Can we talk about the moment I stopped fighting with bleach and started listening to it?

I was in my salon in Austin last Tuesday, doing a full highlight on a client with dark brown hair. I mixed my usual formula, applied it like I always do, and 20 minutes in I saw the roots processing way faster than the mids. Panic set in, I threw on some foils to even it out, but by the time I rinsed, the roots were almost yellow while the ends barely lifted. The client was cool about it, but I felt terrible. That's when I realized I'd been ignoring how different porosity acts at the scalp versus the ends. Now I section differently and apply bleach in stages, starting with the mids and doing roots last. Has anyone else had a specific bad bleach day that totally changed how they do things?

2 comments

2 Comments

hunt.jana11d agoMost Upvoted

Used to think all hair lifted the same and I was just messing up timing. After a few patchy disasters I finally slowed down and paid attention to what the hair was actually telling me. Made a world of difference once I stopped fighting it, right?

riverf3410d ago

Yeah, the "stopped fighting it" part really hit me @hunt.jana. I used to think you could just slap on some lightener and watch it go, but that's how I ended up with a hot root situation that took months to fix. After I started actually watching the texture change and how fast different sections processed, like the nape area being way cooler than the crown, everything got so much easier. Your mileage may vary but slowing down and letting the hair tell you what to do is definitely the way to go.