Did you know bleaching our hair triggers a chemical reaction?
I’m sure we’ve all used hair colour at some point, but in this blog, I’d like to focus on the damage that bleaching or highlighting hair can do.
It’s no secret that bleaching our hair causes it to break. I’m not implying that we shouldn’t go ahead and do it. In reality, bleaching can make our hair look bigger and fuller by plumping up the individual hair shafts. Bleaching or highlighting our hair can also assist to disguise the difference between our hair and any spots of the bare scalp if we have thinning hair. However, while long-term use isn’t recommended, with proper hair management, we can maintain healthy hair and keep it looking its best if we do decide to choose a lighter colour. If we haven’t bleached our hair before, a strand test is a good idea to check how our hair and scalp react.
Let’s take a look at why bleaching your hair causes it to become so brittle, frizzy, and prone to breaking, and what we can do to mitigate the effects in this article.
Obviously, the only way to go lighter is to use a bleaching solution, which is usually Hydrogen Peroxide and Ammonia. These substances are quite harsh on our hair strands, causing a chemical reaction that causes the pigment (melanin) to be stripped from the hair shaft through oxidation.
The process of bleaching our hair, makes our head feel hot! Some manufacturers say their products are peroxide-free, but we should be aware they will contain another type of oxidising agent that’s just as harmful. This is because the bleach lifts and opens the outer cuticle of the hair, allowing the bleaching agent to permeate the shaft. This causes rapid moisture loss in the hair strand as well as damage to the protein structure, leaving the hair porous. As a result, heat and any other chemicals we use on our hair are more likely to damage it.
The damage increases with each treatment, thus the more we highlight or bleach our hair, the more harm it causes. If we have numerous treatments in a row on our hair, we risk losing clumps of hair, so if we want to go even lighter, we must be aware of this. Remember that the more we process and bleach our hair, the less successful it is at holding colour, so we may be tempted to do it more frequently. So you can see why it’s critical to treat our hair with additional care and attention regularly.
Let’s have a look at a good hair routine to keep our hair looking and feeling healthy. I’m an advocate for using a good moisturising sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner, as well as a nourishing hair treatment a couple of times a week, because our hair will feel much dryer after colouring. Using an excellent conditioner will assist in flattening the hair cuticle and preventing further moisture loss. Intensive treatment on a regular basis will supply additional nutrients.
Many of my clients use Nosheen Hair Oil as an overnight treatment two to three times a week and say how their hair is incredibly lustrous and velvety soft. It seals in moisture, making hair more resistant to UV radiation, humidity, wind, pollution, and central heating and air conditioning.
I also recommend applying our oil three days before or after bleaching or highlighting as a pre-shampoo conditioning treatment. It’s all about prevention! Our carefully blended hail oil is ideal for caring for dry hair while also assisting in the repair and restructure of hair fibres.
When washing and drying our hair, we should try to be careful with it; rubbing it forcefully with a towel will only cause more damage, so use a microfibre hair turban and let it air dry if possible. Then apply a heat protection spray or serum to complete styling using a drier on a low setting. After bleaching, our hair is more susceptible to heat, so always use a protective lotion to keep moisture from evaporating when styling.
After bleaching our hair, we may notice that it’s more prone to tangling, so brush it from the ends rather than the roots and use a bamboo brush, which is gentler on our hair and less likely to produce tangles or breaking. Pulling our hair too hard, especially if it is bleached, might cause it to snap! Trimming your hair on a regular basis can also help you stay on top of any dry or split ends.
As I previously explained, bleaching our hair does not have to permanently damage it. If we are willing to put in the extra effort to keep maintaining it. It’s still possible to have beautiful, lustrous, and silky hair! One last thing, it really is best to have our hair bleached or highlighted by a professional on a regular basis. Yes, we can save money buying a home kit, but it’s so easy to make a mistake!
If you have any specific queries regarding treating bleached hair, feel free to drop me a line.
Nosheen xxx
Thank you so much for your beautiful message I did my hair highlights can you help me for treatment please