How to Care for Bleached Hair
There are plenty of reasons to bleach your hair, but no matter what your reason is, one thing is for certain: you absolutely have to take careful steps to properly care for your hair and ensure its health, shine, and softness. After all, bleaching is a harsh process, so if you want your hair to always look its best, continue reading for a few helpful hair care tips.
Use a Leave-In Conditioner Right Away
Women who regularly bleach their hair recommend that you immediately apply a high quality leave-in conditioner to your hair right after you have applied and washed out the bleach. Use a generous amount, making certain that you apply the conditioner from root to tip thoroughly and completely. In this way, you will immediately be making up for lost moisture and setting your hair back on the track towards total health and softness.
Choose a Gentler Shampoo
After bleaching your hair, you want to avoid stripping it even more. A good route to take is swapping your shampoo for one that is made of natural, gentle, sulfate-free ingredients. By using shampoos that do not produce a lot of suds, you will be able to more quickly replenish and maintain moisture throughout your tresses while maintaining the health of your scalp.
In addition to using a gentle shampoo, you should also only wash your hair when necessary, so you may need to cut back to cleaning your scalp and hair a couple of days out of the week only.
Nourish Your Hair with a Moisturizing Mask
Another way to replenish lost moisture and prevent your locks from drying out is by applying a nourishing hair mask to your scalp and your hair from root to tip. This is a great routine to follow at least weekly.
If you do not like hair masks, you can instead stick with deep conditioning treatments, as well as hot oil treatments, as all of these are great ways to ensure your hair does not dry out or become brittle. The key is to undo the dryness that is caused by the bleaching process. In restoring moisture, you will also be restoring softness, bounce, and shine so that your bleach blonde hair will look its best.
Avoid Heat Styling
Heat styling is pretty brutal even on the healthiest hair, so you definitely want to avoid it after you have bleached your hair, at least until your hair has had ample opportunity to completely recuperate. Let your locks air dry naturally after you shampoo and condition them instead, if possible. And if you absolutely must use a blow dryer or other heat styling tool, apply heat protective products first, and keep the use of heated styling products to a minimum.
Protect Your Hair from the Sun
After you have bleached your hair, it will be a lot more susceptible to damage from the UV of the sun's rays, so protect your head whenever you go outside. Wear hair care products that contain SPF, and consider wearing a hat as well for even more protection.
Dry Your Hair Gently When It is Wet
It is also a good idea to opt for a super soft bath towel that you can use to soak up any excess water that is in your hair after you step out of the shower. Dry your hair really gently in order to use the towel to absorb the water without causing frizz or breakage. Remember, your hair will be really sensitive after it gets bleached, so you want to take care and be as gentle as possible, and switching your towel may be necessary.
Try a Keratin Oil Product
A hair care product, such as a spray, that contains keratin oil is yet another great way to restore moisture to your bleached hair. Many of the keratin oil containing products on the market are surprisingly affordable and easy to find. The keratin, which is a protein that plays a key role in maintaining the health of the structure of your hair, will help restore vitality to your bleached hair. Apply it after every wash to your damp hair for best results.
With these tips in mind, you can enjoy your platinum blonde hair for as long as you want because the bleaching process won't be able to do too much damage to your hair. So go ahead and achieve the color that you have been dreaming of, but make sure that you take care of your hair after applying the bleach.
