What Happens If You Bleach Grey Hair?

Many people that know me personally, know that I am not a person that makes fun of other people. I’m a positive and sweet girl who just doesn’t do that… BUT There are some occasions it gets the better of me and I just want to make fun of someone.

And that someone *drum rolls* is my mom! Now of course all is meant in a fun way but I do make fun of her. Not because I don’t like her or anything but just because she hated being gray at a young age. I think she told me that she started to become gray in her early 20s. That’s not something people enjoy often. So as a good daughter would do I sometimes remind her of her being gray at an early age and this always gets me a look that is so funny to me (oh I do hope that you all understand the context)!

Because she hated it she started coloring her hair. So, often I saw her sitting on a chair with my aunt applying the color in her hair. Now that is what lead to this post.

A couple of weeks ago I started teasing her, but then we started talking about hair care and such things (because she knows I love it) and that is how we came on the topic of bleaching gray hair. Below is a summary of what we talked about that evening :).

So, what happens if you bleach grey hair? First, you need to know that there are two types of grey hair. You have natural grey hair and grey hair that is white. naturally, grey hair has lost its yellow pigment and that means that blue and red are still left in your hair. When you then apply bleach to your hair you’ll get a warm light brown/blond kind of color depending on how much bleach it of course. 

4 tips for bleaching grey hair

Now, most women are likely to stay calm as they first see the first grey hair in their normally full-colored coupe. Not my mom, as I told you earlier she went just a little nuts, and as soon as she found a couple of them she wanted to color her hair. Years later she still does this because she’s not ready to embrace the grey hair just yet. Now she has colored her hair white so that when her hair grows you don’t notice (or hardly notice) that she has a head full of grey hair. But if you can not embrace the grey hair just yet but white is good for you, you can start bleaching your grey hair. How do you do this? Read the 4 tips below!

1. Here’s the thing you have to keep in mind. You need to think about the strategy you’ll use because if you come from blond hair, the process is different than for people who have dark color hair. If you only have blond highlights or things like that you might just get them to grow out because they’re hardly noticeable. However, if you have a darker hair color you might need other solutions such as coloring your hair in a transitional shade, getting streaks, or going for a shorter haircut.
2. The longer the hair the harder it is to transition to white hair. If you have long hair you can do something like gradually change your hair color lighter and lighter over the months for a smooth transition.
3. If you have fewer red pigments applied to your hair the process is simpler. From blond to grey is just simpler than coming from a dark coupe. From light blond to white is almost not noticeable for people. You can make it even harder for them (and maybe better for you) by putting in light streaks in your hair during the time you go from blond to white hair.
4. Tinting can help! This helps in covering up the grey hair and this automatically helps with hiding darker roots. 

How Do You Bleach Grey Hair?

After you’ve read the tips I set out for you earlier, you can, with this information in your mind, start the bleaching process! But if you want a full step by step for bleaching your hair you can find it below!

First:  The first thing you have to keep in mind is that you need to prepare your hair. Bleach works by breaking through your hair shaft. This way it can oxidize the melanin granules that give your hair its color. You can imagine that this process causes hair damage and for that reason, your hair needs to be healthy. If you know that you already have dry or damaged hair, I advise you to wait a month (or maybe two). This gives you time to prepare your hair.

Second: Work with natural hair as much as possible. If you can, try to not mess with your hair for three months (no coloring and such things) This is because bleach works best on natural hair that isn’t processed. If you have done something with your hair in the past weeks or months you should know that there is a greater chance of hair damage if you re-process to soon.

Third: Conditioner, conditioner, conditioner. Two weeks before the bleaching you need to start conditioning your hair. If you can go for deep conditioning masks at least twice a week. 

Okay, this was the preparation. Now we’re going to bleach it!

Step one: Put on some old clothes! You do not want your pretty dress to become a mess. Also, put on your gloves.

Step two: Section your hair. Do this by dividing it in such a way that the crown of your hair is secured away. You do this so that you can work the back of your hair first. The crown section that you just secured away is the most difficult part so it is better to save that for last.

Step three: Mix the bleach powder and developer. One needs to add two parts of the developer for every one part of bleach you put in the bowl. Mix the contents so that there are no lumps left in the bowl.

Step four: Now you can start applying it in your hair! Once you’ve done the bottom sections you can undo the secured part that you just put away and start applying the bleach there. After you have put the bleah in all of your hair you can cover your hair with a shower cap or a plastic bag (that might look funny as hell!

Step 5: Sit back and wait! Now, this is probably the easiest step! Now I need to say that you need to keep an eye on time here. Do not leave the bleach in your hair for more than 30 to 45 minutes. Also, check regularly if the color is lifting to the level you want. 

Note to you: If you have any irritation on your skin, some redness, itching, or burning after you have the bleach in for a while. Wash it out and go see a doctor. You might be allergic and better safe than sorry!

Step six: After the 30 to 45 minutes you can jump into the shower and rinse everything out. Wash your hair with a balancing shampoo (to balance the pH levels of your scalp) and let your hair dry.

How to take care of your hair after bleaching it?

There are a couple of important things that you have to do to take good care of your bleached hair. You have to minimize conditioner usage. This is because conditioner uses chemicals to make your hair better but after you’ve bleached it, it can also damage your hair further. If you want to use conditioner I would say you are safe if you use it once a week. Another thing that you can do is using natural products. We all know that chemicals damage your hair. So to not damage it further than it needs to be you can use organic products. You can either do this by buying them in a store or you can try it at home! there are some wonderful recipes out there!

Then there are some things you need to avoid: styling tools. The heat of the styling tools can damage your hair. And as I described above you need to care for your hair, not damage it any further. So, again, avoid styling tools as much as you can for at least two weeks.

Stay away from or dilute your shampoo. Again, your shampoo contains chemicals that can damage your hair. If you can stay away from it for some time, great. If you can’t try diluting it by adding a little water.

Final thoughts 

After writing this post I have greater respect for the troubles my mother went through. From coloring hair to bleaching it, too (as of this year) letting the grey hair out! I hope you have learned a lot about what happens if you bleach grey hair. The most important part to take away today is the fact that you need to do all this in a safe manner. If anything goes wrong you need to ask for help and/or if something goes really wrong you can see a hairstylist (or a doctor if you find out that you have some sort of reaction to the bleach).

Take good care of your hair and have fun experimenting!