Caring for Bleached Hair: Pro Tips for Healthy-Looking, Soft Locks

With today’s advancements in hair care—including bond-building technologies, deep-conditioning treatments, and expert application—it is possible to achieve a stunning bleach-blonde look while improving the hair’s overall health and appearance. Read on to discover the best practices for caring for your clients’ hair, both in the salon and at home.

 

 

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Start With a Consultation

As with any technical service, begin with an in-depth consultation to fully understand your client’s hair history and current condition. This step is key for assessing the hair’s suitability for a bleach blonde transformation and setting realistic expectations. Clearly outline the commitment involved, including the time, maintenance, and potential multi-session approach required to achieve the desired result. Transparency during this stage is essential for building trust and ensuring client satisfaction.

To elevate the experience, make your consultation space welcoming and professional. Have your portfolio, including photos or social media posts, ready to inspire clients with realistic outcomes. Use this opportunity to discuss the costs and ongoing maintenance required for the look, as this will help clients make informed decisions.

 

 

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Understanding the Impact of Bleaching Hair

Technical services require high-performing products that enable you to confidently take on any technical challenge. Bleaching is a chemical process that involves opening the hair cuticle with an alkaline agent (like ammonia) and breaking down the hair’s natural melanin with hydrogen peroxide. While effective at removing color, this process alters the hair’s structure. This can lead to:

• Breakdown of proteins: The oxidation process impacts keratin, which reduces the hair’s elasticity and strength.
• Increased porosity: Bleaching makes hair more porous, leading to quicker moisture loss.
• Cuticle changes: The protective outer layer of the hair can become more vulnerable to environmental factors.

Common Concerns for Bleached Hair

• Dryness: Bleached hair often loses moisture, leaving it feeling rough rather than smooth.
• Loss of shine and elasticity: The chemical process can reduce the hair’s natural sheen and flexibility.
• Susceptibility to breakage: Bleached strands require extra care to avoid damage.

This is why Magnet™, the ultimate end-to-end 360º solution for chemically treated hair, was created. It’s designed to surround your lightening services with a magnetic force powered by the BondIN SYSTEM™. Our protective, rebonding, and repairing multi-step system safeguards existing bonds, repairs damaged ones, and creates new ones, ensuring optimal hair health and strength.

Magnet™ features two key bonding ingredients: cystine derivatives, which protect and repair the hair’s keratin structure, and amide and amine derivatives, which form additional hydrogen and ionic bonds for stronger, healthier hair.

Why Post-Bleach Care Is Essential

Educating clients on the importance of post-bleach care is essential! Restoring hydration, supporting the hair’s internal structure, and protecting it from future damage will help it look its best. Equally important is emphasizing consistent at-home care, which helps maintain the desired tone, integrity, and manageability between visits.

 

 

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Essential Hair Care Products for Bleached Hair

Gentle, sulfate-free, and color-friendly shampoos, along with intensive conditioners, are essential for maintaining the health of bleached hair. Protein treatments play a crucial role in reinforcing weakened areas and supporting the hair’s structural integrity. However, it’s equally important to balance these treatments with hydrating products to prevent protein overload, which can make hair feel brittle and stiff. Incorporating hydration creates softness, manageability, and shine. For the ultimate care routine, alternating between targeted product lines provides the ideal balance of protein and hydration, offering a comprehensive solution for bleached hair.

Magnet™ Ultimate Post-Technical Shampoo

Magnet™ Ultimate Post-Technical Shampoo is the REBALANCE step of the Magnet™ BondIN SYSTEM™. It is designed to create and protect the hair’s internal bonds while providing a 360º protective shield against external aggressors. This innovative shampoo locks in color with its acidic pH formula, leaving hair shiny, soft, and full of natural movement. Additionally, it rebalances the hair’s pH levels and restores the inner structure, making it optimal for recovery after technical services.

How to use:

• After rinsing the technical service, apply the pH balancing shampoo to wet hair and massage softly.
• Rinse thoroughly.
• Repeat the process if necessary.

Eksperience™ Color Protection Conditioner

Eksperience™ Color Protection Conditioner is an intensifying lightweight hair conditioner formulated to protect color for longer. Infused with the exclusive Aquamaris Complex, the smoothing conditioner has a porosity equalizer action that provides more uniform results. It features Color Pro Tech, an ingredient that maintains hair color for at least 12 washes or 30 days. This conditioner has a nourishing and hydrating formula that contains sunflower oil and leaves hair restored and soft, silky, healthy looking.

How to use

• After using Eksperience™ Color Intensifying Hair Cleanser, distribute the color protecting conditioner onto towel-dried hair.
• Leave for a few minutes and rinse.
• Use after every wash.

 

 

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How to Prepare for Hair Bleaching

Proper preparation is key to ensuring the hair is in optimal condition for a successful and stunning transformation. Encourage most clients to start preparing their hair for bleaching about two weeks before their appointment. This pre-bleaching phase should focus on strengthening and hydrating the hair with high-quality at-home products. Recommend restorative conditioners and treatments, such as the Eksperience™ Hydro Nutritive Hydrating Hair Mask. Infused with the exclusive Aquamaris Complex, this deeply nourishing mask hydrates and conditions the hair. The formula contains Murumuru butter, avocado oil, and macadamia oil, which leave the hair silky-soft and brilliantly radiant.

