It’s no secret that bleaching can be damaging to hair. But that shouldn’t stop you from bleaching your mane to achieve the hair color you’re aiming for.
Let us take a deep dive into the least damaging ways to bleach your hair in this article. Read below!
What is the least damaging way to bleach hair?
Bleaching lifts the original color from hair through the process of oxidation. This process of removing the original color from your hair strands and turning it to white can damage your mane.
The chemicals used in bleaching will also penetrate your hair’s cuticle, degrading the existing hair pigments.
There are ways to prevent excessive damage to your tresses, though. Keep reading below to know how to bleach your hair without damaging it!
Go for Low Volume Peroxide
First, find the lowest volume of peroxide for your natural hair color.
The lowest available concentration in the market is 10 Vol peroxide. This is best used for natural virgin hair. In ideal cases, you could achieve hair 1 or 2 levels lighter. That is if you haven’t dyed your hair with a permanent dark color before.
Be Extra Mindful of the Time
It is vital that you remain cautious about the time instructed too. Leaving the bleach in your hair longer than advised will fry your tresses.
If your hair has not yet completely lightened during the allotted time, you still have to rinse it. No worries, as you can reapply the bleach a few days later to achieve to further lighten it.
Rinse Off Properly
Lastly, make sure to rinse off all the solutions in your hair completely. Failure to do so can cause scalp burns and other damage to your tresses.
What is the healthiest way to bleach hair?
Here are two of the ways to bleach your hair yet still keep healthy:
Find high-quality bleaching products.
Stay away from low-quality bleaching compounds. Take the time to research the best bleaching products for your hair type.
There are bleaching products for dark hair or those with curly locks.
Look for bleaching products that contain nourishing and conditioning agents in their formulation. This will protect your hair from being severely damaged.
There is also a range of bond multipliers that you can use to protect your hair from chemical damage. High-quality bond builders/multipliers like Olaplex can reconstruct the previously broken bonds from your hair. It can also protect the strands from more damage, enabling the growth of healthier hair.
Bleach your hair less often
Frequent bleaching will not only result in hair breakage. The worst-case scenario is hair loss. That is why you should only bleach once every two months or so.
The American Academy of Dermatologists suggests that you give your hair a break at least eight to ten weeks between bleaching sessions.
Is bleach very damaging to hair?
There is no way to sugarcoat the damage that comes with bleaching your hair.
The answer to this question is simple and easy — yes, bleaching your hair can be damaging. In fact, the damage it will cause is permanent.
Bleaching agents will break apart your hair’s proteins to remove its natural color. As your hair becomes lighter after bleaching, it will also become a lot weaker.
Split ends, breakage, inelasticity, and dryness are just a few of the things that you can expect after bleaching your hair.
While there is no way to prevent damage completely, there are things that you can do to minimize its harsh effects on your tresses.
Proper preparation with the use of deep conditioning treatments, a good hair care routine, and minimizing bleaching sessions are the key to reducing the damaging effects of bleaching agents to your crowning glory.
How to protect hair when bleaching
Basic know-how about how to properly apply bleaching compounds and how to take care of your tresses after chemically lightening them can save your crowning glory from being dry, brittle, and frizzy.
Protect your hair from severe damage by doing these things:
Prep your hair
The best way to prevent damage when bleaching your hair is to prep it properly. Use a deep conditioning treatment to prevent damage to your tresses one to two weeks before bleaching your hair.
At least an hour before the bleaching session, cover your hair with coconut oil. You can also leave it on the night before. Don’t wash. You can apply the bleach with the oil still in your hair.
Avoid washing your hair a day or two before bleaching. It is best to leave the protective coating of natural oils in your hair to prevent scalp irritation. This protects your hair from drying out.
Take care of your newly bleached hair
While the damage on your tresses will be permanent after bleaching, there are simple things that you can do to promote new, healthy hair growth.
Give your hair extra moisture and protein right after bleaching it. You can rebuild your healthy locks by nurturing them. Avoid anything that can cause further damage to your strands.
