Does Bleaching Damage Your Hair?

Can bleaching damage hair? After all, we've shared horror stories about bleaching before. We even mentioned some tips on how to avoid bleaching damage.

But some of you may be asking – if bleaching was so dangerous, how come we're still doing it? How come bleaching products aren't banned yet? How come we haven't found an alternative yet? Does bleaching really damage your hair?

How bleach works on your hair

If you think about it, bleach is quite amazing. A technological innovation, somehow. Come on, don't you ever wonder how bleach actually manages to change your hair color? Just look – from dark to pale in just a few hours!

Bleach removes all color from your hair through a process known as 'oxidation'. The term refers to the chemical reaction that happens every time your hair gets exposed to oxygen and UV light at the same time. Oxidation affects the pigments, called melanin, in your strands which causes them to lose all their color.

This is done through bleaching agents or lightening agents, which open up your strands' cuticles to let the oxidative agents change the chemistry inside your shafts. The most common lightening agents nowadays are ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. In addition, these two are often mixed together as well since they work much slower when they're on their own.

While bleach can be used simply to lighten hair, it can also turn your hair white, or close to white, when left on too long. They usually have yellowish or reddish tones though, and most of the time, you'd have to use a white tint if you want the platinum blonde look.

Bleaching and hair damage

Bleaching isn't necessarily bad, but it is an undeniable truth that bleaching can be quite damaging to your hair.

This is because the very process that allows your hair to change its color also makes your strands more susceptible to dryness. Remember when we said that bleaching agents open up your hair cuticles to let in oxidative agents? Repeated bleaching can cause your hair cuticles to open permanently, leaving them exposed. And if there's one thing you should know about hair,  it's that dryness – and anything that causes it – is your hair's biggest enemy.

So yes, bleaching does damage hair. Though, it also depends on how healthy your hair is in the first place and how light you want your hair to be. If you just want it to be a few shades lighter, for example, the damaging effect on your hair won't be as big as someone who went from deep black to full-on white.

A lot of the bleaching damage caused to your hair is also not caused by bleaching itself. Instead, they're more of by-effects of the bleach itself. Your hair gets more brittle when you bleach it, so if you're always using heat styling on a daily basis, you can expect your hair to get some repercussions too.

Got any questions? Ask away at the comment section below and we'll get back to you as soon as we can! And as always, for more hair care tips and tricks, feel free to check out the ZALA blog!