Salon Techniques for Maintaining Vibrant Bleached Hair

Caring for bleached hair requires more than just skill during the lightening process—it’s an ongoing commitment. In the salon, specialized techniques and products are essential for preserving the integrity of bleached hair while perfecting its tone, shine, and vibrancy.

Post-Bleach Treatment Application

Applying restorative treatments immediately after bleaching is the key to soothe and replenish the hair. Bleaching can leave the hair feeling dry, so using reparative solutions right away helps mitigate potential damage and improves the overall appearance.

The Magnet™ Ultimate Post-Technical Treatment is an excellent choice for reinforcing the hair’s internal structure and locking in hydration. This treatment is specially formulated for chemically treated hair.

For added strength and shine, follow the bleaching process with a leave-in product like Magnet™ Blondes Ultimate Oil – Repair & Neutralization. This anti-breakage, strengthening hair oil is designed for blonde and bleached hair, acting as a neutralizer to combat brassiness with purple pigments for a cool blonde tone. It strengthens the hair fiber while detangling, controlling frizz, sealing split ends, and adding shine. Ideal for at-home color maintenance between salon visits, this product, when combined with gentle handling and professional techniques, helps keep the hair manageable and vibrant immediately after the service.

Combating Brassiness

Advise clients to use purple or blue shampoos to neutralize unwanted yellow tones and keep their hair color fresh. No bleach routine is complete without purple-based products! Encourage clients to use purple or blue shampoos weekly to refresh their tone and neutralize yellow undertones. For a full explanation of how purple shampoo works, refer to What Does Purple Shampoo Do? For an added boost, recommend using Nutri Color™ Filters, which provide a built-in mask for vibrant, maintained color.

 

Getting Regular Trims

Haircuts are especially important for bleached hair, so advise clients on the benefits of regular trims to keep their ends looking neat and prevent split ends from appearing. Recommend scheduling trims every 6-12 weeks to maintain their desired look.

 

 

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Heat Styling Tips

While bleached hair doesn’t love frequent heat, many stunning looks can be achieved with just styling products (hello, wet looks!). It’s important to educate clients on minimizing heat styling to preserve the hair’s appearance, and recommend a personalized routine specifically tailored for bleached and colored hair.

If the hair is textured or lacks volume, suggest scrunching the roots or twisting sections, air-drying, or using low-heat settings with a diffuser whenever possible. This helps keep the hair looking healthy and prevents the color from turning brassy or fading prematurely.

We love the RE/START Balayage Hair Care Cream, a must-have treatment specifically designed for bleached, Balayaged, and highlighted hair. During styling, it infuses the principles of skinification, strengthening and restoring the hair’s inner bonds while fortifying the fiber to prevent breakage. It provides 96% stronger hair and shields it from external aggressors for ultimate defense.

Preventing and Managing Common Bleached Hair Issues

From dryness and breakage to brassiness and fading, these challenges can affect the look and health of bleached hair. By understanding the causes and implementing the right techniques and products, stylists can help clients maintain vibrant, strong, and healthy hair.

Preventing Breakage

Encourage gentle detangling practices, using tools like wide-tooth combs and protective styles that minimize strain on bleached hair. Sleeping on a silk pillowcase (or using a bonnet) can make a significant difference, as hair tends to tangle easily overnight. Trust us, the hair—and your clients—will love this princess treatment!

Protection from Environmental Stressors

Discuss the importance of shielding hair from sun exposure, chlorine, and pollution. Suggest products with UV filters or protective sprays. Blonde, gray, and bleached hair often loses its natural, beautiful tones and becomes yellowish. We recommend the Equave ™ Anti-Brassiness Conditioner, which has been reformulated with a high concentration of purple pigments. This powerful leave-in detangler and conditioner neutralizes any undesired yellow tones, making it easier to achieve ideal natural shades while leaving hair bright and shiny.

Scalp Care for Bleached Hair Clients

The perfect post-bleach routine wouldn’t be complete without soothing and hydrating the scalp. RE/START Hydration Scalp Moisturizing Lotion is a lightweight, dual-action scalp moisturizer that helps balance and protect the scalp’s microbiome while providing essential moisture. Infused with hyalucomplex, a combination of hyaluronic acid and panthenol, it hydrates and calms the scalp, providing a soothing sensation of comfort.

Keratin and Smoothing Treatments

For clients seeking added shine and manageability, suggest keratin treatments such as the Eksperience™ Reconstruct Line.  Exclusively for in-salon use, this professional re-keratinizing hair lotion treatment helps repair the damaged, opened cuticle and the weakened cortex by providing additional Mimetic Keratin and a low-weight reconstructing molecule.

Now that you know the techniques for caring for bleached hair, it’s time to empower your salon even further! Simply visit Revlon Pro AlwaysOn (available for clients only, so click the link to become one). To get all the products you need, go to Revlon ProShop, and for more color advice, check out our Revlon Pro Color World Mobile App, which offers professional color tools.