10 Things To Know Before Bleaching Your Hair

Every woman has had an existential crisis at least once in her life after asking herself the question, “Do blondes have more fun?”

That question has led to some terrible hair decisions, like demanding to go from chocolate brown to platinum blonde in one sitting or attempting to give yourself a balayage look at home over the sink.

Before you do any of that, read this article and make an informed decision on how best to become Goldilocks. It could be more complicated than you thought, but we’ll walk you through it!

Blonde Wasn’t Dyed In A Day

This is mainly for those ladies with deeper colored hair. It is impossible to go from your deep brown natural hair to blonde in one sitting unless you want your hair to fall out shortly after.

The best thing to do is either lighten your color little by little over a few months or go for a balayage style, which gives you golden blonde ends and keeps your roots their natural shade.

Extra TLC

After you’ve bleached your hair, whether it be balayage or a completely new head of blonde hair, your hair will need some more TLC than usual. Hair strands tend to be weaker and drier after being bleached.

Ask your hairstylist about which hair treatments and masks would be best for you to do in the salon and which ones you can do at home. Taking care of your hair like this after you’ve bleached will ensure it stays as healthy as possible.

Volume

On a happier note, bleaching your hair can add more volume to it as bleaching swells the hair strands, making the individual strands of hair thicker. The same applies to getting highlights.

If you have thin hair bleaching, it might be something that could help add volume to your hair, as long as it is done correctly and the aftercare is maintained. Otherwise, you could have even thinner hair when it starts to break off.

Price

To go blonde safely and adequately, it needs to be done over quite a long time. That means multiple trips to the salon and multiple treatments at the salon, not including the hair’s actual dyeing.

Going blonde can become quite pricey because of this, so it’s best to save some money each month to put towards your hair transformation journey as every trip to the salon is as important as the next one when going blonde.

Skin Tone

It’s best to discuss with your hairstylist which shade of blonde would be best on you. While there are a million shades of blonde, there are also a million skin tones, and you need to find the shade of blonde that will match your skin tone.

Your hairstylist should be able to tell you which shades would suit you. It’s also a good idea to show your hairstylist a picture of what you have in mind because what’s blonde to you might be white to your hairstylist.

Beauty Must Suffer

Bleaching the hair can be a painful process. Bleach is a chemical that can burn the scalp. Depending on how dark your hair is, you might have to leave the bleach on for an extended time.

The pain caused by bleaching can become unbearable, so you should bleach your hair on a day when your body is less sensitive. It’s not a good idea, for example, to go on the first day of your cycle because your body is usually more sensitive then.

Less Washing

Another bonus of bleaching your hair is that you won’t have to schedule as many wash days. It’s not all doom and gloom after bleaching your hair, after all.

While you will have to spend more time caring for your hair with treatments and masks, the process of bleaching your hair tends to dry out the scalp, making it less oily. When your hair isn’t as oily, you don’t need to wash it as often.

Cold Washes

You won’t be washing your hair as often as usual after you get it bleached, but it’s essential to be careful when you do.

You shouldn’t use hot water to wash your hair after you’ve bleached it. Bleach can burn the scalp, and using hot water to wash your hair can aggravate that burn and cause severe discomfort. It’s best to wash your hair with cold water for a week or two after it’s been bleached.

Makeup

You’ll need to consider if you’ve never bleached your hair before because you’ve been doing your makeup with one hair color all your life, and now you will be changing that.

Your makeup has as much to do with your hair color as it does with your skin tone. Your eyebrows, for example, will need to become lighter. You may also opt for lighter lip shades. The best way to know how to handle the makeup transition is to go to your department store’s makeup counter and have a consultation.

Turning back

If you bleach your hair to go platinum blonde and then find out that you hate the way it looks on you, you might want to go back to your natural hair color.

Remember that you can’t go blonde in a day, but you can’t go back in a day either. You will need to gradually dye your hair darker shades until you get back to your natural shade. It is possible to grow your hair out simply, but the color line will be harsh if your natural color is very dark.