All You Need to Know about Bleaching and Hair Loss

Bleaching your hair can be addictive. It’s fun to switch up your hair color and add highlights to keep things fresh.

But as fun as it may be, bleaching is potentially the most damaging of all coloring methods. It lifts your hair’s outer cuticle to allow the bleach to fully penetrate and change its appearance. You can see how that might not be ideal if your goal is happy, healthy hair

So if you’re noticing thinning hair after bleaching and want to know whether dyeing your hair can cause baldness, read on.

Can Bleaching Cause Hair Loss?

Can bleaching your hair make it fall out? It’s possible.

Bleaching makes your hair dry, brittle, and inelastic — the perfect recipe for breakage and split ends. When your hair is damaged like this, hair loss becomes much more common. Bleached hair is porous and therefore more vulnerable to damage from styling tools like blow dryers and curlers.

Bleaching itself will not directly cause Hair Loss… but it makes hair loss much more likely to happen.

Normal activities like brushing your hair or even sleeping can start to cause more breakage as your hair becomes increasingly damaged. Breakage near the root may lead to short, uneven strands — which can feel alarming for women who think they’re suddenly losing hair. Bleaching and highlighting can damage the hair, but they do not cause true hair loss.

The only way bleaching can directly cause hair loss is through a chemical mishap. For example, if the bleach is left on your hair for too long or the mixture isn’t balanced properly, it could irritate your scalp and lead to more serious hair concerns.

How to Protect Hair

The best way to combat hair loss from bleaching is to use products that minimize the negative effects. You just have to prep. If you’re planning on bleaching your hair, use a pre-shampoo & Conditioning Treatment three days before. After bleaching, use a deep treatment once a week. This will plump your hair with moisture to make it more elastic and less likely to break, while also making it shinier and more manageable.

Find a daily damage-defense product you can use before leaving the house. It will protect your hair against UV rays by sealing the gaps in the strands. It might not seem like the elements are doing much damage, but you’d be surprised — pollution, air conditioning, wind, and UV rays can all take a toll on your hair over time, especially if it’s bleached.

Since bleached hair is more vulnerable to breakage, you might need to adjust your hair care regimen. Avoid brushing your hair too roughly, or pulling it too tightly when styling. Try to use a lower heat setting when using your styling tools, and never forget your Regrow Mist to defend against the heat.

If you want to bleach your hair, you absolutely can — just make sure you keep it protected. Avoid being too rough, keep it hydrated, and pay attention to the signs of damage. If you start to notice more hair in your brush or hair tie, consider giving coloring and highlighting a break for a few months. Letting your hair recover is almost always a smart decision.