Don’t use shampoo 24-48 hours after bleaching. Skip the conditioner and apply an intensive hair treatment every other wash instead. Use leave-in conditioners every day to add moisture to your hair.
Minimize bleaching sessions
We’ve mentioned it above, and we’re going to say it again. You should not bleach your hair frequently.
Give your hair time to grow back healthier. Wait at least two months for your hair to regain its strength.
This is especially important if your hair has negatively reacted to bleaching products. If your hair became extremely dry or you experienced strands completely falling off after the bleaching session, wait for your hair to recover before bleaching again.
CHECK OUT: Stages of Lightening Dark Hair
How to bleach black hair without damage
If your hair is in the dark or brown shade, it will take more time and effort to make the bleach work. But it is not totally impossible.
The tools you need to bleach lighter natural hair will be the same when bleaching your darker mane. But you’ll need stronger hair bleach or dye.
Is your hair healthy enough?
Bleaching dark hair will require more time and more products. This means more stress on your tresses. That is why you must make sure that your dark hair is strong and healthy enough to withstand the damaging bleaching process.
Don’t rush.
The healthiest way to turn your dark tresses to gorgeous blonde locks is to gradually repeat the bleaching process a few times with some days of rest in between.
It is normal to have coppery, orange-tinged, or other not-so-blond colors on your hair in between bleaching sessions. Use of hats, scarves, and other accessories to cover it. No worries, as you’ll achieve the gorgeous blonde that you’re aiming for in the safest way in no time.
Find a stronger formula suitable for your dark hair.
You might have to lighten your dark hair by seven to eight shades to achieve the platinum blonde that you’ve always wanted. That said, you’d need a stronger bleaching product, depending on how dark your hair is and how light you would want it to become.
You will need a bleach kit with a stronger formula suitable for your dark mane. Find something with bleach powder and liquid peroxide.
You might have to opt for 30 volume as it will work more quickly than lighter ones like 20 or 10 volume. While 40 volume is a stronger peroxide, it can burn your scalp. So just settle for 30 if possible.
How to bleach curly hair without damaging it
Your curly hair has weaker bonds to the hair follicle because it is so twisted. And the bleach will only add to that problem.
If you don’t take care of your hair enough during the bleaching session, it can result in your beautiful locks becoming brittle and even falling out.
Let us share with you the healthiest way to bleach your curly locks below!
Before bleaching, use a deep conditioning treatment.
Your brittle curls have to be saturated with nurturing hydrants prior to the bleaching session. This way, it will withstand the intense drying effects of bleaching products.
That said, applying a pre-shampoo deep conditioning treatment is the best way to prepare your locks for bleaching.
You need to do this at least three days before the bleaching session. This will keep your hair follicles hydrated and ensure your scalp will be healthy.
During the bleaching session, mix a bond builder into the bleaching formula.
Another way to prevent damage to your hair during bleaching is by mixing a bond builder into the hair lightening formula.
The bond builder will help combat the damage in your hair during bleaching by strengthening keratin between hair strands and follicles. Your hair strands will become stronger when your hair follicle releases more keratin.
After bleaching, develop a good hair care routine.
After you bleach your hair, your cuticles will open. And you need to do something about that to prevent further damage to your curls.
As your hair becomes weak and more prone to breakage, start using your shampoo sparingly. Too much shampooing will strip your hair cuticle of its natural oils, which is important for healthy and strong hair growth.
As you wash less, you need to condition more than you usually do. A deep conditioning treatment is a MUST after bleaching your hair to combat the intense damage to your tresses. Deep condition your hair at least once a week to keep your locks hydrated and resistant to further damage.
Final Thoughts
Applying bleach to your hair can be risky. This is especially true for people with already weaker hair that is prone to more damage.
But if you manage to properly care for your hair every step of the bleaching process, you will get the result you’re aiming for without severely damaging your crowning glory.