How To Fix Uneven Bleached Hair?

Bleaching hair is a delicate process. It’s not done easily, and even those who are experienced at bleaching sometimes aren’t sure how it will turn out.

What every professional loves is bleaching virgin hair. Virgin hair is a term used for hair that is natural – never dyed, processed, or heat styled. Bleaching virgin hair is an easy job since even beginners can have great control over the process.

However, not all dye jobs are easy. Most people opt for bleach to achieve very light hair tones. Usually, platinum blondes have to go at least through one round of bleach to get those almost white locks!

So many of us have left the salon unsatisfied with the results. Be that a hair cut or a dye job, either way, we all thought once: even I could do a better job than this!

One day, you decided to bleach your hair to remove the dye from your hairdresser. Maybe you’re inexperienced or made a mistake, but now you have uneven bleached hair – which may be worse than the original look.

How to fix uneven bleached hair, you ask yourself? Luckily, we have the solution – so continue reading to find out!

Why Did Your Bleached Hair Turn Out Uneven?

There are various reasons why your hair failed to turn out well. Bleaching truly is a delicate process, because the bleaching mixture is very strong. Let’s talk about the possible reasons why the hair is uneven after bleaching:

Previous Dye Jobs

Previous dye jobs are one of the main reasons why your hair was uneven, especially if you dyed your hair with box dye beforehand. Box dye is more aggressive to your hair compared to professional dye.
That means, the box dye enters deeply into the hair follicle. If you fail to disclose to your hairdresser that you used box dye on your hair, they might not bleach the hair properly.
Once they wash out the bleach, the results could be much less than satisfactory, but by then, it’s usually too late. Always communicate with your hairdresser about the products you use in your hair and be honest – it’s the only sure way to get the hair you want!
Furthermore, if you have a very dark base color, it could give you unevenly bleached hair. If your hair naturally has red tones, the bleach could turn it orange, rather than blonde.

Improper Bleach To Developer Ratio

When you’re mixing up the bleach powder with the developer, it’s crucial to mix the correct ratio. Measure the ingredients carefully – even if you go a little off it could give you unevenly bleached hair.
Moreover, make sure that you mix the ingredients well. Mix until the bleach is completely homogeneous and gel-like.

Uneven Application

Uneven application is also one of the biggest reasons why your hair seems messy and patchy. Every inch of your has to be completely saturated with bleach for it to process correctly.
Unlike dye and toner, bleach doesn’t lather, making it harder to apply. You have to work through every single strand of your hair and comb it out to make sure your hair is completely covered with bleach.
When applying bleach, many people make the mistake of starting at the roots. Roots are processed faster with bleach, which is why they should be bleached last.
Start at the ends of your hair and move upwards to your roots. Use bleach first at the back of the head and work your way to the front.

Bleach Didn’t Have Enough Time To Process

Maybe you were impatient or you didn’t have the time – but that was a mistake. Bleach should be left to process for around 40 minutes.
If you rinse it out of your hair too early, some parts of your hair didn’t have the time to be fully bleached with the mixture. As a result, your hair looks patchy and uneven.

To learn more about the time you should leave the bleach on to your hair, read our article!

How To Fix Uneven Bleached Hair: Method #1

There are two ways to fix uneven bleached hair: the easy way and the hard way. First, we’ll talk about the easy way, but it’s probably not what you want to hear.

The easy way is also the fastest way to a good looking hair and satisfying color job. That is – to color your hair with a darker dye to even it out.

The color we recommend you to apply is the darkest tone you have in your patchy hair. Your hair will look evenly colored, cover the gray hairs (if any) and it can take time to heal.

Bleached hair is very dry and porous, so it will be tough to dye it again. Wait at least a day before you dye it after bleaching.

Unfortunately, the easy way won’t give you blonde hair. Now that you made the mistake, you have to wait it out until your hair strengthens. Once the hair is healthy and strong, you can consider dying it again.

The hair will certainly be lighter than it used to be, so you can gradually lighten it as you go. After all, gradually lightening hair will damage it less. So, you can enjoy having healthy, lustrous locks while your hair is getting lighter and lighter!

How To Fix Uneven Bleached Hair: Method #2

We covered the easy way or a quick fix for uneven bleached hair. What about the hard way?

The hard way is much slower than our first method. This method takes time, and if your hair is a patchy mess, it might not always be possible. Let’s face it, who wants to go out for a while with ruined hair?

The hard way consists of waiting out to bleach your hair again. However tempting, never bleach your hair again immediately after you bleached it. Seriously!

It may seem like a great idea, but it will completely fry your hair and it will likely still be patchy. Worst case scenario? After you wash out the second bleach, your hair could start falling out and breaking at the roots.

Your hair needs time to heal after a bleach job. At the very least, wait for 25 days to bleach your hair again.

If you’re set on having platinum blonde locks, that time won’t be too long. On the other hand, if your hair is very damaged and brittle, it may take more than 25 days for it to be safe for another bleaching.

In the meantime, don’t just wait for time to pass. Invest in some quality products to repair the damage done to your hair!

Tired of your golden blonde hair and thinking about going platinum? How to go from gold to those cool, platinum tones? Read our article to find out!

Healing Your Bleached Hair

We already covered that bleach gives you blonde locks in exchange for damage. Bleached hair is dry and easily breakable. To make sure your hair won’t fall out after another bleaching, you need to take good care of it.

Bleach strips hair from its natural oils, making the hair look frizzy and dull. If you can tell your hair is no longer shiny, that means your hair lost a lot of its natural oils.

To heal your hair, you will need a professional range of products. Drug store hair care can only go so far, and your hair needs more than that. If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, ask your hairdresser for advice on hair products.

Our recommendation is to buy a few good items. You will need a good sulfate-free shampoo, two hair masks: a hydrating and a protein one, and a leave-in conditioner.

Shampoo with sulfates can further dry out your hair, and your hair is already dry – so always pick a sulfate-free shampoo. A hydrating mask is meant to restore your natural oils and make your hair look shiny and healthy.

Prolonged use of a hydrating mask gives you results. Don’t be impatient – healing your hair takes a lot of time! Two hours are enough to fry your hair, but healing takes a lot of time – and sometimes, only a haircut helps.

A protein mask gives your hair strength. So, when you decide to bleach your hair, the hair will withstand it without much damage.

A leave-in conditioner is the last step, but equally important as the rest. Pick a heat-protective balm if you use heat styling often, or one with SPF to protect your hair from UV rays.

UV rays may do damage to your skin, but they can damage the hair strands, too. Apply leave-in conditioner after every wash for the best hair ever!

Once you see how hard it is to heal your hair, we hope you will realize the importance of being careful during hair bleaching!

How To Fix Uneven Bleached Hair: The Bottom Line

Bleaching is a method of dying hair that can go wrong very fast if you’re not careful. Even the hair pros can make the mistake and give you a patchy hairdo.

In this article, we covered the ways how to fix uneven bleached hair, the easy and the hard way. Either way, give your hair products it needs to heal.

If your hair isn’t healthy, it will not survive another round of bleach. Brittle and dull hair is not a good look on anyone. It doesn’t matter that your hair is finally platinum blonde if it’s frizzy with split ends. Remember, only healthy hair is good-looking hair!