How To Bleach Bath Hair To Remove Color? Guide For Beginners

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When you choose to lighten your hair color by a shade or two using a combination of shampoo, developer, and bleaching powder it is called bleach bath hair. It lightens your hair gradually over time without your hair going through the full-blown damage of regular bleaching.

A bleach bath is less harsh on your hair as compared to the regular hair bleaching process.

We all love to experiment with our hair color. And when we desire to opt for lighter hair colors, especially if you have previously colored your hair with a semi-permanent or permanent hair dye or have naturally dark hair color, then you are bound to deal with the harsh process of bleaching your hair.

Bleaching your hair is when you use ammonia and hydrogen peroxide on your hair to lighten your hair color by a few shades. But it is really damaging to your hair health. It leaves your hair dry, damaged, brittle and prone to breakage.

The less harsh alternative to hair bleaching is to bleach bath hair.

What is a Bleach Bath For Hair? Why Should You Do It?

A bleach bath for hair is an alternative to regular hair bleach to lighten your hair by a shade or two. It is a process where you dilute bleach with your shampoo and soak your hair in the said mixture for the desired time to remove your hair color and lighten your hair strands gradually one shade at a time.

Bleach wash lightens your pretty locks without dealing with the actual bleaching process at your hair salon. It helps get rid of the remaining hair dye on your strands and you can bid goodbye to those unwanted tones too.

If you want to remove your current hair color, then this is one of the gentle ways to proceed.

A bleach bath hair is also popularly referred to as a bleach wash or a soap cap. Even though a bleach bath is a gentler way to lighten your hair as compared to your regular bleaching process and is extremely easy to DIY at home but if you are a beginner, I would recommend you to please proceed with caution.

Bleach Bath vs. Regular Bleaching

Although you might think that both of these hair treatments are mostly the same but they do differ in some aspects. The main differences between bleach bath and regular bleaching are:

• In bleach bath hair the process is done on your wet hair whereas regular bleaching is done on dry hair.
•  Shampoo is used for bleach bath hair which makes the process mild enough to minimize the hair damage.
• A lower volume of peroxide is used for bleach bath vs regular bleaching.
• Regular bleaching is a time-consuming process whereas a bleach bath hair takes a maximum of 45 minutes.
• Bleaching removes your hair dye completely whereas with a bleach bath you can only go one or two shades lighter.
• Bleach bath is easy to DIY at home and is beginner-friendly too.

How To Bleach Bath Hair At Home?

Now that you are aware of why you should opt for a bleach bath to lift your hair color, let’s get into the step by step instructions on how to bleach bath hair the right way:

Ingredients:

A quick tip: Don’t prepare more than you need as the leftover mixture won’t be useful afterward. Having said that, let’s check out the ingredients list for the bleach bath hair at home:

• A plastic container
• Clarifying shampoo to remove hair color
• Developer
• Bleach powder
• Set of gloves
• Wide-tooth comb
• Old t-shirt (so you don’t end up ruining your favorite one)

You can pick any clarifying shampoo but these are the ones that we recommend the most:

• Manic panic prepare to dye clarifying shampoo

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• Biolage clean reset shampoo

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• Neutrogena anti residue shampoo

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• Nexxus Clean and pure clarifying shampoo

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We found these developers to work best:

• Oreor Líquido de L’Oreal Paris

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• Schwarzkopf Professional Blond Me Premium Developer

No products found.

• Clairol Professional Hair Coloring Developers

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These developers are better in quality, have a creamy formulation that spreads evenly and they protect your hair better compared to others that we have tried.

For the bleaching powder, we recommend:

• L’Oreal Quick Blue Powder Lightener
• Wella Blondor Multi Blonde Powder Lightener

No products found.

• Clairol Professional BW2 Hair Powder Lightener

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Bleach Bath Hair Recipe

Before we proceed, I have a quick tip for you guys:

Do not wash your hair for at least 48 hours before you do a bleach bath. The natural oils that will develop in these two days will help to enhance the effects of the treatment.

Bleach Bath Ratio For Hair

Although there is no rule of thumb and every hairstylist prefers their own way but we have found this ratio to work best for bleach bath hair at home: 3:2:1

• 3 measures of clarifying shampoo
• 2 measures of developer (volume 20 works well but if you want to go lighter choose a developer of no more than vol 30)
• 1 measure of the bleaching powder

Start by mixing the developer with the bleaching powder and mix well. Now add the required amount of shampoo to it. Mix it well for a minute before you proceed with the application.

How To Apply Bleach Bath Mixture On Your Hair The Right Way?

• Step 1: Always start by doing an allergy test especially if this is your first time. You don’t want to end up with a terrible reaction.

