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Hair bleach, or hydrogen peroxide really isn’t something to mess around with if you don’t know what you’re doing. Despite the fact that you can buy bleaching kits from just about any grocery store, pharmacy or beauty supply store, it’s just not something that the average person should experiment with. Get it wrong and you can ruin your hair beyond repair, to the point where your only way out of it is to quite literally shave your head and wait for it to grow back. It sounds extreme, but this can (and does) happen every day as a result of curious hair DIYers. If you’ve used bleach on your hair and caused it some damage, there are sometimes things you can do depending on the extent of things. The obvious solution would be to head straight to the hairdresser and have a professional look at it for you, however for many people, doing so is out of their budget. Don’t panic, here are a few things you can try.
Homemade protein treatment
One of the best things you can do to bleach damaged hair is to whip up a homemade protein hair treatment. This can restore some of the weakness and replenish very dry locks. Best of all, it’s easy and very cheap to do. Start by whisking three eggs in a bowl, and then add any of the following ingredients: olive or coconut oil, blended banana, blended avocado and/ or natural yoghurt. Slather this onto slightly damp hair, then wrap your hair with cling film and leave it to sit for an hour or two. The heat of your head from the cling film will gently open the hair shaft so the treatment can penetrate it. You can do a protein treatment once a week while your hair is in a bad way, and later down the line stretch it out to once a month and then once every few months.
Deep conditioner
After using a protein treatment, it’s important to add moisture to the hair. Purchase a deep conditioning mask, it doesnt need to be a high end one if you don’t have a large budget. Go to the drugstore and pick up something from the shelves. Deep condition, applying cling film to your hair in the same way you did with the protein treatment, leaving for an hour or two before rinsing off.
Avoid all heat
It’s so important to avoid all heat on your hair when it’s been damaged by bleach. Any additional damage from the heat can be the last straw to destroying it beyond repair. Leave it to air dry, carefully combing through with a wide tooth comb once it’s dry.
Give it a cut
If hair has been dried out by bleach, it can be replenished and moisturised again if you look after it carefully. But in some cases, it might be beyond that. If your hair has gone ‘stretchy’, is falling out and resembles candyfloss, there’s nothing more you can do. Cut off all of the damaged hair, this might just be the ends or could be all the way to the scalp in extreme cases. Try not to panic and utilise extensions or go to a wig store to find something suitable until it grows back in. Thankfully hair grows back! A big chop allows you to get rid of damage and grow a healthy mane back in.