Hair rescue tips

FROM A LONG-TIME BLEACH DEVOTEE

- EMILY MACCULLOCH

Emily MacCulloch has been bleaching her hair for 16 years. She’s learned a hair care trick or two along the way

I very clearly remember the first time I had my hair fully bleached. It was 2008, I was 26 years old, and I’d been wanting to go platinum for years. It was love at first lighten. I was thrilled that my new blank white canvas allowed me to dabble in any pastel or rainbow colour I wanted in the years that followed. But maintaining bleached status takes its toll on strands. I had breakage, rough texture, dullness and split ends, plus the looming fear that one day my strands would simply snap in half.

Eventually, I started to wonder if I’d need to go back to my (literal) roots, but I was also noticing changes in the hair care industry. In 2014, Olaplex launched its in-salon treatment that helps minimize damage during bleaching, and at-home leave-ins and masks were getting makeovers to include super hydrating ingredients like argan and avocado oils that actually made a difference for suffering strands. These product innovations are a big reason I’m still bleaching my hair 16 years later, but there’s more to it when it comes to caring for a fragile, damaged mane.

WHAT CAUSES HAIR DAMAGE?

Think of hair damage as starting with a beautiful, thick rope — and then taking a hacksaw to it (as in, bleach, flat irons, blow dryers, etc.). That’s the image Harry Josh, celebrity hairstylist and Kerasilk brand ambassador, described to me at a recent Kerasilk event in Montreal. “You basically have the integrity of something great and then you ruin it to make it look better,” he said, gesturing to my bright-white hue. “Yes, it may look better, but the hair is now weaker.”