A client's hair taught me something new about bleach timing

I was doing a full bleach out on a client with level 4 hair last Thursday. I checked the roots after 20 minutes like I always do, but they were still pretty dark. I looked it up in my old textbook from beauty school and it said for darker hair, you might need up to 45 minutes for the lightest lift, depending on the brand. I had been rushing it. Has anyone else had to adjust their processing times for darker bases?

3 comments

3 Comments

sam_thomas22d ago

Yeah I was guilty of rushing it too until a similar thing happened.

skylerrobinson20d ago

My sister left bleach on her dark brown hair for like 45 minutes once and it still came out orange. I get what mason.brian is saying about the underlying pigment, but sometimes it feels like you could leave it on all day and it wouldn't matter. My hair just laughs at bleach. I've used 40 volume in a warm bathroom and still got a brassy mess. Maybe some hair just won't go past that stage without turning to mush.

mason.brian22d ago

Read an article a while back about how the natural underlying pigment in darker hair actually takes longer to break through. So for a level 4, you're fighting all that red and orange first before you even get to pale yellow. It made me realize I was probably washing it out right when the bleach was finally getting to the good part. I mean, it totally depends on the developer and the room temp too, but yeah, I definitely give it more time now.