Just bleached my friends hair and it's now so dry!

Mar 28, 2015

Jasmin B.

I can't remember what I used to deep condition and moisturize my hair when I bleached mine. Any recommendations? She's Jessica rabbit red now (:

Mar 28, 2015

Hannah K.

Here's how I keep my hair healthy/keep the color in.

First, in terms of health, trim any split ends. If you don't, they will keep splitting up the shaft and ruin even more of your hair. That means that when you do finally cut your hair, you'll have to cut off even more of it to get rid of the splits.

Second, in terms of products, invest in a sulfate and sodium chloride free shampoo and conditioner. I really like the brands Pureology and Keratin Complex for hair color care. They're both entire brands devoted to keeping color vibrant, and they both work really well. They're expensive, though, so barring that I'd highly recommend you find a sulfate and sodium chloride free shampoo and conditioner, like L'oreal EverStrong.

I also recommend investing in a hair mask or deep conditioner. I like the Macadamia Deep Repair Masque, it's very moisturizing and leaves your hair feeling hydrated instead of dry, but it's also heavy, so if that's not for you Alterna's Bamboo UV+ mask is absolutely amazing. I also happen to love the L'oreal Power Moisture Mask, it's a weird, jelly-like texture, but I love how light it feels on my hair. It makes my hair extremely soft without weighing it down. I also recommend the Keratin Complex Vanilla Bean Deep Conditioner. It's a bit heavier as well, but it smells great and certainly hydrates your hair.

Third, in the shower, when you're washing your hair, make sure the water is as cold as you can stand. If your hair is light on the ends, like mine, apply conditioner to the ends of your hair before you wash it in order to prevent the darker colors from bleeding. If not, wash your hair first thing, so you can wet your hair quickly and then remove it from the stream of water (seriously, limit exposure to water as much as you can) to shampoo.

Shampoo only the roots and condition from your ears down. Rinse quickly in cold water, and then after that, apply your mask, focusing on the ends of your hair. Finger comb until you don't feel any knots, because that way you don't have to brush it, because brushing it can break it off like heck. then put your hair in a bun. Leave it that way for the rest of your shower, washing it out should be the last thing you do. I wash my hair around 3 times a week (with drier hair I can get away with it) and do the hair mask every time. If you need to wash your hair more than that, reduce your hair mask usage to 3 times :)

Fourth, in terms of heat protectors (which protect hair color and help keep it healthy), I like the Tressemme heat protector and the It's a 10 Leave in Plus Keratin. If you heat style your hair a lot, just make sure that you're taking care of it and nothing will happen.

A few random miscellaneous tips:
-dry shampoo is your friend, because if you wash your hair often the dye will fade really quickly.
-you can also put a bit of hair dye into your shampoo and conditioner (this only works if your hair is predominantly one color, otherwise it will cause the rest of your hair to shift colors as well).
-if you have to shower often, put your hair up to try and keep it out of the water and just wash your body.

I Have tried a whole bunch of hair masks and deep conditioners, so here are my reviews on them:
1. My ultimate favorite right now is the L'oreal Power Moisture Mask. It's not expensive, and it's sulfate and sodium chloride free. It's super light, kind of a jelly like texture that melts into your hair, and when you rinse it out your hair doesn't feel heavy or greasy, just hydrated. This is the blue one. I really, truly love it.
2. Aussie 3 Minute Miracle, which I leave on for a lot longer than 3 minutes. It's really nice, also cheap, smells lovely, and hydrates your hair. It's pretty light, but make sure you rinse it all out or your hair will be a grease pit.
3. Macadamia Deep Repair Masque. This was my favorite for a while, until I found the L'oreal one. After that, I find this to be a little too heavy for my hair. I have to be really careful with this one, otherwise my hair gets greasy the same day. If I rinse well enough, my hair feels super clean and hydrated, but there's a thin line between greasy and too dry if you rinse too much, so this mask can be tricky.
4. Keratin Complex Vanilla Bean Deep Conditioner (also used as a hair mask) it's awesome. It smells like vanilla and hydrates your hair flawlessly. It's also color protective, which is part of why I love it so much. It's not heavy, so if you leave it in for a while it's not going to weigh down your hair, but it is a bit more expensive than others.
5. Organix Renewing Argan mask. It's also a bit on the heavy side, because it's oil based, but it seems to work fine so far. Also color safe, and also $6. It's a pretty good find :)
6. L'oreal Total Repair 5 hair mask. It's like $6, has a super smooth consistency and hydrates hair really well. You do have to rinse pretty well, or your hair gets greasy quickly, but after you rinse, you can add a tiny bit to the ends of your hair and it will work really well.
7. Alterna Bamboo UV+ masque. It's awesome. It smells really light and nice, it's safe for colored hair and it's super lightweight so you don't have to worry about rinsing everything out incredibly well. I also find it super smoothing, I like this a lot.
8. Garnier Damage Erase Butter. It's thick, really thick, actually, but it's pretty great. I like how easy it is to work with, it really moisturizes hair and prevents it from feeling super dry and frizzy. It's pretty good for $5
9. It's A 10 Miracle Hair Mask. It's decent, I like the packaging on it a lot, and the product itself is nice enough. It feels like my hair is hydrated and it works through really easily and gets rid of any tangles I have.

