My Acne Products Are Bleaching My Hair. :(

[Aerith]

Hey all,

I've been using benzoyl peroxide cleansers and creams to apply to my skin to get rid of some acne. The good news is, it's working. The bad news is, I noticed that it's bleaching the hair around my face a lot. :(

I noticed it last year and since then whenever I wash my face with the medicated stuff, I put a headband on my hair to keep any hair away from my face and sometimes even a hair cap. Then I let the medication dry completely and then take the headband off. However, since it's summer and getting hotter, I'm sweating more. And I think the medication throughout the day is coming up from my pores and bleaching my hair. Even with a headband I think it would still do this!

I don't think the hair around my face grows very well. I've always had very short ends around the hairline that don't seem to grow so I'm worried that even if I find a solution to stop the bleaching, it will stay this color without growing out now. Does everybody have that same problem with hair around the hairline not growing? Anybody have any suggestions on what I could do about the bleaching with the acne wash?

Thanks for reading. :)

[Arctic_Mama]

I use BP acne products, prescription level, and haven't had any issues with bleaching. But I USED to, when I used a 2% BP cream as a leave-on. The trick for me these days is that my BP is a prescription wash called Neobenz and it is effective while not really staying on my skin (and thus not bleaching my hair). It hasn't showed as much of a bleaching effect on my bath towels either. It cuts down on my acne issues hugely while not drying my skin out or bleaching anything, so it is the best of all worlds.

I have no other advice for you. My leave on is a retinoid, not peroxide based (Differin), so I haven't had any issues with seepage and bleaching from that.

[Arctic_Mama]

Sorry, double post!

[UltraBella]

I used to use a similar product and I never noticed my hair lightening, but my pillowcase was bleached and the necklines of my pajamas looked crazy........

[joiekimochi]

I remember once I had a major zit near my eyebrows so I pulled back my hair and put a dollop of 10% BP cream on it. Little did I know, a strand of hair escaped and got stuck to the cream. The next day I noticed the section of that strand which was touching the cream had turned completely white. So yes, BP can bleach hair.

Try tea tree oil, I find it works better on me than BP!

[invisiblebabe]

Not on my hair, but my towels all have bleachy streaks on them!

[Loreley]

I use a similar cream. According to its label it can bleach hair but sometimes I put some accidentally on the hair on my forehead but nothing happened. And my eyebrows are still black, too. :D

[Dreams_in_Pink]

I also used it (and still do) on my face but never experienced any bleaching on my hair or clothes. The cream i'm using warns about bleaching though.

[Merewen]

I would not be worried about the hairs not growing out. I have lots of shorter wispy hairs around my face (I think it's fairly common), and they grow fine. They just have a shorter terminal length than the rest of my hair.

I have no advice for the initial bleaching, though. My problem was any and every fabric that contained blue. Blue would fade to white, purple would fade to pink.

[lemonmelon]

What colour is your hair? If it's already light, most likely no one will notice. We all have natural variations in our hair colours and mine is actually lighter in the hairline naturally.

If your hair is light, maybe you could get some high lights through-out the top of your hair to blend in the bleached part? It might be a little damaging, but if you just got a few if could make that area seem natural?

[lapushka]

Tray staying about a quarter of an inch away from your hairline when cleansing or using any of those products. They don't need to go all the way up there.

[Aerith]

Thanks everyone. :)


I remember once I had a major zit near my eyebrows so I pulled back my hair and put a dollop of 10% BP cream on it. Little did I know, a strand of hair escaped and got stuck to the cream. The next day I noticed the section of that strand which was touching the cream had turned completely white. So yes, BP can bleach hair.

Try tea tree oil, I find it works better on me than BP!

I have never tried tea tree oil. I have moderate to severe acne ( it varies around different times of the month) and now that it's mostly under control I'm very afraid to switch my regimen. Has anybody else had luck with tea tree oil? I might give it a try on one part of my face for a few weeks and see the results, maybe my forehead since most of the bleaching occurs there but that is also one of my most problematic areas.



Tray staying about a quarter of an inch away from your hairline when cleansing or using any of those products. They don't need to go all the way up there.

I actually stay pretty far away from my hairline, I'm not sure why this is still happening. :(


What colour is your hair? If it's already light, most likely no one will notice. We all have natural variations in our hair colours and mine is actually lighter in the hairline naturally.

If your hair is light, maybe you could get some high lights through-out the top of your hair to blend in the bleached part? It might be a little damaging, but if you just got a few if could make that area seem natural?

My hair is medium/dark brown, so it is pretty noticeable. Thanks for the suggestion. I'ven ever gotten my hair colored or highlighted at all before so I'm not sure if I want to do that, especially going lighter. I don't think it would suit me very well. But that could be because I've wanted black hair for years. XD My hair is just too long to want to risk any damage from coloring :(


I use a similar cream. According to its label it can bleach hair but sometimes I put some accidentally on the hair on my forehead but nothing happened. And my eyebrows are still black, too. :D

My first few times of getting it on the hair didn't do much but all of a sudden I just noticed it a lot! Be careful. :) My eyebrows aren't affected by the BP either.

[Sara_1987]

ah yes, the dreaded BP bleaching effect.
I hate hate hate BP. All it ever did was make my skin more inflamed, painful, red, flaking...terrible. Thank god for accutane.

