Are you sure you want to hear the answer?
It may not be the one you were looking for.
What I’ll answer is the truth, and if you’re not only interested in the color of your hair, but also in its health, are you ready? Let’s do it!
- If you bleached your hair at home, I recommend waiting at least three days for your hair to rest from the chemical processes.
- Then, evaluate your hair health.
- If it feels almost the same it did before you bleached it, meaning you can easily detangle it, not coarse or frizzy, you can apply a hair dye.
- Instead, if you don’t recognize your hair because it’s quite dry after bleaching, has split ends and is difficult to comb, you should first do an intensive moisturizing treatment before coloring it to avoid irreversible damage.
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Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’m perfectly aware that this isn’t the answer you were looking for, but don’t get mad at the messenger.
I’m here to help you decide what’s best for your hair.
Believe me. Whether you bleached it yesterday, today or tomorrow, my answer is exactly the same: I’ll just say what’s best for your hair.
Yes. I know that in salons, after bleaching, you almost immediately apply a hair dye or a toner, but you forget one small detail.
That small detail is the professional training of those who perform the bleaching in the salon.
A hairdresser will know exactly how to perform the process to minimize damage to the least.
Also, they will be able to tell at a glance if bleached hair will resist a hair dye.
But since I know you’re not a professional, and you’ll get carried away with the anxiety of showing off your new color, my advice is to let your hair rest for at least three days after bleaching.
Forget about your hair!
Don’t even wash it so that the sebum produced by the scalp naturally nourishes your hair. Hold on.
Put away that wonderful box of hair dye you bought so eagerly for your bleached hair. If necessary, keep it under seven keys.
Three days after bleaching your hair, the moment of truth will have arrived: finding out if you can finally color your hair.
How will you get to the truth?
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After bleaching, you should assess your hair health before applying the hair dye
If you’re at this stage, you already know everything I say about bleaching.
You know it’s a harsh chemical process because the cuticles that hold moisture and pigment in your hair have to be opened. When they do, they expel pigments, but also nutrients and water.
That’s why bleached hair always loses shine and can even feel a bit coarser.
It could be minor damage, but if your hair was ruined before bleaching, it’ll be worse.
That’s why it’s important to have a hair evaluation to check the porosity of your hair.
This test only takes a few minutes, but will confirm if you can color your bleached hair or if you should wait a few more weeks to nourish and strengthen it.
You only need one hair strand and a glass of water.
- Fill the glass halfway with water and place one hair in it. Carefully observe the reaction of that hair.
- If it floats or sinks halfway, your porosity is low to medium. So, your hair is healthy, and you can apply the hair dye.
- If it sinks, your porosity is high, and your hair is damaged. Then, the hair dye will ruin it further. Therefore, you can’t dye it for the time being.
Why is the porosity test important?
Because it shows your hair’s ability to absorb moisture and nutrients. The more porous the hair is, the more damaged it is.
Of course, it’ll absorb anything very quickly. In this case, it’ll absorb more chemicals such as peroxide and ammonia from the hair dye.
What should you do?
A complete moisturizing routine for bleached hair before coloring it
While you wait for three weeks to color your hair, you can nourish and strengthen it. Luckily, some great products will give you excellent results.
COCO & CO coconut oil mask or any other similar mask
Although this coconut oil is for frequent use, I recommend using it two to three times a week.
- Apply the oil all over your dry hair from roots to ends before washing. Leave it on for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Rinse with shampoo and lukewarm water.
Garnier micellar water or other brands
Yes. It’s the product you use to remove makeup residue from your face.
Best of all, you can apply it to your hair several times throughout the day. You can put it in your purse now.
- On your dry hair, apply the water from roots to ends.
- Let it air dry because it doesn’t require rinsing.
Olaplex 3
It’s no longer an unaffordable product. I recommend it because it works at the molecular level by cauterizing broken bonds and cuticles that break during the bleaching process.
After the application of Olaplex 3, you’ll be able to color your hair without any risk.
- Divide your hair into 4 sections from forehead to nape and from ear to ear holding them in place with hair clips.
- Apply a moderate amount to each section of hair and comb through to distribute the product evenly.
- Leave it on for at least 10 minutes. Then, rinse your hair with plenty of lukewarm, almost cold water.
A quick tip? As your hair is very damaged after bleaching and you want to dye it, I advise you to leave it on for at least 120 minutes. The longer the better for your hair.
After this intensive moisturizing and nourishing routine on your bleached hair for three weeks, you can open the secret safe where you had kept the hair dye. You can finally dye your bleached hair. Still, some precautions will be necessary.
How to color bleached hair safely
If you’re coloring your bleached hair with a permanent hair dye, pay attention to the following tips.
- Follow the manufacturer’s instructions accurately.
- Use the pre-color and post-color treatment.
- Don’t change the developer of the kit for any other. Only a 20-volume developer has to be used.
- Respect the exposure time of the hair dye. It’s a maximum of 45 minutes.
- If you bleached your roots, start the application on the lengths and ends.
- Rinse your hair with plenty of lukewarm water and scrub your scalp to remove the hair dye residue.
- Don’t wash your hair for 48 hours.
- Don’t apply another hair dye if you don’t like the resulting color. Wait for at least two weeks to color your hair again.
- Don’t flat iron your hair the same day you color it.
- Make sure you remove all the remaining products.
If you decide to use semi-permanent hair color, you should also follow some tips
- Apply it to dry hair and don’t mix the hair dye with the developer.
- Don’t wash or flat iron your hair for 72 hours.
- Rinse the hair dye with cold water to seal the cuticles and keep the pigments in.
- Don’t use a hairdryer on high heat.
- If you don’t like the resulting color, don’t bleach your hair. The semi-permanent hair dye fades with washes.
Conclusions
After bleaching, you have to evaluate if your hair will resist a hair dye because coloring is also a chemical process. If your bleached hair is dry and damaged, coloring will only worsen it.
As Uesugi Kenshin, a well-known Japanese warrior said, “go to the battlefield with the firm assurance of victory, and you’ll return home uninjured.”
In other words, dye your hair after bleaching it only if it’ll resist the action of the hair dye, and you’ll have a healthy hair.
