Hello and welcome back to another week of Locs Talk, where I talk about all things Locs and Loose-Natural Hair Care. This week I am going to discuss the differences in the after care for your hair post dyeing vs. bleaching your hair. Before I get into the differences in after care, let's look at the distinct differences between dyeing and bleaching, because the two are all too often misconstrued as being one in the same.
I spoke a lot about bleaching in the blog topic about heat and bleach damages. So, I will first reiterate some of that information in this blog. Let's get into what the distinct differences are between dyeing your hair vs. bleaching your hair. Hair dyeing or coloring is the practice of changing hair color. Coloring and/or dyeing the hair is done with the use of several methods from natural organic agents such as beet juice or henna to vegan color rinses, to demi, semi, or permanent hair coloring. Depending on the shade and how light or dark you want to go, a hair developer (which is not bleach) is used as an aid to lift hair color enough to help the color to take better. The maximum damages that can be caused from dyeing solely depends on the method of how you dyed your hair and the agents used. The hair protein levels can be altered to a weakened state which can result in a reduction of hair thickness and possible hair loss. It also lessens the hair's ability to handle heat well, making the hair more susceptible to heat damage. It increases roughness of hair follicles and may cause skin allergies due to paraphenylenediamine (PPD) found in Semi-permanent and Permanent hair dye.
Bleaching is done to strip or remove color from the hair. While that does change the color of the hair, the sole purpose for bleaching is to remove pigment from the hair, permanently. The damages bleaching can cause are more extreme than that of coloring/dye the hair. Bleaching raises the outer cuticles, altering the hair's porosity (ability to retain moisture) and strips the hair of its natural oils. Bleaching also damages the bonds inside the hair; there are 3 types of bonds (hydrogen, disulfide, and salt bonds), bleach causes them to weaken and break. Bleach breaks apart these bonds as it removes the color from your hair, so you aren't just striping your hair of color. Bleach also destroys the keratin (one of a family of structural fibrous proteins also known as scleroproteins), which is why keratin treatments is one of the most requested after care maintenance routines post bleaching.
Just to look back, you can see the differences between dyeing hair and bleaching hair. To dye is to generally change the hair color, and bleaching is to strip the natural color (which is permanent). With this information, I will generate two list for required after care routines for dyeing vs. bleaching. I chose to write this blog because it has become more and more common for people to bleach their hair themselves, asking after the fact, "I just bleached my hair, how should I maintain it." It is extremely important to gather this information prior to bleaching your hair if you are considering doing so, especially with Locs. Often times, people with bleached hair are given the advice that's needed for coloring after care and not provided with all the information needed for bleach after care. This happens due to the misunderstood guidance of believing that dyeing/coloring your hair is the same as bleaching your hair, which it is not.
After care: Dyeing vs. Bleaching
Note: Wait a minimum of 72 hours before conditioning or washing after coloring or bleaching.
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2. Maintain a daily moisture routine, once or twice per day, depending on how light you dyed your hair. | 2. Use coconut oil for added moisture and to help replenish natural oils that were stripped in the bleaching process. |
3. Use conditioning oil to help seal in moisture and soften rough hairs at the root. | 3. Use Argan oil for added moisture, softness and to help replenish nutrients to the hair. |
4. Do a monthly Moroccan Argan Oil Mask for deep conditioning and to replenish moisture and nutrients to the hair and scalp. | 4.Use almond oil, it's an emollient which means it can fill gaps in your hair at the cellular level, making the hair feel smoother to touch. Helps with hair growth as well. |
5. Use leave-in conditioner (recommended solely for Loose-natural hair) very diluted to decrease density for Locs. 2-3 times weekly. | 5. Use sun protection products; bleached hair is very vulnerable to heat and sun damage can result in extreme dryness and breakage. |
6. Use aloe gel as a moisture agent for scalp and hair. Gentle enough to use daily. | 6. Biweekly hair mask or oil treatment. |
7. Use sulfate free shampoo only. Due to weakened protein, sulfate may do further damage in stripping the hair. | 7. Use leave in conditioner often in addition to daily moisture routine. (For Locs, dilute leave in cream conditioners or use a spray leave in conditioner) be warned there is a high risk of build up for Locs. |
8. Be sure to condition after EVERY wash day. | 8. Rice water rinse, helps with restrengthening the hair, and retaining softness and growth. |
| 9. Avoid heat styling. Bleached hair is HIGHLY susceptible to irreversible heat damage. |
| 10. Be careful with chlorine! I personally would avoid pools unless you cover your hair with an airtight hair cover. |
| 11. Comb only when wet, make sure there is moisture to the hair when manipulating. Bleached hair is very fragile and delicate. |
| 12. Reduce washing with shampoo, due to bleach stripping away your natural oils, your hair will be extremely dry. Cowashing with conditioner would be a better option and can be done weekly. |
| 13. Avoid using hot water when washing your hair. Due to the hair's vulnerability to heat damage, use luke warm to cool water to wash. |
| 14. Trim ends regularly as the hair grows, (bleach kills the protein and keratin, dead hair is damaging, especially if it is the ends). |
| 15. Bleaching hair cause oxidative stress to the scalp which results in hair loss. Massage the scalp regularly to stimulate blood flow to the scalp and help with reducing stress to hair follicles in order to allow strengthening regrowth of hair. |
| 16. Use rosemary oil on scalp, it helps with regrowth and softens the hair as well. |
| 17. Use peppermint oil to help soothe irritated scalp (which happens often with bleaching). |
| 18. Use aloe gel to help heal damaged scalp. (Chemical burns often occur when bleaching hair.) |
| 19. Use witch hazel as an anti-inflammatory agent for your scalp and aids in healing as well. |
| 20. Dry naturally as often as possible. Avoid hair dryers as often as possible, due to severe vulnerability to heat. |
*Note: If you are going to bleach your hair, I highly recommend seeing a certified
professional to do the job.
So, as you see, when looking at the aftercare, there is much more than a subtle difference between dyeing and bleaching the hair. Be careful with your decision making when it comes to dyeing or bleaching your hair. Extra care is needed for both, one being much more high maintenance than the other. Whether you are dyeing your hair or bleaching it, this information is crucial to your decision. Also, be sure to have a consultation with your stylist/Loctician prior to moving forward to assure you are well versed on after care and you are both on the same page. I have found in consultations with clients who want to bleach their Locs, they also want Locs for little to no maintenance. It is not possible to bleach Locs and maintain them with little to no maintenance, for one contradicts the other. Always be wise and cautious when making decisions about high-risk processing.
I hope you have found this information helpful. Until next week, take care of your crown and have a happy and healthy hair journey.
Pammie
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