times a day according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
However, if you definitely want to bleach your hair, you should follow other steps.
If you dyed your hair with box dye, and you want to bleach it, you must wait for two weeks
Why?
Because the color-settling process takes approximately two weeks.
And if you interrupt it with a bleaching session, unwanted undertones such as oranges or reds will appear and be hard to fix.
I’ll tell you what happens to your hair when you dye it.
The dye penetrates your hair fiber and the ammonia fixes the dye pigments inside the core to change the color. That process results in an intense color the first week because the hair fiber is full of pigment, and the melanin is overflowing with color.
After three washes, the core begins to expel the pigments it couldn’t absorb, and the color “fades”. Many women think that the color has faded or lost intensity.
However, the color actually settled. If you interrupt this process with a bleaching session, you’ll remove some of the color that was absorbed.
Then, the result will be a disaster and you’ll have to wait two weeks to bleach your hair.
Conclusions
If you dyed your hair with box dye, you should wait for two weeks to bleach it. Keep in mind, however, that bleaching is a very aggressive process that takes moisture and nutrients away from your hair.
Alternatively, if you applied a box dye less than two days ago, you can use a color remover to avoid exposing your hair to bleaching.
Think about it!
