I don’t think anyone has elaborated much on this process that whole much by the fact everyone’s hair is different. Make sure you write down what you have done with your hair past 6 months and ask for a professional consultation with your hair colorist/stylist at a local salon. While I’m going to focus on general steps and tips on preparing one’s hair for double process at home, which is known as bleaching/lightening and toning, I’m going to share my experience and steps that I undertook when I bleached and colored my hair. I don’t mean on the day you do your hair or at your appointment at the salon. But how to condition your hair prior to any double process or color treatment. This is only good for those who already have previously colored hair at least 3 months or longer (ideally, six months or longer). This is when things get a little tricky.

If you have colored your hair in any color but blonde past 3 to 6 months, then it is feasible to go blonde just after 6 months without new color job.

If you already have bleached or lightened your hair blonde between 3 to 6 months ago but performed a tintback with darker color (red, brown or black) during that time, it’s recommended you grow out your hair at least 6 months before undergoing another bleaching and toning plus trim off the ends to maintain the health of your hair.

Steps to take if your hair is ready to undergo another bleaching:

1. A week before your appointed day to bleach/lighten or color your hair: use a clarifying shampoo such as SUAVE SHAMPOO DAILY CLARIFYING to reduce previous tint as much as possible a few times (2 or 3 shampoo uses would be sufficient) during the week
2. Do not moisture too much with heavy conditioner or moisturizer or your hair shaft will be coated completely to prevent effective color removal and bleaching to achieve their job; use a light conditioner
3. Do not use any styling aids such as hair spray, mousse or gel nor leave-in conditioner of any kind at least a few days before; leave only freshly dried shampooed and lightly conditioned hair

Once you have follow the steps above, your hair is primed for color removal/stripping process (if you have a darker color left in your hair from previous color) or if your have since then chopped off your ends so it only leaves behind your virgin hair (never been colored since then), do proceed with the bleaching or double process.

Have fun with the process! It’s always exciting to go blonde after a long period of being in any other color but blonde.

Living with hopelessly damaged hair isn’t something everyone wants to live with. Not everyone knows what products to use when it comes to restoring hopelessly damaged hair. While there are several fantastic hair care products on market, I’d like to focus on a product that is amazing restorative to dry and damaged hair. I mean, literally damaged hair with a lot of breakage. As one knows, dyeing hair can be quite damaging especially those who have undergone drastic color changes. Who wants a broomstick hair? No one does!

Nexxus Emergencee is a great product that aids hair that is very damaged, whether it’s from bleaching or using a lot of heat from thermal styling appliances. It is unrivaled in repairing and strengthening very damaged hair by stopping hair breakage in the process. Emergencee’s forumula contains polymers, elastins, amino acids and collagen, which restores hair shaft with strong internal framework. After several uses, the hair will regain its integrity by developing stronger structure all over with visible results. With each treatment, the hair will display dramatic improvement in hair health, condition and shine. This is also known as intensive protein treatment so it does its job by making hair stronger after the use. It’s not recommended for people with mild damage or normal condition.

How to use this product that best benefit very damaged hair? Read the instructions below.

• Use this product once every two weeks until your hair is restored
• First shampoo your hair with Nexxus Therappe (or your preferred choice) and then rinse it out
• Use a dime size amount of Emergencee (depending on the length of your hair; if have longer hair, use a bit more) and massage it into your hair, coating every strand
• Sit under the heat cap for 20 to 25 minutes
• Rinse out the Emergencee and condition/moisturize your hair as usual

Voila! You should see some improvement in your hair texture and condition. Use it for a few more times, you’ll see your hair returning its health in no time.

As we take better care of our hair, it is important to learn more about our hair health. As our hair undergo everyday environment stressors, ranging from the hair dryer to exposing hair to sun, it is very important to take care of our hair. By taking good care of our hair, our heads will appear more healthy and shiny with a bit of bounce. With this said, I’m going to focus on one of the most popular ingredients in hair care.

The ingredient, vital to hair that’s lacking in moisture, is humectant. What is humectant? It is known as the ingredient that retains moisture in hair. Many shampoos, conditioners, moisturizers and much more have this ingredient and is promoted as part of healthy hair propaganda. Humectants draws in water from the atmosphere (known as hygroscopic) and binds itself to the hair shaft. A way to conserve water, in a manner of speaking, highly popular method by farmers. As a result of this action, it is great for those with very dry and damaged hair that is caused by hair blowing, chemical processing or straightening, or those with thick, coarse, curly and kinky hair.

Here’s a list of some examples commonly found in humectants.

• glycerine
• propylene glycol
• glyceryl triacetate
• sorbitol
• xylitol
• maltitol
• polydextrose
• lactic acid

There are several shampoos, conditioners and other styling aids to choose from that have humectants in them. But I highly recommend Nexxus Humectress Ultimate Moisturizing Conditioner because it drenches your hair with moisture. Nexxus, one of many hair professional companies, carries superb products that are designed for hair that is dry and damaged.

For people (like me) who regularly undergo chemical processing such as bleaching and toning, moisturizing humectants are very forgiving to your hair and will restore your hair so it takes on the appearance of having a healthy hair although your hair is technically “dead”. All you can do is mask your hair with ingredients that are good for hair and use other styling aids to maintain its health while bring out a shine. In future posts, I will be writing more about other ingredients that are also beneficial to bleached/colored and dry hair.

If you would like something to go with the conditioner, I also highly recommend Nexxus Therappe Luxury Moisturizing Shampoo.

By Nancy Jo, Haircolor Advisor

Not when their blonde hair is green! Here is an easy way to keep your blonde hair from turning green from swimming pools and Jacuzzi water. First of all, lets discuss why it turns green. Hair, and especially blonde hair, is porous and that means thirsty hair. Your thirsty blonde hair will take a big drink of whatever liquid touches it first. If the big drink is chemically treated pool water, Voila! green hair. But if you saturate your hair with tap water first and then take a leap into the pool, your hair isn’t as thirsty and won’t fill up with the pool water. So if you’re a blonde and you’ve been passing up on all of that fun in the pool, go ahead, try this and take the leap.