Use less heat styling, and always apply a heat protectant to stop damage and fading. Nourishing treatments like hair masks and oils are important to add moisture back in. Visiting the salon regularly for toning and trims is key to keeping color vibrant and stopping breakage.
Switch to color-safe shampoos and conditioners, avoiding sulfates and hot water, both of which strip color and dry out hair. After coloring, use a cold water rinse or a sealing product to close the cuticle, locking in color and reducing fading. With regular care, your bleached hair will retain color more effectively.
Bleached hair is extremely porous and your colouring is unable to fully saturate through diffusion and there aren't enough protein for the colour pigment anchor on. You'll need to do a protein treatment to fill in the void, and a pre/post colour protection treatment.
Water exposure, sun exposure, hard water and pollution all contribute to color fading. And sulfate shampoo, besides being terrible for planet, will fade color too as will warm and especially hot water. All of these factors contribute to fading no matter what the color formula may be. And it also depends on the shade.
White hair aftercare
The toner in your hair, however, fades slightly after each wash. This means you have to top it up every time you wash your hair otherwise the yellow pigments will start to peek through. The easiest way to replenish toner is to use a purple shampoo, which you can use instead of your regular shampoo.
Avoid Heat styling.
Straightener and heat tongues are not good friends of bleached hair.
Our favorite color-depositing conditioner is the dpHue Gloss+ thanks to its wide range of shades, easy application, and ability to soften and hydrate hair. For a clear gloss that adds shine to any hair color, we recommend the Pureology Color Fanatic Top Coat + Sheer.
The vinegar actually helps the hair dye to remain bonded to the hair, according to my awesome stylist Viviane of Marina Beach Hair.
Re-Dye the Hair a Darker Colour
Now, we understand you might be a bit nervous to put more dye on your hair after your bleaching disaster. However, dyeing your hair a darker colour is the fastest way to resolve badly bleached hair.
Hair stylists often tone bleached or blonde hair to neutralize brassy yellow and orange tones on bleached hair with a purple color. Purple shampoo is a great at-home solution for toning hair and preventing brassiness.
Permanent: This dye often contains ammonia (to open hair's cuticle) mixed with a developer (hydrogen peroxide) to lift and deposit pigment, changing the hair's color until it grows out. This dye lasts the longest and is best for covering grays.
If you're using semi-permanent or demi-permanent hair color, you'll need a developer with a lower volume, between 3 and 20 Vol. If you're using a permanent hair color, you'll need a developer with a higher volume. This is usually between 20 and 30 Vol.
Kusero adds, “color-depositing conditioners can be more effective than shampoos in delivering vibrant, longer-lasting color because they have a longer contact time with the hair and are formulated with conditioning agents that help lock in the pigment.”
Chlorine and Hard-Water Minerals
Hard water minerals, such as iron and magnesium, can also cause hair to look dull or discolored. This is because minerals can build-up on the hair and react with hair color, causing it to fade or change. The key is not to leave these minerals and chemicals on your hair.
Toning shampoo is only meant to be used when your hair looks brassy or has unwanted tones, not for daily use. Using toning shampoo daily can really dry out your strands so depending on how often you wash your hair, you may only want to use a toning shampoo once a week or once every other week.
So not only are they safe to use on all hair types (straight, curly, wavy, thin, even damaged), but all the experts we spoke with agree they're actually recommended for folks struggling with heat damage and flyaways (since again, the main selling point of a gloss is boosting shine).
Use a purple or blue shampoo
Pick your toning shampoo based on the original colour of your hair before you applied the bleach. Blue and purple shampoos neutralise unwanted brassy tones to reveal a cooler blonde or light brown shade.