How To Care For Bleach-Damaged Hair

Bleaching your hair can be an exhilarating choice, but it’s far from low-maintenance. In addition to scheduling regular root touch-ups to keep your bleached blonde hair looking fresh, you’ll need to invest in products designed to combat bleach damage. The best hair care for bleached hair helps address the damage that goes hand-in-hand with bleaching while working to keep your blonde bright, shiny, and brass-free. If you’re not sure where to start, we can help. Ahead, we’re sharing tips on how to keep bleached hair looking and feeling healthy, plus sharing details on some of our favorite products specially created for damaged, bleached hair.

What Happens to Your Hair When You Bleach It?

Hair bleach works by stripping your hair of its natural color. The chemicals in bleach lift the hair shaft, allowing the bleach to go inside the hair and lighten the natural pigments within. While this process will lighten your hair, it can also strip your hair of moisture, leaving it dry and fragile. After bleaching, the hair becomes more porous and vulnerable to moisture loss, which can leave your strands looking frizzy, dull, and unmanageable. The bleaching process also weakens protein bonds in the hair, which can lead to breakage and reduced strength. Fortunately, bleach damage to your hair won’t last forever. Bleached blonde hair just requires some extra care, and patience to let the damage grow out over time.

How To Repair and Maintain Bleached Hair 

With a few tweaks to your routine and the right products, you can improve the look and feel of your bleach-damaged hair. Consider our six tips below and learn how to take care of bleached hair like a pro.

1. Use color-safeand bond-repairing products

Using color-safe products is key to maintaining your new hue for the long haul. But if you’ve bleached your hair, you’ll also want to look for formulas that help repair your hair’s bonds to help keep your strands strong and minimize breakage.

To cleanse, condition, and strengthen bleach-damaged hair, we recommend swapping your current shampoo and conditioner for the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate Free Bond Repair Shampoo and L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate Free Bond Repair Conditioner. The color-safe duo is suitable for all hair types and leaves the hair feeling soft, smooth, and hydrated. For extra reparative benefits, pre-treat your strands with the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Bond Strengthening Pre-Shampoo Treatment. It’s made with a 15% bonding complex with citric acid and helps strengthen weak, damaged hair from the inside out, leaving it stronger, smoother, and less susceptible to breakage.

Editor’s tip: Hot showers may feel like the ultimate delight, but using too much hot water can strip your hair (and skin) of natural oils, which can lead to fading color and dryness. Play it safe and turn down the water temperature while showering. 

2. Use a deep conditioning hair mask 

If you’ve ever wondered how to make bleached hair soft and silky, know that bleach-damaged hair needs all the hydration it can get. A few times per week (or as needed) reach for a deep conditioning mask to help replenish moisture. One of our best hair masks for bleached hair is the L’Oreal Paris Elvive Total Repair 5 Damage Erasing Balm Rinse-Out Mask. It’s formulated with almond oil and a 17% repair concentrate with protein and helps repair up to one year’s worth of damage to hair smoothness in a single use. To reap the benefits of this luxe treatment, wash your hair as usual, then squeeze out excess water and massage the mask throughout your mid-lengths and ends. Let the treatment sit for about three to five minutes, then rinse and style your hair as usual. 

3. Fight brassiness with a purple shampoo and conditioner

Bleached hair has a tendency of becoming brassy over time. To help keep unwanted yellow and orange tones at bay, add a toning shampoo and conditioner to your in-shower lineup. For bleached blonde hair, we love the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate-Free Purple Shampoo and the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate-Free Purple Conditioner. This color-protecting duo is formulated with purple pigments to neutralize unwanted orange and yellow tones while keeping your bleached strands extra vibrant. It's generally recommended to use your purple shampoo once a week or every other wash to avoid over-toning your strands.

If your hair is extra brassy, you can also try using a purple hair mask like the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate-Free Anti Brass Purple Mask Treatment. The toning mask deeply nourishes dry, colored hair and neutralizes even stubborn brassy tones in as few as five minutes.

4. Use a heat protectant before styling

High temperatures can strip moisture from your hair, potentially making any existing damage worse. To help protect your bleached hair from further damage, it’s a good idea to keep heat styling to a minimum. Try heat-free styles like braids or overnight beach waves, and let your hair air-dry whenever possible. If you must heat style your hair, be sure to prep your strands with a high-quality heat protectant. For bleached hair, we love the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Bond Repair Hair Oil-in-Serum. It helps protect against temperatures up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, strengthens hair, and boosts shine—all without weighing it down or making it feel greasy. Plus, you can apply it to wet or dry hair for a sleek, healthy-looking finish. If you prefer the weightless feel of leave-in conditioners, try the L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate Free Moisture 21-in-1 Leave-In Conditioner. It helps protect against heat damage, detangles, smooths frizz, and boosts shine. Plus, it’s color-safe, so you don’t have to worry about it dulling your bleached blonde mane.

5. Shield your strands from the sun

According to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), frequent sun exposure can make hair weak, brittle, and dry—even more so if it’s already damaged from bleach. If you’re planning to spend an extended amount of time outdoors, remember to cover your hair properly and seek shade as often as possible.

6. Schedule regular trims

Scheduling regular trims is essential for maintaining the health of bleached hair. The bleaching process weakens the hair, and over time, this can lead to split ends. If left untreated, split ends can travel up the hair shaft, causing further breakage and making your hair more fragile. Regular trims, every six to eight weeks, can help keep split ends at bay and ensure your mane looks (and feels) its best.

Next Up: How to Dye Dark Hair Without Using Bleach

Photo courtesy of L’Oréal Paris