Bleached Hair | Expert Tips
How to take care of bleached hair and fix damage
Bleached hair can look healthy, silky and shiny. I’ve been working with hair for over 35 years, and in my experience, getting the moisture balance in hair is vital to it looking and feeling healthy. If you want to know how to take care of bleached hair, the single, most important piece of advice I can give you is to focus on replenishing your hair with moisture.
Bleached hair can look healthy, silky and shiny. I’ve been working with hair for over 35 years, and in my experience, getting the moisture balance in hair is vital to it looking and feeling healthy. If you want to know how to take care of bleached hair, the single, most important piece of advice I can give you is to focus on replenishing your hair with moisture.
Bleaching hair opens up The Cuticle to strip the hair’s natural pigment. The Cuticle is the outer layer of the hair. The purpose of The Cuticle is to protect the hair’s inner layer, helping it to retain moisture. Bleaching hair disrupts The Cuticle and its moisture balance. That’s why bleached hair can look dry and dull. Dealing with the moisture levels in hair will improve health and shine.
In this blog, you’ll discover my expert tips on how to take care of bleached hair. Plus, how to use my deep conditioner, Restore and Shine Hair Masque, to leave hair soft, silky and shiny.
Taking Care of Bleached Hair | Overview
The process of chemical treatments is drying for hair; a common problem for bleached hair is that the texture can feel rough and dry. Making bleached hair soft and silky is the goal. When hair has a silky texture, the outer layer of the hair is smooth, and that’s when hair looks shiny and healthy.
How to Keep Bleached Hair Healthy | 7 Tips
What happens when hair is bleached?
- Hair is treated with a chemical (bleach) to open the hair cuticle.
- The bleach destroys the natural pigment of the hair.
- The dark pigment disappears, and bleached blonde is the result.
Whenever we open the hair cuticle, The Cortex loses moisture. When the hair is in this state, we describe it as porous; it’s harder for hair to retain moisture in porous hair. That’s why bleaching your hair can leave it feeling dry and brittle. Here’s a little test for you. Try taking a small section of hair between your thumb and finger; feel the texture of your hair.
If your hair feels slightly rough to the touch, it needs moisture. Hair that retains moisture has a slippery, silky texture.
If you’re not feeling that slippery, silky texture, it’s time to take action. Set yourself the goal of soft, smooth, shiny bleached hair and follow my tips for healthy, bleached hair. Start with deep conditioning.
1. Deep Condition Bleached Hair
My ethos is that for *your* hair to look and feel healthy, you have to put back what you take out. The bleaching process is drying; it opens The Cuticle, the hair’s outer layer, to strip the colour pigment in The Cortex, the hair’s centre. The Cortex doesn’t only contain the hair’s colour; it holds the hair’s moisture. Bleaching depletes the moisture held in The Cortex. The Cuticle, which is a series of tiny scales on the hair’s outer layer, has the job of protecting The Cortex. When healthy, those scales remain closed and smooth, controlling the flow of moisture to The Cortex; bleaching opens the scales, leaving The Cuticle roughed up and unable to protect The Cortex, resulting in further moisture loss.
Restore and Shine Hair Masque is a deep conditioner formulated to address the moisture loss in The Cortex; it nourishes the hair and smoothes The Cuticle, helping it retain moisture. It puts back the moisture lost in the bleaching process. A weekly treatment is the foundation of healthy bleached hair.
2. Reduce Heat on Bleached Hair
Heat is problematic for bleached hair; too much sun can discolour bleached hair, and heated styling tools are drying for bleached hair. Think about what you can do to reduce heat exposure to reduce moisture loss in bleached hair. Remember, your goal is to balance moisture in the hair; deep conditioning is the foundation for healthy hair, but identifying other factors causing dry hair will help you achieve your healthy hair goals. If you are in a hot, sunny climate, it’s good practice to wear a hat.
If your hair feels dry and brittle after blow dry, try using the hairdryer on a lower setting or use it for less time. Choose Styling products that will add moisture to your hair. My Styling Products nourish the hair to balance moisture even when styling; they speed up drying time to reduce heat exposure when using a hairdryer.
3. Get Regular Trims to Prevent Split Ends
Getting rid of dry, damaged ends with regular trims will improve your hair health. The ends of hair are the most exposed to damage and split ends. Regular trims will stop the split ends from riding up the hair shaft and causing further damage to The Cuticle.