Those are just my opinions and what has worked for me!

That's my hair routine, my entire head is bleached and it is just as healthy as it was before I dyed it.

Mar 28, 2015

Hannah K.

I forgot two :)

10. Paul Mitchell Super Charged Moisturizer. This is great. It's super lightweight and leaves my hair feeling super clean and hydrated.
11. Alterna Caviar Repairing Mask. I really like this. It's also super light and it feels so amazing on my hair. I managed to get a 16 oz version on Hautelook for $30 or something, which is amazing. It's really worth it. It's so smoothing and it makes my hair really shiny and soft.

Mar 28, 2015

CPT- Lili R.

This was super super helpful hamnah I bleached my hair for the first time and thank god it didnt get to damage but all this info you gave will help me get it back on the up and up.

Mar 28, 2015

Hannah K.

Anytime Lili, my hair was bleached and dyed like crazy for the last 7 years so I have a lot of experience trying to control it and make sure it doesn't all break off of my head :) bleach is actually much less damaging than people think, so long as you properly take care of your hair afterwards.

Mar 28, 2015

CPT- Lili R.

Honestly I was shiting my self when I bleached my hair my close got like if I had poured rwgular house bleach on it and my hair started turning orange and it was not worth it, I was trying to dye my hair a navy blue and it ended up black, so much for bleaching my hair lol.

Mar 28, 2015

Jasmin B.

Wow Hannah thank you so much! That was very in depth and I'm going to have to save that for when I do my hair next.

Mar 28, 2015

Hannah K.

Anytime both of you and Lili I hope you didn't actually use clorox on your hair did you?

Mar 28, 2015

CPT- Lili R.

Never that lol imagine helll nooooo lol I'm saying my shirt looked like I poured bleach on it cuz the hair bleach would fall on it... I used a bleach by loreal it comes in a blue package and its called blue something I forgot the name but know for sure it said blue lol, I regret it though cuz my hair turned out black I spend like $50 trying to dye it navy blue my self, might as well have gone to a pro

Mar 28, 2015

Hannah K.

Yikes Lili I'm so sorry! That's unfortunate.

Mar 28, 2015

CPT- Lili R.

Exactly I've been battling with my hair to turn it navy blue but its no good, once this black starts fading I'm a go into the salon and get it professionaly done, I was so pissed cuz I can get black hair with $7 I use to dye it black and thats the most I would pay cuz I needed 2 boxes and belive me it was pitch black so that seriously got me mad... I remember reading from you saying blue is no good cuz its a hassel... Do you mind explain to me a bit please, I'd rather know before I go to the salin and take the hit and later regret it 😊

Mar 28, 2015

Hannah K.

Sure Lili I'll explain on your profile :)

Apr 1, 2015

Stephanie T.

Mayonnaise... it saved my hair. my last time getting highlights, the woman over processed my hair. She was in a hurry. I left in tears with bleach still in my hair. When I got home I freaked out because I tried to run a brush through it and my hair was falling off in chunks and felt like straw. I called my instructor *esthetics* because she teaches cosmo as well. She said mayo. I ran to the fridge. it seriously helped! I was not pleased with smelling like a sandwich... but my hair felt silky