How To Care For Bleached Hair

    

    Bleached hair, or lightened hair as I like to call it, can be some of the most difficult hair to care for. This is because the process of decolorizing the hair can compromise it, making it much more susceptible to dryness and breakage. Any time the hair is lightened it needs to be treated extra gently. Today I'm going to give you my extensive list for tips to help care for your blonde tresses.

1.) Always Go To A Pro

    If you are considering going blonde or are already a blonde looking for haircare or a touchup, I always advise seeing a stylist. Lightener can be extremely harsh on the skin and hair due to it's high alkalinity, which raises the cuticle of the hair to work, causing damage. You'll definitely want to see a professional who knows how these products works, otherwise you may end up with uneven orange yellow hair, or worse, gummy over-processed hair that can only be saved by cutting it off. Professionals know the ins and outs of how lightener works and how to apply as well as how long to leave it on and how to mix it to allow for the best result with the least damage. Also, fixing an at home job can cost a lot of time, money, and frustration. My advice would be to skip that altogether and just make an appointment with a professional if possible. You can always go in for a quick 15-30 minute consultation as well, which is usually either free or goes towards the cost of your appointment. This helps you and the stylist determine what you want, how often you want or need to come in, if and how your desired result is achievable, and how much time and money it will cost to get there. 

    If you get a global bleach application(bleach on scalp) or are considering it in the future, please keep in mind that you must go every 4-6 weeks max to avoid paying for a color correction and risking banding and breakage to your hair. This is very important because if you wait longer you risk your stylist having to overlap or leave lightener on longer than they would typically, which can result in your hair breaking off at the line of demarcation(where the old blonde is), meaning your hair might get a chemical cut and only be a few inches long!

    If you typically get highlight or balayage, you might consider waiting a little longer in between appointments to avoid too much overlap of the lightener where the old highlights are, or maybe getting just a partial highlight every other appointment to give some parts of your hair a break from lightening. 

    Either way, the best thing you can do for yourself and your hair is to find a pro who knows how to use lightener to give you the best, least damaging results as well as advice on how to care for it. A good way to do that is to find someone with blonde hair you admire and ask them where they go or you could possibly search on Instagram. I know Facebook also has a way to ask for suggestions from friends which may be helpful as well.

2.) Use Cooler Water

    Using cool water will help seal in color and moisture by preventing the cuticle of our hair from lifting. Too hot of water raises the cuticle and dries out the hair and skin and can also cause colors and toners to fade, especially on lightened hair. It's best to use the coolest water you can stand, which will lock down the cuticle and give the hair better shine and longer lasting color as well as less dryness and damage. 

3.) Purple Shampoo

    Use a purple shampoo once a week or so to avoid brassy tones in your blonde hair.  You'll want to wait at least 2 weeks after an appointment to do this when the hair starts to look a little brassy, as purple shampoo can fade toners. Freshly lightened hair is also more porous so it's more likely to really grab onto those tones, meaning you could end up with dull, purple hair. I wouldn't usually advise using a purple shampoo more than once a week as they can be drying or cause discoloration. Another option to avoid that is a purple conditioner or mask. If you feel like you have to use these products more often than once a week, it may be time to go in for a toner refresh appointment.

    Here are some of the toning shampoos and conditioners I like:

• Matrix Total Results Brass Off Shampoo
• Fanola No Yellow Shampoo
• Paul Mitchell Platinum Blonde Shampoo
• Moroccanoil Blonde Perfecting Purple Shampoo
• Keracolor Color + Clenditioner

4.) Regular Trims

    One of the most important things you can do for any hair, but especially lightened hair, is to get it trimmed regularly. Blonde hair is typically thinner and much more prone to breakage, which needs to be cut off regularly to avoid further splitting and breakage up the hair shaft, resulting in needing more hair cut off. If your goal is to maintain the length you have, I would suggest every 4-6 weeks. If your goal is to grow out your hair, I would say something more like every 6-8 weeks. I probably wouldn't suggest waiting much longer than 8 weeks because lightened hair is so much more fragile and needs extra tlc to look and feel its best. Discuss your goals with your stylist and come up with a plan of action for your individual hair needs. 

