Hiya! I've had bleached hair for a few months now and thought I'd share a few tips on keeping it good condition. I've dyed my hair loads of different colours over the years but blond is always the most difficult to keep healthy. It's also the most expensive so make sure you've got plenty of pennies in the bank before you do the switch to bleach blonde. I'd recommend going to a professional hairdresser to get this done rather than doing it yourself with a home bleaching kit - it's just not worth the risk people! If you can't afford a salon check out your local hair schools to see if you can get it done cheaper.
Things you should know...
♥ You'll need to visit the hairdressers every 6-8 weeks to have your roots done. If you leave it too long your hair can become stripey. The bleach that's closer to your scalp always develops quickest so you might end up with different tones in your hair if you leave it to long. Some people like the roots look and leave it for as long as they can before having it coloured though, it's really up to you - just be aware you might get a scolding from your hairdresser!
♥ When the bleach is on it feels like a troupe of red ants are marching over your head! I always try not to wash my hair for the week before my hair appointment (the natural oils in your hair protect your scalp from the bleach and you won't find it so tingly and itchy). My hairdresser always uses cold water to wash out the bleach to soothe my scalp after each application.
♥ Purple shampoo and conditioner is your friend! A purple shampoo and conditioner is the best way to avoid orange hair. Usually the brassy tones start to appear as the toner begins to fade. My hairdresser puts toner on my hair after each bleaching to even out the colour on my hair from root to tip.
I bought my purple shampoo from Boots. It's
Lee Stafford Bleach Blondes Shampoo, which claims to 'knock out brassy, canary yellow tones'. It's quite expensive at £5.49 but it lasts for ages. This isn't something you should use every time you wash your hair but should be used maybe once or twice a week (depending on how your hair looks). Be careful you don't use it too much as it can turn your hair a purple shade or dull the colour. I also use purple conditioner by Rusk called Bright Condition with Chamomile and Lavender. I'd definitely recommend it to you too. I picked mine up in Sallys but you can find it
online too.
♥ You don't need to wash your hair as often. Bleaching really dries out your hair so it won't get greasy like it would naturally. It's better to leave it for as long as possible because it helps the hair build up natural oils again. If you continue to wash your hair every day it'll get super dry.
♥ Bleaching can make your hair snap off. It's really dries out your hair and damages it. This is why hair dressers often recommend you have your hair cut shorter. In my hairdresser they flat out refuse to bleach long hair because it's so damaging. Personally I prefer the short blond look so I was quite happy to go for the chop. Also, if you're trying to grow your hair long, bleaching is not for you!
♥ It's recommended that you don't use styling products. Hair straighteners and dryers can further damage your hair so you should try to avoid using these. I still dry my hair with a hair dryer but try to avoid using hair straighteners.
♥ Protect your hair - the best way to do this is to purchase a leave in conditioner. I've been using Redken's
Smooth Down Heat Glide protective smoother to help my hair cope with the heat of the hair dryer. It's also a great idea to purchase a hair conditioning mask. Currently I'm using TRESemme's
Thermal Recovery Repair Tub because I won it in a giveaway. Usually I put it on my hair for a good half an hour with a towel wrapped round my head about once a week.
Finally, I wanted to let you all know about this product I found when I was going back to blond from brunette. It's called
Colour B4. It's basically a colour remover and works really well if your hair is dyed dark but you want to go lighter. I found that it took my dark brown hair up a few shades so that when I had highlights done they took much better and didn't go orange. It saved me sooo much money in the long run. It's also great if you dyed your hair but it went too dark and you want it to go lighter again. I recommended this to Christina over at
A Sense Sublime and she used it to take some of the red out of her hair (she's going back to blond).
Anyway, that's it really - hope this was useful! Remember I'm not a professional, these are just the things I do to help keep my bleached hair in okay condition!