4. Touch your Hair Less
When styling hair at home, it’s easy to spend too long under the hairdryer. Continuing to blow dry hair when it’s already dry causes dryness and damage. When your hair is dry to the touch, switch off the hairdryer and let your hair settle. Breaking the habit of touching hair too much reduces damage and improves hair health.
5. Be Gentle with your Hair
Treat your hair like it’s a piece of silk. That advice is vital when hair is wet. Wet hair is the most vulnerable to breakage. Use a microfibre towel to gently pat the hair dry after washing. Remember the importance of The Cuticle in maintaining the hair’s moisture levels; avoid roughing up the cuticle by being gentle with your hair.
6. Avoid Silicones
Silicones in hair products give hair immediate shine by coating the hair. They cover the hair’s surface so successfully that long-term use can result in the hair being unable to absorb moisture from conditioners and deep conditioners. Being unable to absorb moisture is problematic for bleached hair. Earlier in the blog, I talked about how bleaching opens The Cuticle to strip the colour pigment in the hair’s cortex and, in doing so, disrupts the moisture levels held in The Cortex. The outer layer of the hair is not a single surface. It is a series of tiny scales designed to control the moisture flow to The Cortex. By coating the outer layer of the hair, silicones prevent moisture flow and leave hair dry. If you want smooth and shiny bleached hair, forget short-term solutions. Choose to give your hair the nourishment it needs with regular deep conditioning and opt for styling products that moisturize hair.
Get Volume and Shine
- Add Volume
- Speed up Drying Time
- Target Split Ends
- Add Shine as you Style
Add Shine as you Style
- Hair Shine Treatment
- Speed up Drying Time
- Target Split Ends
- Add Moisture as you Style
7. Nourish your Hair
Get healthy bleached hair with some of my favourite hair-loving ingredients. You’ll find all these ingredients in my deep conditioner, Restore and Shine Hair Masque. I spent several years developing the perfect formulation in my salon, ensuring it was exactly right. It’s the best deep conditioner for bleached hair I’ve used; it adds moisture, reduces frizzy hair and improves the shine and elasticity of hair.
My exclusive formulation, Restore and Shine Hair Masque, is my go-to product to restore health and shine to bleached hair. Used weekly, it restores moisture and shine to hair.
- Pro-vitamin b5 to get moisture to the core of the hair.
- Glycerin to prevent moisture loss.
- Cetearyl Alcohol to soften and smooth.
- Avocado retains moisture and makes hair easier to detangle.
- Vitamin E is an antioxidant that supports healthy hair.
Make Bleached Hair Soft and Silky | Tips for Deep Conditioning
All chemical processes reduce the moisture in your hair. However, bleaching is harsher than other colour treatments. That’s because we bleach hair by removing its pigment, leaving it at risk of becoming dry and brittle.
My simple but effective mantra to combat the effects of bleaching is hydrate, hydrate, hydrate your hair.
It’s not just about using a deep conditioner now and then. It’s vital to get the most from your hair product. How you use your hair products is essential to improving the condition and texture of your hair.
Read my exclusive bleached hair tips for deep conditioning and discover how to get the most from your deep conditioner and how to ditch dry, brittle hair for soft, silky hair.
1. Deep Conditioning is Not a One-Off Event
Deep conditioning treatments are not a one-off event, especially for bleached hair.
The best comparison I can give is your skin. Do you moisturise your skin every day? I’m guessing that the answer for most of us is yes. Similarly, we wouldn’t skip moisturiser because our skin doesn’t feel dry. Because we know that if we stop, it will become dry.
It’s the same for hair, except most hair doesn’t need moisture daily. But it does need it regularly. For bleached hair, I recommend treating hair with a deep conditioner once a week every week.
2. Avoid Using Too Much Product
It’s best not to overload bleached hair with too much deep conditioner at once.
If your hair is more porous because of bleaching, it may feel that no matter how much product you use, it’s never enough. However, overloading your hair doesn’t fix the problem. Whilst porous hair soaks up moisture, the downside is that it loses it quickly. What hair needs is routine. A good routine with a regular moisture boost from a deep conditioner is the best way of maintaining moisture levels. Getting your hair into the best condition does take some time and patience.
