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Aside from your clothes, your hair color is probably the next thing to change along with the seasons. New hair textures, coloring styles, and tones come around to beg for you to experiment with. One of the most challenging hair trends to achieve is one that requires bleach, such as the bleached blonde color. Even bleached highlights can make it too easy to end up with hair that you’ll need to know how to fix uneven bleached hair.
Perhaps you tried bleaching it at home but it didn’t turn out so well. Now what? Breathe deeply and relax.
If you find yourself in such a position, read on for some of my favorite tips and tricks on how to fix uneven bleached hair.
Why Does Your Hair Bleach Uneven?
Fixing unevenly bleached hair is a bit like damage control. You can find out what the factors are that would cause an uneven bleach job. And perhaps avoid the unevenness issue during the first go at bleaching your hair.
There are four main things that would cause bleached hair to come out uneven:
1. Working with More Hair than You Think
If you have very long or thick hair, the bleach job is going to need a lot more than one package of bleach mixture.
The instructions at the back of most packages are for medium hair length and thickness. You need at least double the amount of bleach you were initially going to use. You might have even needed as many as 4 packages.
Depending on how dark your base color is, bleaching your hair once may make it turn orange or red. Bleaching is harder to do the darker your original hair is because you’ll have to bleach it more than once.
However, it is not only that you need to increase the amount of bleach. On average, you should be aiming for a ratio of two parts developer to one part of bleach. So, when you increase the amount of bleach you plan on using, keep in mind that the net volume of the mixture will also go up and may end up being more than what your hair can handle.
2. Hair was Unevenly Sectioned
In an extension of the previous point, if you’re blessed with a lush mane, uneven bleach jobs will be constant companions unless you get your hair evenly sectioned. If you decide to bleach your hair without working in sections, you will for sure end up with a Jackson Pollock painting for a dye job. If you want to avoid this, take sections of your hair a little less than the diameter of a quarter and put them up with hairdressing clips so that you can ensure each section is uniformly bleached before you move on to the next.
It is essential to thoroughly mix the bleach and apply it evenly to the hair. It is best to work with small sections of hair when applying the mixture. The mixture should be worked from the roots to the ends of long strands.
It is recommended that you leave the bleaching mixture on your hair for at least 40 minutes. An impatient approach to bleaching can lead to a less-than-satisfactory result.
3. Not enough or weak strength product
This along with the amount of bleach used are the two main issues when it comes to dying dark hair. When going bleach or hair color shopping, take the time to look at the product strength. Most bleaching product strengths range from 10 to 40 — if you have very dark, thick hair, then you have no business shopping in the 10’s strength range.
The only time black hair should be treated with slightly milder products is if you have extremely curly hair. The kinks in curly hair require the hair strands to be thinner, which means that this type of hair gets bleached easier. Thus, even for dark hair, a product of strength in the early 30s should be more than enough.
Choosing the right product for your hair depends on the type of hair you have. You can consult a professional or seek advice from an expert in a variety of online forums whenever you are uncertain.
4. The product needed to be mixed better
If both hair thickness and color are not an issue for you, but you still keep seeing uneven tones, consider this reason. Make sure your lightener has not expired. While your product will continue to bleach past expiry, what it can’t much longer guarantee is your hair’s safety.
Secondly, make sure you’ve been mixing all the products fully. The actual lightening component in the mixture needs to be evenly distributed. Mixing bleach properly is crucial for achieving the best results. Uneven bleaching occurs if the mixing isn’t completely homogeneous.
How to Fix Uneven Hair Color After Bleaching
Now, if somehow, you’ve got quite the rainbow of tones across your locks, there is still hope. To go about fixing an uneven bleach job, you have two major options:
Method 1: Treat with a Toner
If the unevenness isn’t too extreme, then you can try using toner on your hair. It may not fix it entirely, but after multiple washes, it will definitely minimize how prominent the unevenness is and make your dye job look a bit more natural.
You can use toning shampoos to fix uneven bleached hair. This is a way of fixing incorrect shades by using contrasting colors. Experts say that blue shampoo and conditioner can neutralize an orange hue because blue is the opposite color of orange on the color wheel.
1. Pick a colored shampoo.
2. Wash your hair with it.
3. Apply hydrating moisturizer and you are good to go!
4. Make sure to use this shampoo twice or thrice a week until you see the results.
Precautions
Apply enough shampoo and conditioner to your hair. Using too much shampoo can cause split ends.
However, using a toner can be hit-or-miss — and there’s no telling which it will be. In most cases, mild unevenness caused by less abrasive lighteners will be fixed if washed about five to six times with toner. But if you’re one of those individuals that the toner gods have decided to frown upon, you might end up with brittle, almost crunchy hair instead.
Method 2: Redye with a Slightly Darker Shade
Let’s face it! As natural blondes are rare, women bleach their hair to lighten it. But inappropriate use of bleach can cause damage to your hair. The quick fix is to apply a darker hair dye and fix your uneven bleach.
This is a common method for restoring bleached hair. Below is a glimpse at the detailed steps:
1. Hold your hair gently and look at each strand carefully. For blonde roots that are orange or red at the tips, a darker shade like chocolate brown will help cover them up.
2. Divide your hair into sections. To apply the darker shade, begin at the roots and work your way to the tips. Remember to wear gloves. Ponytails are a good option if your hair is too long.