5.) Regular Toners Or Glosses

    A toner or a gloss is a semi or demi permanent color that can be put on any hair to neutralize unwanted tones and to impart shine, as well as protect the hair. There's no one size fits all for how often to do this. If you take extremely good care of your blonde hair you may only have to do this at your regularly scheduled touch up appointments. If you're someone who doesn't like warmer tones but only gets their color done every few months or so, you may need to go in-between appointments for just a gloss. This will neutralize brassy tones as well as add shine to the hair. It's also a great way to freshen up your blonde in between touch ups for that freshly colored looking hair without a full blown lightening appointment. 

6.) Shampoo Less Frequently

    Getting the hair wet swells the hair and leaves it in its most vulnerable state, and when it's been lightened it's even more fragile. The less it's wet, the better. A good way to stretch out a single shampoo is to invest in a good dry shampoo, like Moroccanoil Dry Shampoo for light or dark tones or Tigi Rockaholic. You can also utilize different styles when the hair starts to get a little greasy looking/feeling, like up-dos or braids. You'll also want to make sure you always use a conditioner every time you shampoo to restore the hairs moisture. You could even try "shampooing" with a conditioning cleanser like clenditioner to avoid stripping any more moisture from the hair.

7.) Load Up On Treatments

    My most trusted and favorite treatment for any hair is Olaplex. This restores the bonds in the hair that have been broken(which is the cause of damaged hair), resulting in noticeably healthier and shinier hair after a single use. This particular treatment will have to be done in salon, but there is a take home part that can be done once or even twice a week to restore damaged and over-processed hair. I would suggest if you do have a lot of damage to do this treatment twice a week at home to help your hair recover quicker.

    Other treatments you'll need to use are deep conditioners, moisture treatments, and protein, all of which your hair will be in major need of after any lightening service. The reason being that Olaplex is a restorative treatment, but you will still need these other important ingredients for your best hair. Olaplex works like a primer to get your hair ready to receive the most benefit from your other treatments while simultaneously helping to restore your hair.

    Here is a list of some of the conditioning and protein treatments I like:

• Moroccanoil Intense Hydrating Mask
• It's a 10 Miracle Hair Mask Deep Conditioner
• DevaCurl Heaven In Hair Deep Conditioning Mask
• Redken Extreme Anti-Snap
• Joico K-PAK Deep-Penetrating Reconstructor

8.) Use Professional Grade Products

    You'll want to make sure the products you're putting in your hair have the best possible ingredients, especially considering blonde hair is extra porous and requires extra care. Professional products are typically made with higher grade ingredients and without water insoluble buildup causing ingredients like waxes and plastics, which could spell disaster for fragile blondes. These ingredients block out moisture and protein, which blonde hair needs desperately. To avoid that it's best to use pro grade products to ensure your color doesn't fade and your hair is receiving the best moisture and protein possible that can actually penetrate into the hair rather than lay on top. 

9.) Wet Brush

    Use a wet brush, but never brush your hair wet! Wet brushes are a wonderful tool to care for your hair. They have extra flexible bristles that allow you to gently work at tangles to avoid tearing, breakage and hair fall out. Disregard the name, however, because if you have lightened hair you should absolutely never brush it while it's wet. Lightened hair is already fragile, and even more so when it is wet, and brushing then almost certainly guarantees further damage. Lightening the hair can cause it to lose some of its elasticity, which means if you brush while wet you risk snapping a lot of hair off, which you will see in the brush or on the floor. The best way to avoid this is to use strengthening and moisturizing products and either wait until your hair has air dried or gently blow dry it until it is 80% dry, then you can go in with a brush. 

10.) Apply Oil To Your Ends

    Applying a good oil to your ends after styling and after all your other products will help to seal in moisture. It can be applied before shampooing as well to protect the ends from being stripped of too much moisture. Some oils even contain heat protectant and UV protectant, which can cause discoloration and damage, so these would be a great tool for lightened hair. My favorites are the Olaplex No7 Bonding Oil and the Moroccanoil Treatment Light.

11.) Gently Blow-dry

    Gently blow-dry your hair using low heat and low flow to avoid roughing up the cuticle more. It may be better to gently dry the hair without a brush directing the airflow downward on the hair until it is about 80% dry, and at that point you can go in with a brush to style if you would like, rather than to let it air dry. Allowing the hair to stay wet for so long leaves it in a swollen, fragile state, making it more prone to further damage. Always make sure to apply a heat protectant before starting any blow drying or styling. 