To do a test, simply mix the developer and the bleaching powder in small quantities, and using a cotton pad or an earbud apply a very little quantity to the inside of your elbow. Wash it off after half an hour. If you don’t experience any itchiness or redness for the next two days, then feel free to proceed.

•  Step 2: Wet and towel dry your hair. This will make your hair wet enough to apply the mixture and you won’t be dealing with the bleach bath dripping from your strands.
• Step 3: Start by detangling your hair and parting them in equal sections. Apply the bleach bath hair mixture generously covering your hair strands well from the roots to the ends. I prefer using my hands but you can also use a brush.
• Step 4: Once you have evenly covered your hair strands, wear a shower cap and wait for at least 15 minutes. If you want to go lighter, wait for 45 minutes. But don’t overdo it by keeping it for more than 45 mins.
• Step 5: After the desired time, it’s now time to rinse your hair. Wash your hair with just water, ideally cold water. After you feel the entire bleach wash residue is rinsed off, proceed with your favorite shampoo preferably a moisturizing shampoo.
• Step 6: Condition your hair for 5 minutes and then rinse it off. For better hydrating your hair strands, you can also use coconut oil as a leave-in conditioner.

For a better helpful guide, here is how long you can leave the bleach bath mixture on your hair:

• Already light hair: 10 minutes
• Semi-permanent dye or permanent dye: 20-30 minutes
• For dark-colored hair or you want to go two shades lighter: 45 minutes

That’s it.

Pat your back because You have successfully done a bleach bath hair at home.

Is A Bleach Bath Better For Your Hair?

When you decide to finally go through with your hair resolution and color your hair with the shade that you have always desired, you are bound to deal with the hair lightening process. But the major side effect that you deal with is dry brittle hair that breaks easily.

A bleach bath is comparatively less damaging to your hair health because we dilute the chemical formulation with shampoo and use a less damaging peroxide.

You should opt for bleach bath hair especially if you have a sensitive scalp or if you are dealing with dermatitis or other skin conditions and are willing to go for lighter hair color. But I would still recommend you to talk to your doctor and hairstylist first to better protect your health.

Pros of Bleach bath

• Gentle on hair compared to regular bleaching
• Easy to do at home
• Does lighten hair

Cons of Bleach bath for hair

• Only lightens hair and lifts color by one or two shades
• It is still damaging to your hair health, so make sure you pamper your hair with a lot of deep conditioning treatment afterward
• Might be hard for the beginner

FAQs

Question: Can a bleach bath remove permanent hair dye?

Answer: Yes, a bleach bath can help in removing permanent hair dye but to remove it completely you need to apply it a couple of times. Also depending upon the volume of the developer and the strength of bleaching powder, it will help to remove most semi as well as permanent hair dyes.

Question: How many levels do a bleach bath lift?

Answer: Bleach bath hair helps to lift your hair color by one shade or two shades at a time.

Question: Can you do a bleach bath right after bleaching?

Answer: It’s better to wait a week before you do a bleach bath after bleaching.

Question: Do you put a bleach bath on wet or dry hair?

Answer: Bleach bath works best when done on wet hair since it helps the shampoo in the mixture to lather well and better even application.

Question: Is bleach bath damaging?

Answer: Compared to regular bleaching, bleach bath hair is less damaging. But since you apply the chemicals directly to your hair even though diluted there is always some damage that is bound to happen.

Question: How long should you wait between bleach baths for hair?

Answer: It depends on how lighter you want to go and how much damage you faced after the first try. However, it’s best recommended to wait for at least a week before you go for the second bleach bath.

Question: Will a bleach bath fix orange or yellow hair?

Answer: Sadly, no. Bleach bath hair won’t fix your orange or yellow hair. This is because bleach bath hair works to lighten your hair color which often leaves you with orange, brassy, and warm tones to deal with. You might need to use a color-correcting shampoo for the same.

Question: Can I mix bleach with purple shampoo?

Answer: Purple shampoo helps in keeping those unwanted brassy tones and shades of orange at bay. When mixed with the bleaching agent, it will kill the purple pigment and you will not notice any difference. You can use a purple shampoo after you bleach and wash your hair.

Conclusion

Bleach bath hair is an effective and gentle way to lift your hair color at home. It’s easy to do and with less damage, you will end up protecting your hair length.

Do share your experience with bleach bathing your hair via comments. And before you go, don’t forget to read:

• How To Stop Hair From Falling Out After Coloring? 13 Effective Tips
• Hair Color Changer Apps: Treat Yourself with a Makeover for Free
• Hair Color Tips: How To Keep Hair Color From Fading?
• Dutch Braid vs French Braid: Which One Gives The Best Waves?
• 5 Best Non Binary Haircuts For A More Androgynous Look
• Revlon Outrageous Shampoo For Color Protection Review

Citations: 1 2 3

Have a lovely day.

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