Hair breaking at root from bleach

[Tibasaur]

I need mega advice please. I have very dark and wavy hair, its not coily but has a lot of bounce, is veeeeeeeery thick and I have so much hair.

For the last few years, once a year I've been getting my hair bleached in salons and putting pastel pink in. There has been many issues. My hair melted off 2 years ago as I was left with bleach on for over an hour and was forgotten about.. or so I thought.

I got my hair bleached on Thursday, I hadn't had any bleach in it for a year, and we did my virgin root first, didnt touch anywhere that had had bleach previously. I use salon products for washing and styling. There was bleach on my hair for 15 minutes, and it was so hot that to touch my head I scalded my fingers. I made my friend (who is a hairdresser), wash it out, and handfuls of my hair came out from the root. Only a quarter of my hair even had bleach on it.

My friend is just baffled, she can't understand what happened. She put a 30 vol in and i was wondering if maybe because I have so much hair it like created a heat lock or something and just massively increased the heat? I didnt have these issues when I had hair that was 2 inches long, I bleached that at home with no problems.

Any advice would help. I desperately want to be pink. I had to dye my hair brown to cover the skunky look i had, is it impossible with my hair type? Or has anyone encountered this before and how do you get around it? Thanks

 

[Noodle]

Welcome to Salon Geek.

Unfortunately, it’s against forum rules to provide detailed technical information or colour formulas to those who are untrained.

The best advice we can offer is that as soon as lockdown has been lifted, you visit a local colourist for a professional consultation.

In the meantime, please do not be tempted to experiment with chemicals and solutions, as this is obviously dangerous but also potentially harmful to your already damaged hair.

 

[Tibasaur]

Oh no, I'm not wanting to do it myself. I understand why that rule is in place. My previous hairdressers have no experience with it and I just don't know whether to keep trying (like in 6-12 months) or to give up the pink hair dream. I dont want a step by step guide to getting it right, but I feel like a freak that I have this hair that literally jumps off my head at the sight of bleach was just hoping for some kind of knowledge about my potential hair type

 

[AcidPerm]

Is your ‘Hairdresser’ friend actually qualified?

1. She should not be doing anyone’s hair whilst we’re still in lockdown. She won’t be insured if you decided to sue her.

2. You NEVER use 30vol with bleach on the scalp. 20 vol max.

3. It doesn’t sound like an allergic reaction as you’ve not mentioned swelling at the scalp or blistering.

4. It might be something as simple as too strong a bleach mix. Let me guess...she didn’t bother carefully measuring the quantities of powder and developer and just mixed according to consistency. Very unprofessional!

5. Otherwise, I suspect that what you have experienced is an exothermic reaction where the bleach mix has reacted with something metallic on the hair. I’m guessing at some point in the last 6 months you have used a home colouring product such as a henna based colour or maybe had a medical procedure involving anaesthetic or your have well water or old pipes in your home plumbing? These are all things that will affect your hair when using colour products.

4. DO NOT apply any more hair colour products to it for at least another couple of months or so to allow whatever is on the hair to thoroughly wash out. You next hairdresser will need to perform an incompatibility test before further colouring or bleaching to be on the safe side, otherwise the reaction could be a lot worse next time!

 

[Tibasaur]

Is your ‘Hairdresser’ friend actually qualified?

1. She should not be doing anyone’s hair whilst we’re still in lockdown. She won’t be insured if you decided to sue her.

2. You NEVER use 30vol with bleach on the scalp. 20 vol max.

3. It doesn’t sound like an allergic reaction as you’ve not mentioned swelling at the scalp or blistering.

4. It might be something as simple as too strong a bleach mix. Let me guess...she didn’t bother carefully measuring the quantities of powder and developer and just mixed according to consistency. Very unprofessional!

