I have a new french lace piece that came with a much lighter density than usual.

I specified "knots bleached everywhere”. My color is 1B. I read enough about the difficulties in bleaching dark color hair and the fact that bleaching process can make hair fall out faster. The factory did an EXCELLENT job bleaching the front but less bleaching anywhere else.

So I have to bleach the knots, no choice. I would like to hear from someone who actually bleached knots, either successfully or disastrously. What product did you use? If bleaching caused an early shedding, how bad was it and how soon did you notice it?

Thanks,

A lot of it is about timing.
Just lightening the knots is better than attempting to bleach them to oblivion.
You need a hair lightening bleach (not a blonde dye) and you can get this in a packet or as individual products from somewhere like Sally's.
You want the activator/developer to be 40 vol.
Mix it up into a toothpaste consistency.
If you have a foam head stand, then wrap some plastic (clingfilm saranwrap) over it and then put a layer of bleach over the head.
Lay the system over the bleach and let it sit.
If you do it this way, its less likely for the bleach to travel up the shafts of the hairs.

Then keep an eye on it.
DON'T over bleach, thats when the knots get weakened and cause shedding.
Colour #1b is easier to bleach than a #1.

Rinse it, wash it thoroughly and then apply a knot sealer.

You should be good to go!

Sometimes they use fabric-dyes to colour the hair....bleaching is ineffective against it but can affect [weaken] the hair at the knots --- I wonder if you might try fabric-dye remover first and see if that works before bringing on the ` heavy artillery` !

Thanks guys.
Do you think this bleaching kit will work?
http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Panic-Lightn...air+bleach

And this fabric dye remover?
http://www.amazon.com/Rit-Dye-Powdered-R...ye+remover

How do you apply the dye remover?

jaycee... I found this old post ...I copied /pasted it ..unfortunately the links are in ``computer-speak`` but the poster describes how to do it .... again, unfortunately also, no ` timing` is given ... I suggest you just do a small area first, for a few minutes and see how it looks..

Re: Something I don't get about bleached knots
Folliman,

I posted about this same subject recently. The factory uses textile dyes, not hair dye to color the hair systems. Fabric dyes are much more resistant to bleach and that is why many professionals pre treat knots with fabric dye remover first and then bleach. Do not follow the instructions on the back of the box and boil the fabric dye remover as boiling water would definetely loosen the knots. Use hot water from the microwave, test with your finger, and apply with a cotton ball to the bottom of the unit. Ask someone to help you hold your piece right side up while you apply the remover to the bottom side of your hairpiece so that the remover doesn't migrate down the hair shaft. See the following link for starters <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.angelfire.com/zine/digest/bleach.html">http://www.angelfire.com/zine/digest/bleach.html</a><!--

Thanks Paul. I will give it a try.

I tried both. First the Dye Remover in hot water, dipped hairpiece hair for several minutes and nothing!
http://www.amazon.com/Rit-Dye-Powdered-R...ye+remover

Then these bleaching products.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A40...UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A5ET...UTF8&psc=1

I followed the instructions to mix, put a couple of strands of hairpiece hair in the mixture for 15 minutes and it did absolutely nothing!

Am I using wrong products? The hairpiece hair color is #1.

Hi jaycee .... all I can suggest is to drop Debbie an e -mail at splitendshairreplacement.com .... she posted about this before ..I`m surprised you had no joy..... she said it can be ` hit-and-miss` ..... it`s not something we hear a lot about ..seems like most wearers are happy enough with the level of factory-bleaching ---occasionally one such as yours can and does pop up.

Thanks Paul for your response.
My old piece had 50% #1, 50% #1B. #1B hair knots were bleached well but #1 hair knots had absolutely no hint of beaching. But interestingly, the front 1" were all bleached well.

As I understand it, all hair is bleached first at the factory, colored, ventilated, and then knots bleached. Why can't they bleach, ventilate, and then color?

I know you can order blond hair and color it yourself but it seems to me that the factory can do this simply by changing their process steps - bleach, ventilate, color.

If it takes more time to color ventilated hair, I would be willing to pay extra for that. John, if you are reading this, what do you think?

Jaycee,

You appreciate they don't dye the hair they need, as they need it, one system at a time?
They are producing hundreds / thousands of systems and therefore dye the hair in vats/batches.

That way they have the hair to blend & mix.

Your system, for example had 2 different colours in it.
How would they then dye it 2 different colours once its been made?

I'm not sure, but as the hair starts out black from the donors, it maybe isn't processed as much as when it is dyed other lighter colours.
This may be why its harder/impossible to bleach the knots.