And because it opens the hair cuticle, bleach can cause brassiness, dullness, breakage, thinning, and sap the hair of moisture. But not to worry — healthy bleached hair is possible with a little advice from the professionals.
If you've bleached your hair once or just a few times, no biggie. But repeated bleaching increases your hair's ability to absorb — but not retain — moisture (which, in science speak, is known as “porosity”), leading to damaged, dry hair that may feel porous and brittle.
Keep up With the Conditioning
"This helps to rebuild strength." (And shine, too). The bottom line is that bleach leaves strands very dry, so don't skimp on a color-saving conditioner in the shower. The addition of a leave-in treatment on damp hair once a week will also help quench thirsty locks.
Bleach damage is as cumulative as it is permanent, and your ends will be less equipped to survive it every time.
You have probably heard that bleaching and highlighting your hair can damage it. This is true, bleaching agents are hard on your strands. They can make your hair dry, brittle, frizzy-looking and prone to breakage.
Hair bleaching is a chemical process that alters the natural color of your hair. It strips your hair of its melanin, which is the pigment that gives your hair its color. Bleaching permanently alters your hair color and it cannot be reversed.
Does damaged hair grow back healthy? The only way to get healthy hair is to allow your hair to grow without further damage. If you'd damaged your hair by over-styling, too much heat or over coloring with harsh chemicals, the good news is - your hair will grow back healthy.
Fact: Covering bleach blonde hair with a darker shade does not heal the hair. “If your hair is damaged…it's damaged,” colorist Ethan King (slickback_buttahtoast) shared in his post. “The results may look healthier and have shine, but the shine will wear off and the color will fade.
Everything depends on where exactly your hair is damaged. “If you have split ends, you're better off getting them trimmed immediately as the hair fibers have become separated and will never return to their normal self.
Take an inch-wide section of hair between two fingers and gently pull them down the hair, right to the ends. Concentrate on the texture: does it feel smooth all the way down? If you feel an uneven surface, with kinks and sections that snap off under tension, these are damaged hair warning signs.
Depending on your hair, it could take up to two weeks before your strands feel ready to play again. If your bleach damage is more severe, you might need a month of care before your hair starts to feel smooth and shiny again.
Bleaching leads to loss of protein from the hair. Even the loss of minimal amounts can make hair strands look thinner. Hair thinning may be more noticeable with lighter hair. Bleaching also weakens the hair strands by breaking down fatty acids in the hair shaft, causing permanent damage.
For the most part, hair damage is permanent because hair is actually a collection of dead cells, making them beyond repair. The only real cure is time, a pair of shears, and taking steps to prevent new damage.
But many people ask if bleaching hair can cause permanent hair loss. Fortunately for those who love to have lighter locks, bleaching will not cause permanent hair loss but may cause long-term damage to the hair.
But if you have blonde hair, it could take even longer, because the only thing harder than growing out your hair is growing out your hair while bleaching it on the regular. It's counterintuitive — the color causes damage and breakage so you never reach your goal of healthy, longer hair.
You usually can't fully fix fried hair overnight. Depending on how damaged your hair is, your best bet may involve trimming away the damage and split ends and waiting for it to grow back. Still, you can help your hair's appearance by using moisturizing products and avoiding further damage.
Harsh shampoo, hair treatments, styling products, and excessive brushing contribute the most to poor hair health. However, other culprits include: overconsumption of alcohol. low-calorie and crash diets.
Unhealthy hair usually has a rough texture, lack of shininess and luster, have split ends, lack of moisture and elasticity even after treatment and easily broken. Damaged hair will also get tangled up and result in knots due to hair dryness.
What are the signs of healthy hair? Healthy hair strands have a sheen and a luster, little breakage, minimal shedding, are moisture rich (so not dry), reflect light, do not break when brushed, and do not contain dandruff.
If you've got damaged hair (thanks, hot tools!), genetic structural abnormalities (they typically cause hair to break off at a certain length) or certain hair types, your hair might also grow more slowly.
Both dry and damaged hair can appear frizzy and dull, and can feel brittle. You might notice stray hairs and split ends.
Using products that are designed to nourish the scalp and hair can definitely speed up this process, but on average you'd be looking at six months to a year to fully see a difference in your hair's condition.