Bleached hair requires a lot of work and maintenance — but it’s so worth it. I know this firsthand, as I’ve been platinum blonde for over 10 years (photos below).

Bleached hair is stunning — it catches the light, it turns heads everywhere, and surprisingly, it looks amazing on a wide variety of skin tones.

But for all its benefits, come some drawbacks: bleached hair is expensive and high-maintenance. To care for bleached hair, you’ll need frequent touch-ups, regular hair cuts, and tons and tons of treatments. (If you aren’t ready to commit to all of those things, I recommend you think twice about using bleach.)

If you don’t take care of bleached hair properly, it will dry out, or worse, snap off. The dreaded bleach haircut is a real thing!

Bleached hair isn’t for everyone, but if you’re ready to go for it, here’s everything you need to know about how to take care of bleached hair — the right way.

Table of Contents

What Does Bleach Do to Your Hair?

First, let’s talk about how bleach actually works on your hair. This is important, because once you understand what bleach does to your hair, you’re much better prepared to counteract its negative effects.

Bleaching is a chemical process that removes the color from your hair. First, an alkaline agent opens up the hair cuticle. Next, an oxidative agent penetrates the hair cortex and dissolves the hair’s natural melanin (color). According to Naturally Curly, bleach oxidizes the melanin molecule. Although the melanin is still present, the oxidized molecule is colorless.