5. Otherwise, I suspect that what you have experienced is an exothermic reaction where the bleach mix has reacted with something metallic on the hair. I’m guessing at some point in the last 6 months you have used a home colouring product such as a henna based colour or maybe had a medical procedure involving anaesthetic or your have well water or old pipes in your home plumbing? These are all things that will affect your hair when using colour products.

4. DO NOT apply any more hair colour products to it for at least another couple of months or so to allow whatever is on the hair to thoroughly wash out. You next hairdresser will need to perform an incompatibility test before further colouring or bleaching to be on the safe side, otherwise the reaction could be a lot worse next time!

Thank you so much for the response. Honestly, no, she's halfway through her apprenticeship. So I know, i did the bad thing. Im dreading going back to my hairdresser cause I know I'm gonna get a well deserved earful. I've had awful hair for 5 years due to bad hairdressers doing bad things to it, i take really good care of it, i got cocky and thought id be okay. Lesson learned.

Thanks for mentioning the 20 vol on scalp. The hairdressers here don't seem to have any idea why my hair is the way it is so ill listen out to make sure nothing stronger ever goes at my scalp.

I think it was measured properly but im not a professional so I wouldn't bet my life on it! It I was scaaaaaalding hot though, so you're probably right.

So I would love clarification on this if you or anyone else knows as my hairdressers are never sure, they're only familiar with several products. I use manic panic/directions hair dyes to top up the pink etc, should I only be using things you get some salons/salon supply places like the alfaparf colours? I usually end up getting alternative brands as they end up being closer to the colours I want. My pipes are super new and I've had local anaesthetics in my face for fillings in the last year if that counts?

Honestly I know I sound like the worlds biggest dope right now but generally I do the right stuff for my hair (never use heat on it, use a cotton tshirt to dry it), im eager to know what else I can do to help as the problem is mostly ignorance. Aside from making the silly decision to let me friend at it. I have found a fab hairdresser, shes very cautious with my hair but obviously there's things I'm still using in my hair that are wrong so I want to cut them out.

Also no plans to touch my hair, will be going back to my hairdresser for her to cut it and survey the damage and hopefully she can put some sort of toner on to even out the colour until its ready for something more permanent! Thankfully I have so much hair you can't tell I lost any

 

[AcidPerm]

I use Manic Panic and Directions on myself, as they’re classed as semi permanent direct dyes. Generally, they won’t cause any damage because there’s no oxidisation process involved, although you can still be allergic to the ingredients so I always do a skin test on new clients.

Another possibility that I forgot to mention above, could you have had Covid-19? We obviously still don’t know enough about Covid, but hairdressers are being advised to skin test ALL CLIENTS before a colour service when we start back up again as it’s thought it might affect the body’s immune system and could cause a reaction to the chemicals used in the colour products. Even if you’re sure you haven’t had it, you could be asymptomatic so have the virus but without the symptoms.

 

[Tibasaur]

I use Manic Panic and Directions on myself, as they’re classed as semi permanent direct dyes. Generally, they won’t cause any damage because there’s no oxidisation process involved, although you can still be allergic to the ingredients so I always do a skin test on new clients.

Another possibility that I forgot to mention above, could you have had Covid-19? We obviously still don’t know enough about Covid, but hairdressers are being advised to skin test ALL CLIENTS before a colour service when we start back up again as it’s thought it might affect the body’s immune system and could cause a reaction to the chemicals used in the colour products. Even if you’re sure you haven’t had it, you could be asymptomatic so have the virus but without the symptoms.

Okay cool, I'm always worried with semi permanent ones as I change them every now and then but I've no idea what to look out for in the ingredients. I dont think I've had it as everyone in my house has been fine, but maybe there's been another product I've used that does have metal in it.

I use supermarket dry shampoo but everything else is schwartzkoph bonacure and their curly hair range. I do coconut oil masks every now and then too. My hairdresser does strand tests before she touches my hair anyway.. maybe it was just too high a volume? I dunno. Racking my brain to try think of anything else I put in my hair! Thanks for the help anyway