Tinting over bleach in Abingdon
If you have the urge to tint your hair have already gone lighter from bleaching, you might be ready to pick up your new hair colour and apply it right away! Yet whether you’re looking to achieve a more natural all over colour or you just fancy something different, it’s not as straight forward as you might initially think. While tinting your hair with an all over colour is likely very achievable, there are a few factors to consider and the process isn’t as you might think.
In our daily blog our Stylists outline what best practice for tinting already bleached hair looks like, what it might look like if you don’t ‘pre-pig’ your hair first and what it might look like if you don’t.
If you are considering something different, our tint service page can help. Finally, if you’re new to the salon and not sure how to get the most value from your next appointment, need a consultation or would value a conversation before booking, call or send a WhatsApp message on 01235 534705
Tinting over bleach FAQ’s
Should you apply tint over bleach?
Tinting over bleached hair isn’t as you might expect as straightforward as applying a darker colour (tint) directly onto bleach and hoping for a perfect and consistent end result. A misconception among many is that bleach isn’t a hair colour; bleach merely removes the natural pigment from your hair, often leaving it in a lighter, more porous state. Think of when you get household bleach on your clothes. If you have black clothes, it tends to turn them red. This isn’t because bleach is ‘red’, it’s simply ‘lightens’ the starting colour which in this instance is black. Yet when applying tint to already bleached hair, because it behaves differently to your virgin hair, your desired colour will absorb differently than it would on unbleached hair, sometimes resulting in patchiness and usually a darker colour.
It’s important to consider that bleach is used for lightening hair and will only ever present as one of the following; red, orange, yellow or white. When applying a tint directly to bleach this can affect how the tint appears once applied. For example, if you don’t address the bleach first and jump straight in with a tint, if your intended colour was a brown, you may end up with green! It’s important that if you intend to go for a darker a shade to consult with a professional first.
What will it look like if I tint over bleached hair?
In most cases tinting over bleached hair will leave either an unintended darker shade or a colour which you didn’t anticipate on the previously bleached areas. In short; results can vary and whilst unpredictable, they usually don’t offer a consistent colour all over. It’s too worth noting that the bleached areas will fade much more quickly whilst appearing lighter and darker across different areas depending upon your hair history.
How do I get a consistent colour?
Whilst tinting straight over bleached hair will leave inconsistent results at best, there is a service to prevent this. Some salons will call it ‘colour fill’ and others will list it as a ‘pre-pigment’ service. When you bleach your hair, the bleach removes pigment and you might think if you were pivoting from brown to bleach and back to brown, it would be as straightforward as reapplying a brown. However we are missing a critical step; this allows your Stylist to ‘add’ back the underlying pigments that were removed during the bleaching stage. This is likely to be a ‘red’ in most cases however it can be other shades too. It’s important to recognise that you won’t leave the salon red, nor is red an indication of the colour that you once were nor would like to be. We all have underlying pigments and our underlying pigments change from person to person. The pre-pigment step is vital to ensuring a consistent, matching and well-balanced overall colour and the pre-pigment stage is essential if you desire an all over colour having already switched to bleached hair.
If you have highlights, this is what a pre-pigment service can do.
What will happen if I tint over bleached hair?
The final result of tinting over bleached hair will somewhat depend on your approach and your combined starting point. If this service is undertaken by a trained Hair Colour Specialist, with a pre-pigment service and ideally an in-salon conditioning treatment, in most cases you can achieve a well balanced and even colour that looks natural and healthy. Additionally the colour should stand the rest of time.
Without a pre-pigment service (or colour fill as it’s sometimes known), The eventual colour present as darker, inconsistent and will likely fade faster than first anticipated. Bleached hair behaves differently to virgin hair. It tends to be more porous, which can make it prone to ‘shifting’ colour more readily, struggling to hold it for as long as healthy virgin hair otherwise would. Moreover, if your hair is dry and damaged, tinting over it is unlikely to deliver your desired result and in this instance pretreating your hair would be of great benefit.
Conclusion
Tinting over bleached hair is very achievable however there are two non-negotiables; your hair must be healthy and if you seek a consistent end result then avoiding the pre-pigment stage isn’t going to bare fruit. Bleached hair is typically drier and more porous than virgin hair and since it lacks the same health and natural pigment, it craves moisture and pigment so if both can be addressed, the likelihood of a consistent colour is greatly improved. With the correct maintenance for a tint, there’s no reason this won’t represent a great option.
If you are feeling lost in what could work best for you, leave it to us. Our consultations work through any question you might have, logistics and we too make recommendations based upon your lifestyle and hair type.
