How do bleach touch ups work?

[Strawonaberry]

Just curious, I've always wondered how people touch up their roots (or have them touched up) without leaving a whiter spot in between old and new bleach. I've just seen somewhere that "you should be careful with overlapping", but I'm pretty sure it's impossible to get it perfect ¿? And if it does overlap, for people who bleach to white, wouldn't their hair just break after that?

[Jo Ann]

The roots are bleached to match (or come pretty darn close to it) the existing bleached hair. If hair is toned (meaning another color is put on previously dyed hair, eg light blonde), then the roots are bleached to a lightness level to accept the toner and get the desired color outcome.

It's never a good idea to bleach hair to "white" because it breaks down the protein bonds of the hair, thus causing massive weak spots and breakage. This is also why one doesn't want to "overlap" when bleaching roots.

[MidnightMoon]

I honestly don't know either. Back when I dyed my hair copper/red it helped that besides bleaching it would deposit some colour and it helped blending in, but with just pure bleach... I don't know. I see people even doing their own hair on Yt with a mirror and I don't think I could avoid it even if done on someone else .-.

[Bryndhildr]

This all depends a lot on what is being achieved. Some people just use bleach on their roots then tone to what they want. There are also pigmented lighteners which bleach and tone in one step. Depending on the amount of root regrowth, try using an unused toothbrush (or one just for bleaching) for this. It's hard to get it exact each time but once you have been doing it for awhile and have a routine set up (using same products, same method of application, timing, etc), I find it's easier.

If one really wants to be careful, invest in something to lay the sectioned/dyed hair on so it doesn't touch the rest. This could be foil, non-metal clips and there are some sheets out there but I don't know what they are called..

Would never recommend to bleach white in one process or to overlap it that old bleached hair becomes white. As Jo Ann said, this causes a lot of damage to the structure of the hair.

[nycelle]

When I was coloring and highlighting - we would color my roots every two months, then do highlights every four.

The bleach was never allowed to sit on my hair for too long, then wash, and tone. It was done with foils.

As far as whiter spots go, even if there were, it was all blended in so it wasn't something you see.

It's impossible really not to overlap some pieces of hair, and I don't know how much damage it really did. Unfortunately, when highlighting blonde, eventually you become a blonde so then you need lowlights and darker color is deposited back in.
Just typing that all out reminded me how much work it was to keep it all looking nice. So glad I stopped.

[Ylva]

Would never recommend to bleach white in one process or to overlap it that old bleached hair becomes white.

I suppose this also depends on the hair and its natural colour, to some degree, but I get that white hair is never going to be as strong. I am medium/dark blonde and go to near-white in one sitting (20 vol with Olaplex). I prefer that over two sessions and find it way less damaging. My roots actually feel very healthy and strong, pretty much like they did before bleaching.

[spidermom]

I've watched my daughter get root touch-ups, and her stylist is my stylist. She's very good, but honestly, she doesn't even try to avoid overlapping. She just sections out the hair and brushes the bleach on there. I think it would be extremely tedious and take a lot of time to avoid overlapping.

[Rhoward]

Full bleach root touch ups are a pain in the butt!

The easiest way I found to minimise overlapping is cotton wool placed in-between each section as you go, it helps keep the sections separated from each other and stops the bleach getting where you don't want it to. Also bleach 'swells' so to avoid overlapping you also have to allow for 'swell room' in your application process. And work really quickly so the end result is even. Of course now there is olaplaex but even with it, I'd still use the above technique.

Its one thing about hair dressing I don't miss at all!

[MidnightMoon]

It definitely sounds like *way* too much work. Glad I'm not a fan of the dyed blonde look, though grey or completely white looks cool. When I dyed (bleached) I applied it wherever I saw or thought I saw my dark hair coming through lol... can't imagine putting cotton or using foils, or separating hair with those pointy plastic sticks strand by strand, section by section..

[Strawonaberry]

Thank you all for your answers. So it's definetly the hassle that it seems, and at the same time I've also witnessed the mystery of someone having it done apparently carelessly without their hair breaking off later, nor a white band appearing between bleaches. Maybe the dye hides it afterwards?

Edit: I googled a bit about it and there actually are people whose hair broke off from the overlapping. But the biggest mystery to me is that logically, no matter how rigorous you are, it's impossible for the previous and new bleach applications to fit perfectly... But maybe as long as the overlapping is small, like a mm or 2, it's ok?

I'd wondered a lot about this before, but I actually got to ask because of the pink streak I have now in my nape. It's not visibly damaged at all from the bleach, and I can't tell it apart by touch either, but I was wondering if it would be worth it to keep touching up the roots, and risk damaging the line inbetween, or just let it grow and enjoy my tiny piece of pink. (About the color it's not a concern because they sell it separately, I mean to keep or not to keep bleaching).

[MidnightMoon]

It's just a streak, I don't see why not. Also, even without avoiding overlapping each time you'd only damage a section twice, not the same "line" over and over. I think most hair can resist that. I'd definitely do it. I mean, if I could I'd even do it with two pieces in the front and make them white or blue or maybe even switch colours every now and then. It's not the majority of your hair or anything.

[Longlegs]

I agree that a overlapping once is'nt a big deal, unless your hair is very fragile. I always overlap - It's really hard not to because bleach expands as it works.

[Bryndhildr]

I suppose this also depends on the hair and its natural colour, to some degree, but I get that white hair is never going to be as strong. I am medium/dark blonde and go to near-white in one sitting (20 vol with Olaplex). I prefer that over two sessions and find it way less damaging. My roots actually feel very healthy and strong, pretty much like they did before bleaching.

Absolutely! Whenever I think of bleach, I always think about people going from black hair to blonde but that's not always the case. Those with lighter hair can probably get away with overlapping but it's always great to avoid it. Not a worry with Olaplex though :D