But back to hair: I never noticed it bleaching my hair, but I have very light hair along my hairline. (my avatar is from when my hair was dyed dark brown, not accurate at all).

I did get terrible bleached spots on all our towels, pillowcases and on some of my favorite shirts and pj's. I hate you BP! (and I'm not just talking about benzoyl peroxide ;))

[Beatrice]

Maybe you could find a cream that works faster and doesn't seep out? I use 2.5% benzoyl peroxide from Acne.org. It absorbs and stays in my skin better than other formulations I've tried. A lot of BP creams will leak out of your pores when you sweat and bleach hair or clothes. That said, I've never had trouble with my hairline bleaching. I think that's less of a problem for people with very dark hair.

[Coffeebug]

It could be worth trying around other BP creams. Obviously they all bleach, but I've never had a problem with Quinoderm migrating into my hair like that. My pillowcase is trashed though hahaha!

Frankly, as good as tea tree is for use on an active spot, I never found it to be of much use as a preventative treatment for persistant acne... and if you're like me, you're using the BP to prevent breakouts... but everyone's skin is different I guess!

[flowerlovelong]

I have minor problems with the occasional breakout or two around the back of my neck where hair touches when its oiled. I wear it up everyday but some touches or falls loose at night. Does anybody have any tips/suggestions?

[Beatrice]

I have minor problems with the occasional breakout or two around the back of my neck where hair touches when its oiled. I wear it up everyday but some touches or falls loose at night. Does anybody have any tips/suggestions?

Products with salicylic acid might help. The acid isn't as strong as benzoyl peroxide, but it doesn't bleach hair. I've had good luck with Neutrogena 3-in-1 Hydrating Acne Treatment.

[jeanniet]

We had a terrible time using BP for my sons. It took me forever to put two and two together and realize it was the BP putting spots in their clothes. The weird thing was that one son would put it on, and then the other son's shirts would have splotches all over them. I thought it was something going on with the well water. Unfortunately, BP is pretty effective for acne that isn't too bad. Both my sons ended up on accutane, which is a miracle drug if the side effects aren't too bad. For my kids, chapped lips and dry skin was as bad as it got. The requirements are kind of a pain, but it does clear up acne 100% and lasts.

[cuddledumplin]

Yeah, I used to have orangey streaks at my temples from that.

[Aliped]

I used to use a similar product and I never noticed my hair lightening, but my pillowcase was bleached and the necklines of my pajamas looked crazy........

Oh yeah! I am familiar with the bleached pyjama neck! Never noticed it on my hair though ...

[FrannyG]

I've had to use BP products a lot, as I have adult acne, and it really helps me. I don't notice it affecting my hairline. Even though I'm already blonde, I would notice lighter hair. Like UltraBella and Aliped, I noticed it on the neck of my pajama t-shirt.

Nonetheless, I really wouldn't worry about it too much. A lot of people naturally have hair lighter around the hairline of the face than the rest of the hair. Also, often those hairs never really do grow terribly long.

I think that if the BP is working for you, just keep using it. If you're sweating and it's not lightening your brows, then I think it can't really be much of an issue for your hair.

[sugarpixie10988]

Reminds me of when I went on an overnight field trip to some camp place for school. One of my friends who was a redhead really wanted blonde hair so she took a tube of BP gel and put it in her hair! We were only about 13, so we didn't really know how bad that could have turned out :D. It didn't do anything in her case, too bad you're having a problem with it though :(.

Could you maybe try to put something on your hairline to protect it? I've never had that problem so I don't know what would work.

[jaine]

The paleo diet (http://www.thepaleodiet.com/) cured my acne and didn't bleach my hair :)

[orbiting]

I can't use BP products. When I did though, they bleached everything they came in contact with...

I did use Tea Tree oil with good results. :) I like the smell of it too, which I guess makes me a little odd.

[McFearless]

My babyhairs are also very sensitive so I can understand why yours might get bleached.

The only thing I can think of is maybe coating your hair with some sort of coney product to protect it?

Im glad you're getting results from the creams though. Good luck :)

[Charlotte:)]

Eeeeek! I would just toss the benzoyl peroxide. It is extremely toxic.

[sneakybea]

I don't have a solution, but you have my sympathy. I was using a BP face wash for awhile and my eyebrows disappeared. That is, they were obviously still there, but they were blond. I had to darken my brows for a dance performance, and being as I don't normally do it, I had no clue how! I drew the brows too dark and looked really mean!
I don't have such a problem now, as I wash with a salicylic acid based cleanser, and while I still use BP as a spot treatment, only on my cheeks and chin (because that's where the pimples are). If it bleaches anything there, I'm happy!

[Witchy]

If you prefer pills to creams, try to get a prescription for spironolactone.

I've had the worst, most horrible acne since I was 13 and all the way up until about 6 months ago when I was prescibed 100 mg/day spironolactone. Within a few weeks, absolutely clear. Zero breakouts since. None. The first time it cleared, it was gone forever. (It does has an interesting side-effect of really intensely vivid dreams, which *I* particularly like and enjoy :) )

Oh, and my hair is the same color now with no bleaching. You might want to consider this option if benzoyl peroxide isn't working or bleaches your hair.