Reducing bleach damage with oil?

[Bagginslover]

I know, I can't stop bleach damaging my hair, bleach = bad, but its the only way I'm ever going to get the colour I desperatly crave, so I'm caving!!

I want to bleach sections of hair underneath my canopy, then henna them to get a proper orange-ginger colour (I WILL be stand testing first!!).

I KNOW this will damage my hair, please no lectures on that. I have thought about this all summer (far more than the 2 weeks recommended ;) ) and decided this is the way to go for me. I won't be truely happy with my hair if I can't have the ginger I've wanted ever since I can remember.
I plan to leave my canopy unbleached, as my hair is pretty dark, and I get awful roots very quickly, leaving the canopy, and my hairline along will mean I don't need to bleach so often, and so mimimise damage. I forsee bleaching once every 6 months to touch up my roots, at most. I will only be bleaching sections too, not my whole head outside of the areas already mentioned, and I have sucessfully bleached at home many times before (lifting to proper blonde doesn't matter so much either, as I only need it light enough for the henna to show properly ;) so I won't be leaving it on as long as I would if I were wanting blonde.)

I read here some time ago that coconut oil applied prior to bleaching lessens the damamged caused, without stopping the colour lift, can anyone give me more details on this?

Do I apply it the wash out before bleaching, or do I apply the bleach right on top of the oil?
Will the oil mean I have to leave the bleach on longer, or does it still develop in the same time?
Is there anything I should do differently when mixing up my bleach? Add oil to the mix?

Any other pointers?

many thanks in advance :)

[Louise148]

I bleach my daughters hair as she like it bright blue. I always oil her hair first, leave it overnight and then bleach over the top of it (i don't wash the oil out first). I have on accasions added rice bran oil to the bleach mixture as well. Her hair is much better since we have been doing this and seems to weather the bleaching much better.

She also uses masses of heat protection serums. She doesn't wash her hair very often as the blue has a tendancy to fade but when she is going to wash it we oil it the day before and deep condition for about 3-4 hours after.

Hope this helps and good luck :)

Just to add...none of the above seem to change the behaviour of the bleach. The developement times and colour lift seem about the same.

[afu]

I have bleach highlights and using coconut oil has practically eliminated damage on the touched up parts since i started using it. I apply it at least an hour before bleaching and make sure each strand is coated, then bleach over it. I have the highlights done at the hairdressers and they have never commented on it affecting processing time

[Bagginslover]

Thats is wonderful news! Thank you both for taking the time to respond :D

I am really excited now to do my strand tests, my new henna arrived this week, so I just need to shop for the bleach. I henna already, but the red is just not vivid enough over my natural brown (my avatar is my un-hennaed hair, and is a good representation of the colour) to make me happy. I've wanted to have proper carrot coloured hair ever since I was old enough to express a preference, which from my own memory was 3 years old, but Mum says it was younger! Thats some wait!

[jojo]

I recently used a semi and did a coconut oil soak prior, as the semi contained peroxide and my hair felt wonderful after and no monster splits or breakage after either.