Changing the color of our hair is not always a simple procedure. If you are up to some minor changes, your locks will most likely not need any serious processing and chemical treatment. However, if your goal is to shift from one color to another, and those shades are completely different (for instance, you are moving from brown to blonde), using bleach is mandatory.
How long do you leave bleach in your hair to get the ideal result and not ruin your mane completely? And why do we have to make use of such a strong chemical at all?
Today we prepared a complete guide for you that will answer this inquiry.
How Long to Leave 30 Volume Bleach On To Lighten Hair
How long to leave bleach in hair to undergo the procedure safely? Well, as a rule, it is recommended to leave this chemical applied from fifteen to thirty minutes to get the required result without causing dramatic harm to your strands.
Of course, it all hangs upon the current state of your mane and its color, as well as on your goals, but in general, opt for a time period of fifteen minutes to half an hour. Even since there is a general rule of thumb that the lighter you want your hair to be the longer you need to bleach it, any bleaching that takes more than thirty minutes will start ruining your locks.
Coloring hair is a very stressful procedure for our manes, however, bleaching is even worse. This aggressive chemical affects our locks and scalp, so keeping it applied for too long can not only damage your tresses or screw up the desired shade, it can badly harm the skin on your head!
And even if you need to keep 30 vol bleach on black hair, the timing will be the same. As for the hair developer that is often used along with bleach, using it will imply different timing:
| Developer | Desired lift | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Demi-lotion | no lift | 20 min |
| 10 vol | tone-to-tone | 30 min |
| 20 vol | 1 to 2 levels | 35 min |
| 30 vol | 2 to 3 levels | 40 min |
| 40 vol | up to 4 levels | 50 min |
How Long to Leave Bleach In Hair 20 vol
How long to leave bleach on hair if it is a 20 vol product? This question is often asked by the newbie coloring addicts who are still not quite aware of how things work with applying hair coloring chemicals.
And even though you may think that the level of bleach potency influences the time of application, basically, we still have to stick to the 15-30 minutes rule no matter whether it is a 20 vol or 30 vol bleaching agent.
Bleach is harmful no matter of its volume grade, so there is no point in leaving it applied longer.
How Long to Leave Bleach In Hair For Highlights
All right, so you need to keep your tresses bleached for no longer than half an hour in case you are going to change your color completely. But what if you are up to just partial changes, such as highlights? Will that make any difference?
In fact, when highlighting hair, especially if its natural shade is rather dark, one will need to undergo multiple bleaching sessions since it is necessary to lift the initial tint from the dark shade to its lighter variant (e.g. from dark brown to light brown), and then move to red, to orange, and finally to yellow.
Each session must last for a maximum of thirty minutes still.
Why to Apply Bleach When Dyeing Hair
If you have ever dyed your tresses at least once, you definitely know that in most cases, such transformation implies the use of certain chemicals, and one of them is bleach. Since there are lots of arguments regarding this product and the effect it has when applied on our hair, most of you may wonder why we should make use of it at all since it is so harmful.
Well, let us explain this to you in simple words. See, when we want to undergo some dramatic hair color changes and, for instance, shift from light to dark or vice versa, applying bleaching agent is a must since otherwise, the color pigment will not simply set!
Most unnatural shade dyes are semi-permanent which means that none of them will be able to lift your natural hair color to make it any lighter than it is already. The pigment will simply not set on your locks.
This is why it is crucially important to lighten the tresses as much as possible to let that color show up. It is also true for pastel tints. Moreover, if any color errors like yellowness can be hidden with the darker shades, when we color our manes with light pastel shades, those will only tinge that yellowish stuff more!
This is the reason why we might need to undergo bleaching several times which is, of course, quite a harmful acti for our strands.
What Can Go Wrong If I Leave Bleach Applied For Too Long
Hair coloring newbies tend to stumble upon the same issue of leaving bleach on their hair for too long. Such a mistake, nevertheless, can cost you too much since bleaching is a very damageable procedure.
What can go wrong if we for any reason leave the bleaching agent applied to our locks for too long? Well, in this case, be ready to experience certain unwanted results!
- Your locks will most likely get damaged
Damaged hair takes plenty of time, effort, and money to bring it back to the initial healthy state. For this reason, always follow the instructions given on the box with the bleach as strictly as you only can! Keep it applied within the allowed period of time, apply and remove it correctly, and follow the recommended dosage meticulously. In addition, remember to have a two-weeks gap between the bleaching sessions to let your hair recover. Like that, your tresses will get the least of possible harm.
- Your strands can become too light
This is another effect of the bleaching process error. And since it is not always that bad, ending up with too light tresses may lead to having the final color that is way too far from what you expected.
- Excessive bleaching can turn your hair orange
It mostly happens when we leave bleach on harker hair and forget to remove it in time. Already have orange strands? No worries, this can be fixed.
- The bleach can stop working
A bleaching agent stops working after a certain period of time, so don’t expect it to turn your locks blonde if you leave it longer than needed. The only effect you get when doing so is extremely damaged hair.
What to Do to Keep Your Strands Nourished And Hydrated After Bleaching
As you already know, the use of bleach, even in minor doses, is extremely stressful for our manes! This is why it is vitally important that we take care of the freshly bleached locks to revive them after the procedure.
The simplest steps you can take to keep your hair in a proper state are the following:
- Try to avoid washing hair too often. Doing this two or three times a week is more than enough! After bleaching, your hair needs some rest and peace, so don’t stress it even more with frequent shampooing.
- Skip using shampoo no matter how odd it sounds. And believe our word, your head will not turn into an oily and smelly mess! Try to stick to only your conditioner for a while, and you will see how smooth and silky your mane will become.
- Shift for a gentler shampoo. Try to find a product that contains a minimal amount of harsh chemicals like parabens and others. It will be super great if you shift to an organic alternative, but that is not mandatory. Remember: proper washing – less stressed locks.
- Provide the recently bleached tresses with enough hydration and nourishing. Hair masks and other reviving procedures will be helpful here. Your mane will say thank you for that, and you will be pleased with how healthy it looks.
- Remember to protect your hair from heat! If you can’t refuse using blow dryers and styling tools, do that along with special protecting sprays. Your chevelure is already too dry, don’t make things worse.
- The last but not least, consider eating healthy. Our hair reacts to the quality of our food a lot, so the more fresh foods you have (fruits, veggies, dairy, etc), the healthier and stronger your locks will be.
So in general, bleaching hair requires from 15 to 30 minutes of time regardless what sort of coloring you are up to. However, if your goal is a complete change of your hair shade, you might need to undergo multiple bleaching sessions. Consider this before starting, since bleach is an extremely aggressive chemical!