The secret for porous hair is not to apply too much product at once. When hair has high porosity, it’s easy to overload and leave it feeling flat. Your hair needs time to absorb moisture a little at a time. Think of it as a process of layering.
For example, the Restore and Shine Hair Masque comes in a 200ml jar.
Typically, I’d recommend using around 10ml for each deep condition. Use more for longer hair and less for shorter hair.
Depending on the length of your hair, you can work on the basis that you’ll get 15 to 20 uses out of a 200ml jar of Restore and Shine Hair Masque.
Use a deep conditioner or hair mask weekly to build moisture over time. Keep doing it, and you’ll notice you need less product as your hair improves its ability to hold on to moisture.
3. Warm the Deep Conditioner in your Palms
Before you apply deep conditioner, work up the product in the palm of your hands.
Warming up the product can give you an even spread on the hair. Gently layering the Restore and Shine Hair Masque on your hair and leaving it for a couple of hours gets the best results every time.
Do this every week to restore shine and health to your bleached hair.
4. Leave Restore and Shine Hair Masque on bleached hair for Longer
Restore and Shine Hair Masque is the best deep conditioner I’ve used, and I recommend leaving it on bleached hair for as long as possible.
You can leave it on for 10 minutes and get good results. But, if the hair is crying out for moisture, giving your hair more time to soak up the nourishing ingredients makes a big difference.
You can leave Restore and Shine Hair Masque on for 2 hours or overnight, depending on your routine.
If you are using other products, check the manufacturer’s instructions.
How Do you Make Bleached Hair Shiny?
If you’ve been bleaching your hair for some time, you may feel like it will never shine again. But, it is possible to get your shine back.
Paying attention to moisture and following these simple steps will help to make your bleached hair shiny.
- Regular shampooing and conditioning. For most people, 2 to 3 times a week. If you want hair to shine, it has to be clean.
- Use a leave-in conditioner for styling. Choose my Glossy Mist for maximum shine.
- Keep heated styling to a minimum. Get as much water out of your hair as possible with a towel before you use the hairdryer. Use medium heat on the hairdryer and finish with a blast of cool air to set your style.
- Use Restore and Shine Hair Masque every week to maximise moisture.
- Give your hair a spritz with leave-in conditioner spray in between washes.
Bleached Hair | Take Aways
1. Weekly Deep Conditioning
Deep condition bleached hair every week.
2. Regular Trims
Get regular trims and keep on top of dry ends for bleached hair.
3. Add Moisture to Hair as you Style
Use my styling products to add moisture to bleached hair when styling.
4. Reduce Heated Styling
5. Choose Nourishing Hair Products
How to Take Care of Bleached Hair | About the Author
Norris Ogario
Norris Ogario is founder and Creative Director of Ogario London. Developed in his London salon, the Ogario London haircare products reflect his belief that hydration is the key to fixing most hair problems. Hydrated hair can be styled with ease. Plus, hydration leaves hair shiny and healthy. Norris has over 35 years of hair know-how. With expertise in all hair types; from dry hair to fine or grey hair, from frizzy to damaged or bleached hair, curly hair and afro hair, Norris offers his expert advice.
Bleached Hair Products | Shop the Blog
Restore and Shine Hair Masque
- Add Shine
- Smooth Hair
- Get Rid of Frizz
- Detangle
- Strengthen
Styling Mist for Volume
- Add Volume
- Speed up Drying Time
- Target Split Ends
- Condition as you Style
Styling Mist for Glossy Finish
- Add Shine
- Speed up Drying Time
- Target Split Ends
- Condition as you Style
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About Us
Ogario London is a salon developed range of natural hair care products. Because we are passionate about our products, delivering the best results is at the heart of what we do. Do you have questions about our products? Or, would you like advice on the best products for your hair type? Maybe have another question about how to look after your hair? If you do, please get in touch at info@ogariolondon.com.
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Beauty Bible Recommends Ogario London Hair Masque Hair Treatment
Restore and Shine Hair Masque was awarded best hair mask in the Ultimate Natural Beauty Bible Awards. As an independent hair care brand, we are incredibly proud to be recognised alongside some of the industry’s biggest haircare brands. Because I spend time ensuring that our products deliver the best results, I couldn’t be happier to get this review and win this prestigious award.