Bleaching your hair blue seems like a logical next step as you continue to experiment with dyeing your hair with unnatural hues. This is especially true if you have ginger or red hair and are trying to go even bluer – but at what cost? Bleaching your hair has the potential to be damaging to your locks, but that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve the blue locks of your dreams. There are lots of ways in which you can dye your hair blue without bleaching first. The key is keeping things as natural as possible; that way, when you want to switch things up with a different hue, bleaching won’t be necessary. The first step is understanding why bleaching is so bad for your hair. Keep reading for everything you need to know about dyeing your hair blue without bleaching first.
How To Dye Your Hair Blue Without Bleaching
Dye With Natural Henna
Henna is a natural hair dye that comes from the leaves of the Lawsonia in the dermis shrub. It has been used for centuries to dye hair and skin. The most popular way to use it as a hair dye is to make a paste with henna, leave it on your hair for around 5 hours, then rinse it out. It gives a reddish-brown color with no damage to your hair, and you can buy henna online or at health food stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.
Use Indigo Instead of Henna
Indigo is another natural plant-based dye that you can use to achieve blue-black or blue-gray hues in your hair. One of the great things about indigo is that it doesn’t damage your hair as much as chemical dyes do because it isn’t permanent – which means you can switch up your look whenever you want without damaging your locks further! To prepare indigo dye, steep 1 part indigo powder in 3 parts hot water for 10 minutes, then strain out any clumps and apply directly to dry or dampened hair (I recommend using gloves) for 20 minutes before rinsing out thoroughly with warm water. For more information on using indigo as a natural colorant, check out this article from The Herbal Academy!
Dye With Blue Henna Dye Kit
Blue Henna by Mehndi Garden is a great option for dyeing your hair blue without bleaching first. It’s a pre-mixed natural hair dye that’s easy to apply and gives great results!
Dye With Indigo + Henna
Indigo mixed with henna will give you the deepest, most intense shade of blue possible! You can mix the two together yourself or buy them pre-mixed from sites like Amazon.com. There are also lots of other ways to use indigo and henna together, including making your own custom colors or using them as face paints!
Dye With Natural Colorants + Shampoo + Conditioner
If you don’t want to use any chemicals on your hair, there are lots of natural products that you can use as well. You can mix up a batch of tea with some baking soda and vinegar for a deep blue color (you can also add some essential oils for fragrance), or blend up some beet juice with lemon juice, yogurt and honey for an even more intense shade of blue! If you have dark blonde hair, try mixing cocoa powder into your conditioner for a subtle hint of blue in your locks; this is one of my favorite DIY ways to get that “teal” look without bleaching my hair first! Or if you want to go really bold, mix up a batch of turmeric paste with some honey and lemon juice – it’ll give you a vibrant orange-yellow color that will gradually fade to a gorgeous blue-green.
What Is Bleaching?
- Bleaching is the process of using chemicals to remove the color from hair.
- It lightens your hair, which allows you to dye it a different color.
- Bleaching can be done at home or in a salon, depending on the hair type and desired shade of blonde/blue.
- Bleaching is very damaging to your hair and can cause breakage, dryness, and discoloration if not done correctly.
- The lighter your natural hair color, the more damage bleaching will do to your locks and vice versa.
How Does Bleaching Damage Hair?
Bleaching destroys the elasticity of your strands
When you bleach your hair, you’re stripping it of its natural color, and in doing so, you’re also stripping it of its natural elasticity. Without this elasticity, your hair becomes brittle and prone to snapping off.
Bleaching can cause breakage
When you bleach your hair, you are literally stripping the life out of it. The chemicals used to bleach hair are extremely harsh on the strands themselves; they break down the fibers and leave them weak and lifeless.
Bleaching can cause split ends
Your hair is made up of thousands upon thousands of strands, and each strand has a protective layer that keeps it from splitting. When the protective layer is stripped away, the strand itself becomes vulnerable to damage.
Bleaching can cause hair loss
When you bleach your hair, you are stripping it of its natural color and its natural elasticity, but that’s not all. You are also stripping your hair of its protective layers, leaving it vulnerable to damage from everyday environmental stressors like pollution and sun exposure. As a result, your hair can become so damaged that it begins to fall out on its own.
Bleaching can cause hair to break off
When you bleach your hair, you are stripping it of its natural color and its natural elasticity, but that’s not all. You are also stripping your hair of its protective layers, leaving it vulnerable to damage from everyday environmental stressors like pollution and sun exposure. As a result, your hair can become so damaged that it begins to fall out on its own.
Bleaching can cause red or orange staining on the scalp
Bleach is very powerful stuff – when applied directly to the skin, it can cause burns and even permanent scarring – which is why you should always wear gloves when applying bleach directly onto your strands! When bleach is applied directly onto the scalp, it seeps into the pores and causes severe irritation to the sensitive skin there; in some cases, this irritation is so severe that it will burn and blister!
The Bad News: You’ll Need To Bleach To Go Blue
- Bleaching hair is damaging to your hair.
- Bleaching can cause damage to the strands of your hair.
- When you bleach your hair, the color is temporarily destroyed and must be reapplied afterward. And it will be lost again soon after reapplication.
- The chemicals in bleaching can weaken healthy strands of hair, causing a greater risk of breakage and damage; this is especially true for those with fine, fragile strands.
- When you bleach your hair, it becomes more prone to sun damage (and therefore faded colors). This means if you’re going for blue locks and you’ve been bleaching, there’s a greater chance that bleached-out strays will fade faster than normal – so don’t go overboard with the bleach!
- Bleach can cause your hair to become dry and brittle.
- Bleach is damaging to your scalp if it is left on too long or if you have sensitive skin.
- Bleaching hair can cause damage to the follicle itself; this means that bleached strands are more likely to fall out, and may be more prone to breakage as well.
The Good News: There Are Ways To Dye Your Hair Blue Without Bleaching
- Don’t know how to dye your hair blue without bleaching? This will help.
- You can dye your hair blue without bleach, but the process is not 100% natural.
- The best way to dye your hair blue without bleaching is by using a semi-permanent dye that will last longer than a regular dye.
- Semi-permanent dyes work best with darker shades of blue because they don’t fade as fast as regular dyes do.
- Semi-permanent dyes are safe for all skin types and won’t cause damage to your hair or scalp like bleach can do – but they might not be right for you because they don’t come in every shade of blue available, and they aren’t cheap either!
Conclusion
It’s important to understand why bleaching hair is so damaging, and why it can be so difficult to re-apply semi-permanent or permanent dyes after you’ve bleached your hair. If you want to dye your hair blue, make sure to choose a blue dye that is formulated for non-bleached hair. If you want to change your hair color in the future, you’ll want to stay away from the blue dyes, as they are difficult to remove.
