Microscopic comparison of bleached and unbleached hair

[Aliped]

This is really interesting!

The images below show the difference between natural (left) and heavily bleached hair (right). On the untreated hair you can see layers (cuticles) separated by steps like overlapping roof tiles. Bleaching erases these steps, damaging the hair and leaving behind a rough surface. Photograph: National Physics Laboratory found in a Guardian newspaper article http://www.theguardian.com/science/gallery/2013/sep/06/nanotechnology-world-pictures#/?picture=416023246&index=2



http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr243/aliped99/bleached.png (http://s488.photobucket.com/user/aliped99/media/bleached.png.html)

[Marbid]

oh god! Thank god I have never bleached my hair. But long long ago, I used to dye it black. I wonder if it causes the same deformities as bleaching. brrrrrr..... How horrible.

[Nope]

I'm SO glad all of my bleached hair is gone. :P

[Leeloo]

That is interesting to see the difference. Thanks for posting.

[Aliped]

It's just a shame we can't see similar images of hair bleached with coconut oil as a pre-treatment.

[Allychan]

Wow that's awesome. I found an image once of the seasalt on a hair shaft and it looked like it was covered in small barbs, no wonder beach hair has so much volume. Will have to try and find it

[icallitbliss]

Yikes. Thank god I'm growing all that bleach out.

[10000days]

Very interesting- thanks!

[Zindell]

Very interesting picture! Thank you. :)

Years ago I used to bleach highlights, but my hair is all virgin now and when I look at the pic above it only strengthens my resolve.

[Majormiles]

Wow. Thanks for that! Really interesting

[CurlMonster]

It's really interesting to see the difference on such a small scale. :) Thanks for the link!

[martyna_22]

Wow! That is some damage... I'd never do it to my hair ;)

[jacqueline101]

That's interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[Firefox7275]

Great images, thanks!

[chen bao jun]

Would be curious to see one of relaxed or permed hair compared to untreated.
I relaxed my hair for about 20 years and I'm sure the damage was similar.

[Lady Mary]

Holy damaging... Thanks for sharing!

[Paraply]

This is very interesting. Thanks for sharing! I'll enjoy my hair's natural blonde shade :)

[In2wishin]

oh god! Thank god I have never bleached my hair. But long long ago, I used to dye it black. I wonder if it causes the same deformities as bleaching. brrrrrr..... How horrible.

Was it a "color lift" dye? Color lift is a fancy name for bleaching and most dyes lift your original color, then deposit the new color. What you should look for are "deposit only" dyes.

[Crumpet]

Thanks! I only got highlights a handful of times spread out over a few years...I had already decided to go natural, but this cinches it!

[fairview]

For that amount of damage you don't need to have a microscope to see it. When it is that over processed you can see it with your eye. We all know hair is dead before it even emerges from the follicle but hair that has been so damaged acts dead. It has no movement. It just hangs there flat. It has no volume. When it is wet it feels nasty. Like overcooked refrigerated thin spaghetti. You don't want to put your hands in it, at least I don't.

Lightening the hair damages it. Time and exposure to the environment damages hair. What would also be interesting to know and would provide a balanced perspective to this comparison is how many levels was the bleached hair lifted or how many times was it bleached to obtain the white blonde look because for the cuticle to be stripped as shown all the melanin has been lifted off. Not only has the cuticle been removed but also the structure that holds the melanin itself has been destroyed. What your seeing in the bleached hair is the cortex.

A more meaningful and reasonable picture would be a comparison of hair at different levels that had been lifted by a responsible, ethical and licensed stylist to a normal highlight. Not a level 1 or 3 that has been lifted by some lab rat to beyond a platinum blonde.

[PamelaViktoria]

Thanks so much for this! This gives me even more reason to grow out my bleach!

[clioariane]

I'm SO glad all of my bleached hair is gone. :P
Same here!

[Emanuelle]

This is so interesting! Thanks for posting!! :D

[thankyousir74]

That explains how uncooperative the bottom half of my length is :/

[Neecola]

How interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[Misschilly]

Science is great! Very interesting to see, wounder if you can google up "hair damage picture"..

[HylianGirl]

Cool, thanks for sharing!

[Maktub]

Thanks for sharing !

[dreamingstar]

Yikes. I'm so happy I've never bleached - and now I certainly won't! Thanks for the link.