If you want to know should you put coconut oil in your hair before bleaching, you have come to the right place.
Bleaching allows you to embrace and experiment with various hair tint trends. Because bleach oxidizes the original color, it’s the only option to lighten your mane before dyeing it.
However, it comes with a few repercussions that we all want to avoid. The hair damage! But fortunately, you can minimize the damage caused by bleach using coconut oil before bleaching hair.
Coconut oil is extremely nourishing for the hair. It contains long-chain fatty acids like lauric acid that moisturize and protect hair from protein loss. Therefore, using it before bleaching hair can prevent dryness and hair breakage from the bleach.
This article explains when and why you should use coconut oil before bleaching your hair to sustain the health of your locks.
Should I Put Coconut Oil In My Hair Before Bleaching?
Yes, you can use coconut oil before bleaching your hair because it nourishes, moisturizes, and strengthen the hair shaft. As a result, the harsh chemicals of bleach will minimally dry out your mane and not cause any notable damage.
According to a study, coconut oil is the most useful, compared to other oils, for preventing moisture and protein loss from the hair.
In this study, scientists used mineral oil, coconut oil, and sunflower oil on separate people and then asked them to bleach their hair.
It showed that coconut has the edge over other oils because it contains medium-chain fatty acids that make it easy to absorb by the hair shafts.
How Does Coconut Oil Prevent Hair Damage From Bleaching?
You surely won’t want to bleach your hair if it is weak, thin, and prone to damage. Do you? The idea of using coconut oil before bleaching hair is that it makes your mane stronger enough to withstand the harsh chemicals.
And how does your mane do that?
There are three layers of each hair strand, cuticle, cortex, and medulla. Cortex is the middle layer that contains melanin to give hair its color.
The bleach chemicals penetrate through the cuticle and target the melanin in the cortex to oxidize it. So, if your hair is weak, in other words, it has a very thin protective layer called the cuticle, it won’t withstand the chemicals.
The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil penetrate the hair shaft and nourish it. They bind with the cuticle and prevent its protein loss which would probably happen earlier because of bleaching. It is why you should use coconut oil before the hair bleach.
Can You Bleach Hair With Coconut Oil In It?
Yes, you can bleach hair while it still has coconut oil in it to provide your hair strands with maximum protection from the chemical treatment. However, you might have to use some extra bleach and let it sit a bit longer in your hair.
Why is it so?
When coconut oil shields the hair shaft, it becomes difficult for the bleaching agent to penetrate through the cuticle. Therefore, you may not get the desired hair lightening from the bleaching. The same is the case when you use a leave-in conditioner before bleaching.
It is why you would require a little bit of extra bleach and give three to four additional minutes to execute the job.
The studies suggest that you should start nourishing and moisturizing your hair at least a month before to allow it to get strong enough. And then you won’t need coconut oil while bleaching.
Can You Mix Oil With Hair Bleach?
You are free to mix some of the coconut oil in the hair bleach to protect hair from harsh chemicals. But, this oil may stop the bleach from working as it should. And, you might not lighten the hair completely and have to bleach it again.
If you have weak, dry, and thin hair, start using coconut oil on it a month before bleaching. In this way, your manes will become thick and healthy enough to withstand the bleach. And the whole bleaching process will go smoothly.
However, if you plan to bleach your hair after a day or two, try using coconut oil before bed and leaving it overnight instead of just mixing it with the bleach.
Which Type Of Coconut Oil To Use Before Bleaching Hair?
There are two types of coconut oil, refined and unrefined. The first one goes through a lot of processing which helps remove the aroma and is mainly used for cooking. The processing also takes out the vital nutrients from the oil, so it is not suited for cosmetic products.
To protect your hair from the harsh bleaching chemicals, you should use unrefined coconut oil. It contains all the nutrients and fatty acids that moisturize and nourish hair strands and enable them to withstand bleaching or dyeing.
And if you regularly use unrefined coconut oil on your locks a month or two before bleaching, you will be able to minimize the damage from chemicals to the maximum extent. We recommend going this way!
How To Bleach Bath Hair With Coconut Oil?
A bleach bath of hair with coconut oil is a safer way to lighten your manes. You can perform it in two ways: bleach hair with coconut oil in it or rinse off the oil before bleaching.
We have explained both of these methods and their results in the following.
1. Bleaching Hair While It Contains Coconut Oil
While it is ok to bleach your hair when it is soaked in coconut oil, you may not reach the ideal tint in one go. Coconut oil can prolong the time bleach penetrates the hair cuticle or even stops it from oxidizing the melanin.
However, even with chances of not getting ultimate results, this method is worth trying because it provides maximum protection. And, if it works for you, what else would you want!
To perform a bleach bath on the hair with coconut oil, you can follow these steps.
- Divide your hair into sections.
- Apply coconut oil on each section.
- Let it soak into the hair shaft for an hour.
- For better results, leave the oil overnight.
- After whatever time you choose for coconut oil to soak into your hair, apply the bleach in a general way.
- Give bleach extra five minutes than recommended on the box for better hair lightening.
We suggest you consider using coconut oil weeks or even a month ago, bleaching your hair to prevent dryness and hair damage from bleach.
2. Rinse the Coconut Oil Before Bleaching Hair
If you already have coarse and strong hair, consider rinsing the coconut oil before trying to bleach it. This method will get you the perfect tint in a single bleach and prevent hair damage.
There is a good chance coconut oil will protect your hair from chemicals even after being rinsed out. It is because shampoo only removes the oil from the hair cuticle, not the cortex.
Wrapping Up
Coconut oil contains medium-chain fatty acids that moisturize hair and prevent protein loss from bleaching, dyeing, or any chemical treatment. You can bleach your hair when it still contains coconut oil, or you rinsed it before. However, you might not lighten the hair as you want if it still contains coconut oil while you bleach it.