12.) Use Products That Speed Up Dry Time

    Some products are made to be used on damp hair before blow drying, and these are great because typically they contain a thermal protectant as well as help to speed up your drying time. This is helpful because it means your hair is wet for less time and you don't have to use heat on it for as long, win-win! My favorite product for this is Redken Pillow Proof Blow Dry Express Primer Spray, which also contains heat protection.

13.) Avoid Heat

    Using a heat protectant can help mitigate heat damage, but the only fool-proof way to ensure you don't damage your hair from heat is to avoid using it. This means cooler showers, no blow driers, no flat irons, and no curling irons. Personally, I think it's probably better to use a good heat protectant and gently dry your hair, especially at night before you lay down on wet hair, than to allow it to air dry and be wet for a long time, especially if you're going to try to do a wet style on already fragile blonde hair. I think it's best to find a balance. If you shower in the a.m. and can let your hair air dry without touching it too much, that's great. If you shower at night I would suggest gently drying it with heat protectant before laying on it to avoid tangling and stretching. If you are going to try wet styling, it may be best to do this on slightly damp hair(80% dry) to avoid it taking a long time to dry and so the hair isn't in its most fragile state. 

14.) Heat Protection

    If you're like me and you can't avoid heat altogether, just make sure you use a good thermal protector. I seriously can't stress this enough. These won't 100% stop the damage, but they reduce it by creating a barrier between your hair and the heat. Heat fades color, breaks down the proteins in the hair, raises the cuticle, and saps the moisture from our hair. It's crucial that any time you apply heat to hair you protect it.

    My favorite heat protectants are:

• Moroccanoil Perfect Defense
• Olaplex No7 Bonding Oil
• Paul Mitchell Hot Off The Press

15.) Lower Heat Settings

    Since we're talking about hot tools, another good way to protect your hair from heat damage is to turn down your heat setting as low as you can to still get the results you want. Start on the lowest setting and see how that works for you. If it doesn't seem to work, slowly work your way up until you find one that does. You should almost never have to use the highest setting, and you most certainly don't want to do that and risk further damaging or compromising your hair and color. Exposing your hair to extreme heat even once can result in lasting damage that needs to be cut off to be gotten rid of.

16,) Microfiber Towel

    When your hair is wet and you need to dry it the best thing to use is a microfiber towel or a t-shirt towel rather than a cotton towel. The reason for this is that the fibers of a cotton towel can rough up the cuticle of your hair and result in tangles, dryness and damage over time. Microfibers are much softer and gentler on our hair, which is especially necessary for fragile blondes. Another option is a t-shirt, which is also a lot gentler on the hair. I like to gently squeeze out excess moisture after a shower, then flip my head over and gently wrap it in a microfiber towel for a few minutes, then apply my products to damp hair. 

17.) Silk Pillowcase

    I suggest every person, but especially blondes, use a silk or satin pillowcase. The fibers are so smooth that your skin and hair just glides over it, which reduces tangles, frizz, and breakage, resulting in smoother, shinier and healthier hair. It also keeps the natural oils of your hair intact, reducing dryness. I have personally used this one for years and it makes a huge difference. If a pillowcase isn't your thing you could always try a bonnet or scarf as well. 

18.) Shower Filter

    A shower filter can be a hair changing tool, especially  if you live somewhere with hard water. Hard water has a high mineral content that when mixed with shampoo creates a salty film on the hair. This is buildup that dries our skin and hair out and can cause reactions to color. Using a shower filter can get rid of some of those minerals and therefore the buildup on our hair. Blondes especially will benefit from this because blonde hair is extra porous, so it sucks up whatever you put on it, good or bad. This means blonde hair is more prone to buildup, which can also cause color to fade and discoloration(brassy tones).  I would suggest using the Sprite Shower Filter to prevent this.

    So, this is my extensive list of tips to care for lightened hair. I've learned this knowledge from years of lightening clients hair as well as having my hair super blonde for years. I've personally tried most if not all of the things I've mentioned on this list, as have most of my blonde or color treated clients, and have seen an improvement in the health of the hair. I trust all of these products and know they do what they say they will. If you follow the info here, you will definitely have your healthiest hair yet. Let me know in the comments if you've learned anything or if you have any questions or if you have any other tips to add for us! Thank you so much for reading!