Although it’s fun, lightening your hair with bleach has disadvantages. For instance, you must ensure that you balance the amount of peroxide you apply to your hair; otherwise, you might damage it.
Another factor you must consider is that your hair can lose its pigment or even turn completely white if not used correctly.
When bleaching your hair at home you might wonder, ‘I’m using bleach, but my hair doesn’t lighten with bleach!’
Note that It’s not uncommon, so don’t panic. Fortunately, there are solutions to help lighten your hair with bleach.
It may have something to do with your process and the amount of bleach used. This guide will cover why sometimes your hair doesn’t lighten with bleach, solutions to fix it, and more.
Why Won’t Hair Lighten with Bleach Anymore?
If you frequently lighten your hair with bleach, you might encounter a few issues that lead to non-effective results. Below are some key reasons why your hair isn’t lightening with bleach.
Bleaching Your Hair on Your Own
Sometimes, you want to skip the trip to the salon, and that’s okay! It would help if you took the necessary precautions before doing so.
If not, you may or may not encounter a few hair issues when it comes to pigment, color, and other factors. It’s best to seek professional guidance, which will be discussed later in this article.
Starting Before You Have the Necessary Tools
Lightening your hair with bleach can be exciting enough to start immediately. However, gathering all the necessary supplies is essential, so you’re 100% ready to tackle this hair project.
Bleaching your hair while missing a couple of supplies can lead to potential issues or having to stop to buy them at the store. So, ensure that you have everything you need before lightening your hair.
You Didn’t Deep Condition Your Hair
One of the essential factors in ensuring that you receive better results is always deep conditioning your hair. If you don’t, brushing your hair can be challenging to complete, which might reduce its health.
So deep conditioning your hair before you apply the bleach can increase health and provide nutrients.
Bleaching Already Bleached Hair
In some cases, if you’re dissatisfied with the results, you might want to reapply bleach. However, it’s crucial to note that you can only apply it to specific areas if you bleach already bleached hair. If you try to bleach your hair again, it might severely damage it, so always be careful.
Your Hair Is Damaged or Over-Processed
Damaged or over-processed hair might occur due to excessive bleaching or other occurrences. With this in mind, it’s recommended to seek professional help when this happens. If you’re trying to lighten your hair at home, especially if you’re a beginner, it might be challenging to determine if it’s healthy or not.
How to Fix Your Hair to Lighten with Bleach
Sometimes, you may encounter issues with lightening your hair. Fortunately, there are several solutions to help you with this.
Consult With Your Professional Stylist
Consult your stylist if you’re unsure about what products and supplies to get when bleaching your hair at home.
You can ask them for recommendations compatible with your hair and provide high-quality results. Always ask when in doubt because this can also help avoid potential issues.
Prep Your Hair and Your Tools
When prepping your hair and tools, both must be ready before tackling this hair project. Ensure you don’t process, straighten, or curl hair to avoid any bleaching issues.
Bleach works efficiently on unprocessed, healthy hair; it might take a month or so to prep, so keep that in mind.
Be Careful and Follow Directions
Whether experienced or a beginner, it’s crucial to be careful when handling bleach for your hair. As previously mentioned, bleach only works on healthy, damage-free hair, so maybe invest in hair-boosting and protein shampoo products.
To avoid damaging or over-processing your hair, always make sure to read the instructions thoroughly so that you don’t run into any issues when doing so.
Dye Your Hair a Darker Color
Dyeing your hair a darker shade is another solution you can implement when your hair doesn’t lighten with bleach.
Apply the dye thoroughly into several sections to ensure every spot is even, and then wait 40 minutes or so to apply shampoo and wash it.
Then, after a few weeks, you can try to bleach your hair again, making the color you choose a base color.
Reapply the Bleach
As previously mentioned, reapplying the bleach on bleached hair can be difficult, so it’s essential to be cautious. If you’ve made a mistake or two during your first time bleaching, ensure that you apply the solution carefully and read the instructions thoroughly this time. The only worst-case scenario is that you might damage your hair.
Can You Bleach Hair Again if It Won’t Lift?
Yes, you can bleach again if your first bleach failed to lift the color. Though if you bleach hair again to lift the color, you should be more careful to avoid potentially damaging your hair. Your hair might be incompatible with the product used or you need to apply the bleach correctly. Always make sure you follow the instructions.
If you want to avoid the possible side effects arising from bleaching hair you’ve already tried to bleach, then you can try a color stripper to lift your hair color. It’s a less intense option than bleaching. However, this will only work if you have virgin hair, blonde hair, or used a high-lift dye to color your hair.
Bleaching can be a fun, new way to style your hair, but sometimes the results aren’t your liking. Fortunately, there are ways to resolve this, but please be advised that you may damage your hair. For more guidance, please seek professional help from your stylist. We hope you enjoyed reading this article!