3. You must give it ample time before you see any results. We recommend waiting at least 40-50 minutes.
4. Using a gentle dye-friendly shampoo, wash your hair thoroughly.
5. As your hair will be tinted a darker shade, you will later use this as a base color, which will give you better results when you bleach it again a few weeks later.
Precautions
In order to prevent damage to your skin from the dark hair dyes, wear gloves and use a mask if you are doing the coloring yourself. This is, without doubt, the faster option between the two actual ‘color fixing’ methods. Ideally, you should be avoiding any further bleaching for at least three weeks after your initial bout of lightening, but if the end result of the first round is particularly uneven, then you can try hiding it under a darker shade.
Wait for about four days after your initial bleaching, and then try to figure out the darkest tone among the ones on your hair. What you want to dye your hair with is a color around one or two shades darker than this one.
There is no protocol for this process as such; follow the instructions that are on the back of the packaging and you should be good. Just make it a point to heavily condition your hair over the next few washes because hair dye so soon after a bleach job will have a negative effect on your hair health.
Method 3: Re-applying bleach
If you’d like to have bleached blonde hair, then you might have to wait a little while longer. While it is still possible to eventually have uniformly bleached hair, the waiting time, in this case, is a minimum of three weeks.
The actual waiting time would depend entirely on how healthy your hair is after the first round of bleach, but an average of 25 days seems to be sufficient for most hair types.
After your second bout of bleach, make sure you go out of your way to be nice to your mane with our best tips for keeping your bleached hair hydrated. What your hair has experienced is two rounds of its cuticles being dehydrated so that the color can grab onto the strands better.
For the remainder of the year, make sure you include coconut oil or keratin creams in your hair routine as a way of rebuilding your hair’s structure and hydration.
1. Start with cleaning your hair. Before bleaching your hair, shampoo it thoroughly.
2. Dry it. A good blow-dry will complete the job.
3. Use a brush to apply the bleach to each section of your hair after you part your hair. Work your way toward the roots of your hair.
4. It is not advisable to try to speed up this process because it may lead to uneven results. Don’t forget to cover each strand of your hair so that it doesn’t dry out before finishing the application process.
5. Finally, apply a moisturizing shampoo to your hair. Use a keratin cream for bleached hair.
6. Continuing your nourishing and hydrating hair routine may be beneficial. Include a conditioner and hair oil in your routine.
Precautions
Bleach and dye for your hair contain peroxide, so if you bleach it again, you will have to wait for three to four weeks. It is best to wait at least two weeks before re-applying bleach to fragile hair. You should use coconut oil and hydrating products before bleaching again since bleaching can dry your hair out.
Method 4: Targeted bleach application to fix uneven bleached hair
Sometimes you want to bleach your hair, but your hair ends up unevenly bleached. It’s no problem, you can target bleach them as you did before. Here’s what you do:
1. Observe the hair strands in thin sections to find the spots where bleaching failed.
2. Make a homogenized bleach mixture and apply it to the affected areas.
3. Let the bleach work for a while.
4. Then wash your hair with a gentle shampoo.
Precautions
Have an ample amount of bleach to fix everything. Consider using this method on a small area first.
How to Maintain Bleached Hair
Aside from knowing how to fix uneven hair color after bleaching, it is also important to take note of maintenance how-to’s that make sure your color lasts longer. After all, the bleaching is just a matter of a day or two, whereas maintenance is the long game.
After a hair bleaching, you are likely to discover that hair is extremely dry and damaged. You can add a couple of things into your haircare routine to return your hair to a healthy state.
Tip 1: Use Conditioning Products
After you’ve bleached or dyed your hair, one thing you need to live by is using color-preserving products. For a sleek hair-do, this one’s for you — get yourself some good color-preserving shampoo and conditioners. The longer your hair retains the color you want it to, the less frequently you’re going to be bleaching it. Then, the healthier it will be.
You can condition your hair more after bleaching. Hydration is your friend. By using leave-in conditioners, hair oils, and at-home conditioning treatments, you can make your hair softer.
Tip 2: Avoid Hot Water
In addition to drying out or scorching hair, hot water dries out other body parts as well. When bleached hair is involved, these effects are even more detrimental. You should only rinse your hair with lukewarm or cool water if you want it to be shiny and strong.
Tip 3: Enhance Your Diet
Changing your diet is one of the best ways to enhance your hair texture! Vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids improve the health of your hair and skin, making it soft and silky.
As for washing your hair, make sure you use a microfiber towel when washing to prevent your bleached hair from getting too dry or frizzy. Another thing to keep in mind is that you avoid brushing your hair when it’s wet. Because the bleach has already opened your cuticles wide, your hair in this condition is bound to absorb more water.
Which would make the strands heavier and more difficult for your follicles (the bulbs at the bottom of your hair) to hold on to. Brushing in this kind of scenario is going to end up with more hair accumulating in your brush than on your scalp.
Takeaway
And there you have it! Those are the tips and methods on how to fix uneven hair color after bleaching! If you’ve been stuck with a multi-toned hairdo and were actively pondering how to fix uneven hair color after bleaching jobs gone awry, follow the above steps.
Moreover, maintenance tips will make sure you can keep your bleached hair at the warm golden or the icy silver you’ve intended for it.
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