Lightening Hair with Hydrogen Peroxide bad for hair?

[SanSkritA]

I am new here. I have had short hair since being 14 (now 22) and recently have decided to bite the bullet and grow my hair out. I have wanted long hair for a very long time but have never thought it would be possible as I live in a very dry area with very hard water and my hair gets dry at the ends. But my twin has hair to her waist and is very nice so i think it is possible.

My question is this: I have recently been using hydrogen perxoide to lighten my hair and it has made it a beautiful blonde. before that I was using red henna. I have used a water/HP solution, mostly 15% HP and the rest water. I would like to stop doing this but will need to gradually make solution weaker for less dramatic cut off. I have always hated the blond hair and dark roots look... I am wondering if this will ruin my hair? I have heard of others using HP and having no problems. They even say it makes thier hair shiny. Any suggestions?...

[l0nd0nbr1dg3]

yeah hydrogen peroxide is damaging, plus i am pretty sure most bleach kits have hydrogen peroxide as one of the ingridients. but just because its damaging ddoesnt mean u have to do it alot of stuff is damaging, even the sun and that lightens ur hair too just do what u feel is right for u

[Shanbot]

I tried using a similar hydrogen peroxide solution (brushed on with a paintbrush, heh) before LHC to minimize the red of my length when my blonde came shooting in (I was using box dye, then henna at another point). I got some pretty significant damage from this over time, and if you're putting it on roots and there's any overlap, then yeah, probably, you're going to get damage too.

There's a TON of information on honey lightening on the forums that you might want to check out...it will give similar results with less (or no) damage - I don't think anyone that ever posted got damage from honey, I don't think I did and I did it about 20 times trying to get faded red stuff out of my light blonde hair. It was never perfect but I got to a light strawberry that blended much better with my roots. The forums will show you all the goodies about how honey has peroxide in small amounts, but also is protective to the hair, in ways I can never tell you in this post. I would say try that, or maybe colorfix, instead of straight peroxide solution. The honey was a little more hard work, but I think it was none too soon to stop the damage that peroxide was causing. I'm still trying to grow out about a handswidth of hair that received dye, peroxide, honey, henna, and then deposit only dye on the bottom of my length (I was crazy that season! So bad! I could kick myself!). But that part of my hair is where all my trouble is...and its likely all due to the box dye and peroxide.

So yeah...if you're looking for lightening results you might want to try almost anything else to mitigate the damage. Best of luck

[ellen732]

Wait, you mean hydrogen peroxide like you use to clean out cuts? Or peroxide from the beauty supply?

[Mesmerise]

Anything that lightens your hair is a bleach, and will cause some damage. Even honey lightening can damage hair, even if it is gentler than some other methods.

The thing is, the hair can look to be in good condition for quite some time, but eventually the damage will show (well, depending on how tough your hair is...some hair seems to be able to take a lot of punishment without showing any damage).

Think of it this way. You could bleach your hair now, and your hair may look fine for a year, but how will that bleached hair fare in two years time, or four years time?? If you are trying to grow your hair long, then any damage you do to it now, is going to be around for a LONG time, and while it may not be visible at first, odds are it's going to be visible a couple of years down the track.

You say that your ends are already dry with short hair, so imagine how much worse your ends will be when your hair gets long, given that the hair will be so much older!

I think henna is a much better option if you want to colour your hair!

[Cassie 123]

Wait, you mean hydrogen peroxide like you use to clean out cuts? Or peroxide from the beauty supply?

Back in high school I used to occasionally mix a little of the "clean out cuts" kind of peroxide with my conditioner to give a subtle overall lightening. It worked quite nicely. Just as damaging as any peroxide, I suppose, but not too bad actually.

But honey is supposed to be more gentle: The Honey Thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=148)

[Rosetta]

Wait, you mean hydrogen peroxide like you use to clean out cuts? Or peroxide from the beauty supply?
Isn't that the same thing, just in different concentrations?

From what I know, lightening with hydrogen peroxide alone is definitely one the safest ways to lighten hair, if not the safest; it's like honey lightening but several times stronger. :) 'Regular' bleach (bleaching powder mixed with hydrogen peroxide) is way more damaging, and chemical blonde dyes are also mixed with developer, i.e. peroxide, and in addition have some harmful chemicals (like PPD).

It's funny how many people talk of hydrogen peroxide like it was a very dangerous chemical, though it's even used for e.g. cleaning cuts and as a mouthwash! ;) E.g. on one site where someone asked about lightening hair with hydrogen peroxide - I think it was yahoo answers - the top answer chosen warned in no case use it on your hair, but to use bleach instead! ;) I mean, seriously!! LOL.

[spidermom]

If you take really good care of your hair, you can probably get away with lightening with hydrogen peroxide. We have a member here with VERY long hair - ankle - and she's been using Sun-In to lighten her hair for years.

[Rosetta]

^ Yes, and coconut oil helps a lot even in preventing damage, too :) But doesn't Sun-In (and similar products) contain other ingredients (chemicals) too, in addition to the peroxide? So hydrogen peroxide in its purest form would probably be best? (Especially if you want to lighten as naturally as possible.)

[jacqueline101]

Yes it's damaging. I did it once years ago it dried my hair out.