“Hair fails” seem to be the new trend all over social media. I’ve been seeing people try to style hair that just isn’t coming out the way they imagined it would be. Some of the biggest hair-styling failures are in bleaching. Either the color doesn’t turn out the way they wanted it to, the hair becomes super damaged, or their hair falls out. I’ve learned some bleaching hair tips from a beauty salon owner and have dyed my aunt’s hair numerous times. In this article, I will be suggesting some different techniques you can do so your at-home style comes out looking more professional.

Tip 1: When bleaching your hair, do NOT start at the roots. You may be tempted to do so because it just seems logical, but don’t. Your roots bleach faster than the rest of your hair. The natural body heat on your head rushes along the breaching process, so your roots get over-processed. This causes your roots and the rest of your hair to not have a consistent color. Put bleach on your mids and ends first, then finish with your roots.

Tip 2: While this may seem like common sense it’s not. Make sure to put plenty of bleach in your hair, it should feel cakey when you finish. When the bleach dries out, it stops working and you’re just sitting there with dry bleach in your hair, and nothing’s happening. The more bleach the less likely it will dry out. 

Tip 3: If your hair already has a pre-existing dye, the bleach will only strip the color that is already there. For example, if you dyed your hair fire engine red and you bleach it, the color will most likely become pink. Removing the color that was already there is the most important step in the process. Do NOT bleach your hair four or five times trying to get out the rest of that pale color. Bleach it no more than twice, and wait a few weeks to a month before trying to bleach it again. It will be a process, but this will prevent your hair from falling out or damaging it too much.

Tip 4: Do NOT wash your hair before bleaching. There are multiple reasons as to why you shouldn’t do that. For one, that natural oils from your hair help protect your scalp from the harsh bleach and can help keep your hair follicles in your head. Bleach will also not take well to wet hair since water is filling the places where the bleach is trying to get in. Water also dilutes the bleach so the power of the bleach won’t be as impactful. Another reason is that when you wash your hair before you bleach it, you make tiny cuts and scrapes in your head, and when the bleach gets into those little abrasions in your head, it will burn really badly and cause redness & irritation.

Tip 5: Finally, when bleaching your hair do not brush or comb through it. You should be sure to section your hair and apply the bleach evenly, but brushing it does not do that. All brushing or combing the bleach through your hair does is take some of the bleach off of some strands of hair, causing it to become spotty and uneven, which can be really unfortunate and super hard to fix.

I hope everyone who is interested in hair dyeing finds a use for the tips listed above. These tips are to help inexperienced people who want to dye their hair but not destroy it and prevent a potential hair catastrophe because bleaching your own hair can get really bad really fast.