Is there a hair stylist in the house?

Niki Lea

Long story short, my current hair stylist has been using bleach to highlight my hair blonde for a couple of years now. Unfortunately, it has reached the point where my hair is super dry and fried...and I don't know what to do about it. I really, really don't want to cut it all off!

I have a cut and colour booked for a couple of weeks from now. But I'm wondering if I should find a new stylist? Cancel my highlights and just get a cut? Go for it anyway? I love the cuts I get, but the colour is damaging my hair.

Has anyone experienced the perils of bleach?

11 years ago

General

10 replies

Latest reply was from SW Ann

spoff

Active Member

I used to be a hairstylist. Although I have not worked in the profession for awhile some things do not change. Once hair has been damaged by bleach it cannot be repaired.if it is to the point where, as you say, it's fried, your stylist may have been leaving the bleach on for too long. Or you may have delicate structure to your hair which also can react badly to multiple bleachings .I'm sorry to tell you but No amount of conditioning or other moisturizing treatments can repair the damage.. I know you don't want to cut your hair but that really is the answer. Baby steps maybe? A trim and no highlights .The hair at the bottom is bound to be the most damaged as it has seen more bleach than the new growth. Sometimes cutting just that can make a big difference. Then maybe, if your happy with that , next time you will be willing to cut a little more? Sometimes smoothing serums can help a little too but they wash out so you must keep using them.

11 years ago

dawn

Active Member

I have never dyed my hair, but I regularly relax it. I strongly recommend that you look for protein treatments for your hair and that you start deep conditioning it often. Aloe vera gel makes an excellent moisturizing treatment (just put it in before you shampoo your hair). You can also put jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, coconut oil, shea butter, and etc in your hair.

Since bleach does strip away the protective layers of your hair, I think that it might really benefit you if you could consider shampooing less often. Shampoo is wonderful, but it can really leave your hair stripped if you use one that is too strong for your hairs' needs. Or you can mostly shampoo your scalp because if you shampoo your actual hair strands with a cleanser that is too strong then your hair strands will become even drier.

If you can, I second the idea of you starting to cut the damage off. But if you just can't let go of the length, then know that you will have to seriously baby your hair. That means that I would seriously recommend that you avoid blow dryers, flat irons, curling irons, pulling your hair too tight, and brushing your hair while it is wet (wet hair is extremely fragile).

11 years ago

Inge

(website)

Moderator

I've no experience with bleaching, Niki, but am bumping this for you.

11 years ago

Deborah

Veteran

Not a hair stylist...but a serial bleacher:)

I don't wish to criticize your stylist, but I am disappointed your stylist has allowed this to happen:(. I had a similar experience but is one done on one occasion when an apprentice took the bleach onto my already bleached ends! Long story short, I coloured my hair to a darker more natural tone and spent the next two years trimming and caring for my hair getting it back into condition..what I really mean is growing out all the damage. If it's that bad you def need to stop bleaching. I might be tempted to go to a new stylist.

11 years ago

Niki Lea

Veteran

Thanks for the advice! Looks like I'm going to give my hair a rest and stop highlighting for a while. Is it normal to highlight with bleach? My hair is already a dark blonde, so my regrowth won't be terrible. But in all the years I've lightened my hair, it's never felt this bad. I thought it might be that I'm getting older - now I realize how silly that was to think.

11 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

I don't think it's *normal.* I dyed my hair for a long time, and I have very dark hair, and my stylist did not use bleach. There are more modern products. Unless we mean something else by bleach...

11 years ago

Anonymous

Hi Niki, I have natural medium to dark blonde hair. I highlight and color to combat brassiness and to get a bit of lighter color. My stylist doesn't use bleach every time I color. We rotate with just color and using bleach. The color only option gives a sheen and tone but doesn't really lighten. When my stylist does use bleach it is just a few strands here and there so I don't really get the grown out roots look. Good luck, I always think baby steps are best for these type of situations.

11 years ago

kkards

Veteran

i have very dark hair that has gotten darker as i've gotten older. i've been highligthing and now dying for about 20 years. its gotten dry, but never brittle, if that is what you mean by fried. the 1st question i would ask, is you hairdresser bleaching everything every time? really, it only needs to be the new growth. number 2, are you willing to switch up the color? when my hair gets super dry, we (my hairdresser and i) change to a color and/or process that requires less stripping.

11 years ago

Niki Lea

Veteran

Wow, I'm learning so much here. My hair is mostly just really, really dry now. No matter how much I condition, avoid heat, use hair oil, the ends are super dry. And I don't think the colour looks that great anymore either.

I've been reading about how to go a bit darker and it sounds a bit risky. Much of what I've come across says there's a big risk of my hair taking on a green tone. Yikes!

11 years ago

SW Ann

Veteran

My stylist used bleach to highlight my hair for years and I had no problems with it. She was very careful not to put "bleach on bleach" and I had/have short hair, which means the "bleached" areas got trimmed off pretty quickly. I would guess your stylist wasn't so careful....? As I have aged, my hair color has changed, and now my highlights are now high and low lights including some darker blonde to bring some color to my now very very light hair. I think I had bleach highlighting for at least 10 years with NO ill effects.
Good luck--I would try to find a really good color specialist to visit for an assessment....

11 years ago

Category