Living With Lighteners

[HairPlease]

I searched and couldn't find a bleach support thread or anything of the matter, so feel free to re-direct me.
I would like to bring together those of us who lighten our hair, to share support and advice for growing out and managing inevitably weaker hair.

Today, I bleached my roots for the second time this month, which is very unusual for me. I got a yellow tint from the roots down that appeared out of nowhere, for no apparent reason, with no trigger.
My hair doesn't feel terribly weakened from it, since I only put it on the first 5" of hair, but I still have to deep condition.

I haven't been experiencing breakage for the past year or so, which is partly attributed to the fact that I only use my fingers to comb my hair, I rarely touch it, and never leave it out in wind. I have to take so much extra care of it, but to me, it's worth it.

Personally, I don't bleach to look "good", I just feel more connected to myself with white-blonde hair. Both my SO and I do the same whitening "ritual", lol. :p

I'm going to experiment with Nightblooming's white hair mix, for herbal conditioning and extra shine that bleach robs. Also I'm trying to get more gray and less yellow into my color using purple conditioners. I also use a purple protein filler after and during my bleachings.


So, what are you people doing with your lightened hair? And darn if there's already a thread, take me there, please. :)

[meteor]

There are a couple threads that might be of help :) :

- Bottle Blonde Grows Long: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=21256
- Are you Blonde? Share your tips and tricks (natural and bottle welcome!): http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=6310
- Does Anyone Here Have Long Bleach Blonde Hair? http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=120786



Here are my tips:

- Always use a heavy coconut oil soak pre-bleach (without washing it out) and bleach on very oily, sebum-y hair (sebum is protective). Supposedly, coconut oil (and argan oil to a lesser extent) helps chelate iron and copper (http://ktanihairsense.blogspot.ca/2009/11/part-1-of-3-part-series-on-innovative.html) (and limit some H2O2-induced damage), though I'd love to see scientific research and more details on how exactly it works. More on this (with reports and discussion) here: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=10495

- Look into a product that are supposed to reduce damage during chemical treatments, like Olaplex. More on this here: http://www.labmuffin.com/2015/04/how-does-olaplex-hair-treatment-work/ and http://www.hairdyeforum.com/index.php?topic=15676.0

- Bleach is very rough on hair, so you need to do almost everything else right if you want to bleach hair while growing it long. Avoid additional "hair sins" if you bleach.

- Never pull colour through (refresh the length) when you do your roots, and bleach only to the level you need - resist the temptation to bleach out brassiness, but use toners instead. Toners are drying but not as damaging as bleach.

- Use purple/silver shampoos/conditioners/masks or even food colorants added to conditioner/mask if you need to tone down brassiness.

- You'll need way more hydrolyzed proteins, oils, ceramides, 18-MEA, panthenol, silicones after the bleach, because the hair becomes porous and you'll need to patch-repair with your conditioners and leave-ins. If you are experiencing serious breakage, go for heavy protein treatments, like DIY gelatin treatments, Joico K-Pak Reconstructor and Aphogee 2 Step - always followed with a strong moisturizing treatment (e.g. SMT + oils).

[HairPlease]

Meteor, thank you greatly for your response! Very helpful.
I will begin with the coconut oil on my next bleaching, hopefully it really does work. It sounds like it will.
Once again, thank you for the tips and links! :) I really dig those purple conditioners and shampoos, my favorite being shimmer lights, because it has a very deep purple and sticks like glue with the color but leaves no waxy buildup and it doesn't rank like nuts like some of the purples I've tried. I highly recommend it.


Interesting you too say that silicones are essentially a necessity for bleached hair. My hair can't live without them.

[meteor]

^ Oh yes, definitely try bleaching over coconut oil. :agree: The key is to apply oil very heavily and, preferably, leave it on overnight (adding more in the morning, as some will rub off) or at least a couple hours prior.
Thanks a lot for the purple S&C recommendation :) - it's so hard to find the ones that aren't too drying and are actually really effective.

And yes, silicones are very useful for chemically treated hair - they not only add shine but, more importantly, coat hair in a protective layer and add slip -> which ultimately reduces tangling and mechanical damage. They are a bit like oils in that way.

Of course, pre-poo oiling with penetrating oils and LOC (liquid leave-in + oil + cream) are excellent for damaged/porous hair, as well:
http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2014/03/oil-pre-shampoo-or-pre-wash.html

[HairPlease]

Excellent, I will indeed do that. :)
And yeah, no problem. I searched for about a year until that stuff just popped up at Sally's. I've been using it for months and it's simply marvelous. One N Only's Shiny Silver is OK as well but the conditioner is extremely light and doesn't do much for moisture. It's probably better for natural silvers.

That's so cool that cones have their scientific place in hair at times. The slip they add is really luxurious to my hair, albeit difficult to braid with at times, but it definitely makes detangling an actual possibility. Without them, even if I try to finger comb, well, *snap rip*.

Thanks for the link on pre-poo oiling, that's definitely something for me to look into!

[wilderwein]

Aaaand just for inspiration for you here is a bleached blonde with long hair ^^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t4O_EKYwBA

Thats the perfect hair for me, but I would like my natural hair color too, AND I can't imagine doing your roots at that lenght.

[HairPlease]

Nice!!
I guess anything is possible with patience. Doing roots is gong to be a pain. I usually do the many-little-braids/ponies method... at that length I guess you'd need a helping hand to keep them up and or separated.
I wish I could invent a root-dye machine that I can clip all the pony ends to and it spreads them out in all different directions for root access. It's look like one of those oft-depicted automatic hair cutting machines from the past century, you know. But less scary. I might get to work on something like that, seriously.

[wilderwein]

Nice!!
I guess anything is possible with patience. Doing roots is gong to be a pain. I usually do the many-little-braids/ponies method... at that length I guess you'd need a helping hand to keep them up and or separated.
I wish I could invent a root-dye machine that I can clip all the pony ends to and it spreads them out in all different directions for root access. It's look like one of those oft-depicted automatic hair cutting machines from the past century, you know. But less scary. I might get to work on something like that, seriously.

Oh if you're gonna do that I may actually start bleaching again hahahaha
The main reason I gave up bleach was becouse of the roots! After 3-4 weeks they needed to be done, and even tho I dye 3 heads in my family no one of them was willing to help -_- The fun thing is that I start taking better care of my hair when I start bleaching it. I got paranoid so I was babying it a lot. And it was in a better condition than before.
Also I didn't went to do it at a salon. They suggested 30 vol mixed with 40 volume to get that white look I wanted, but at home I managed to do it with 20 volume mixed with a little bit of 30vol.