If you want to achieve a most realistic-looking hairline, you usually use a closure or a frontal. But it’s one thing to use a closure and a frontal and it’s quite another to ensure that it matches your scalp. This is why it is important to learn how to bleach knots on a lace wig. Because even if you get a lace closure or lace frontal, if it doesn’t match your skin, it wouldn’t give you a perfectly realistic hairline.
This is where the idea of bleaching knots comes in. To make a lace frontal or lace closure, the wig makers usually knot individual strands of hair into the lace. So, at the points where these strands are secured, you would see some dark knots that look like dark seeds on the lace. These are the knots you want to bleach.
Some people don’t seem to mind unbleached knots. But the truth is your wig will look wiggy if you don’t bleach the knots on the lace. (We have a cheat sheet to help you get human hair wigs that always look real. Click here to check it out).
Understandably, bleaching knots might seem like a troublesome task, especially if you don’t know how to do it. This is why we’re giving you a few tips to help you do a fantastic job of bleaching the knots on your wig.
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Should You Bleach The Knots On Your Lace Wig?
If you’ve just bought a lace frontal or lace closure (by the way, here’s the one to go for if you’re confused) and want to complete that natural, realistic look, then you have to bleach the knots on the lace of your wig.
What bleaching does is that it lightens the dark knots on the lace closure or frontal which reduces the visibility of the knots. This is what makes the wig look like the hair is growing right out of your scalp.
When you bleach the knots on the lace of your wig, the cuticles of the hair open up and release their colour. This process is an irreversible reaction. So, in other words, the knots will never come back to their initial dark colour.
Dark brown and black hair are usually the ones that need their knots bleached. Blonde and light brown hair usually don’t need to have their knots bleached since they are already really light in colour.
Now, you have to be really careful if you have a jet black wig. Bleaching the knots on a jet black wig is quite tricky for obvious reasons. Hence, you have to religiously follow the steps as we explain them to you.
How To Bleach Knots on Lace Closures and Lace Frontals
Materials Needed
Here are the materials you’ll be needing to bleach your lace closures and lace frontals.
- Hair bleach.
- Developer. You’d need 20 milliliters to 30 milliliters.
- Mixing bowl.
- Mixing brush.
- Gloves.
- Conditioner.
- Neutralising shampoo/
- Conditioner.
- Then your lace closure/frontal/wig, of course.
Once you’ve gotten all these ready, it’s time to begin the bleaching process.
Procedure for Bleaching The Knots on Your Lace Wig
Step 1: Prepare the Hair
The first thing you want to do is to brush the frontal so that you get the hair around there out of the way. Then turn the wig upside down and hold it down on your mannequin head. By the way, you ought to have a mannequin head to store your wig correctly else your wig will tangle and/or matte.
If your wig comes with baby hair, you want to pin those too so that you don’t accidentally bleach them which could make your wig look ugly.
Step 2: Prepare the Bleach
Before mixing the bleach, make sure you have a pair of gloves on to protect your hands. You’re dealing with harsh chemicals that you don’t want to mistakenly ingest. Plus, some people might react to the chemicals.
Next, add two scoops of bleach to an equal amount of professional developer or even slightly less developer. Most professional stylists prefer to mix in the 1:1 ratio though.
When you’ve done that, you should then stir the mixture until it gets to a desired consistency.
Now, this step calls for painstaking stirring. Your goal is to create a thick, smooth paste with no lumps. So, be gentle and take your time to do this.
Step 3: Apply the Bleach
We mentioned that the last step calls for you to be painstaking, right? Well, this step requires you to be even more painstaking.
Now, take the mixing brush and apply the mixture on the frontal/closure. Be very careful and dab the mixture gently on the frontal or closure.
Be careful not to apply too much pressure when dabbing the bleach onto the lace. If you apply too much pressure, the bleach can seep through the lace and bleach the hair itself. Nevertheless, the aim remains to cover the entire lace base with the bleach.
Once you’re sure that you’ve applied the bleach onto each of the knots, it’s time to use your aluminum foil to cover the frontal or closure.
Step 4: Keep Checking the Lace
After applying the bleach, you should be checking on the lace, at least, every ten minutes. In the process of this, you should begin to notice the blonde colour beginning to form on the lace. If there are knots that are still dark, dab some more bleach on them.
Leave the mixture and the aluminum foil on the lace until the entire lace base is blonde. This is a crucial step. Do not take off the aluminum foil even one minute before the lace is ready else the lace could end up looking brassy rather than blonde.
Step 5: Rinse off the Bleach
Once you’ve confirmed that the entire lace is completely blonde, it’s time to rinse the colour off. Now, when you’re rinsing off the mixture, be sure to turn the wig upside down so that the bleach does not seep into the wig. Make sure you take your time when rinsing off the mixture so that you can get all the bleach out.
After this, wash the closure or frontal with some neutralising shampoo. This will stop the bleaching process. Do the washing twice and give the shampoo enough time to get rid of the bleach completely.
After shampooing, condition the hair itself with your conditioner to get the strands moisturised.
Step 6: Dry Your Wig
After this, let the hair closure dry. The best way to dry the closure is to air dry so that you don’t damage the closure further. Remember that bleaching is already a level of damage to the hair, applying heat to the closure would only serve to further damage it.
You can also use a blow dryer if you’re in a hurry. But make sure you set it to the lowest heat. Generally, though, we wouldn’t advise you to use a blow dryer to dry your wig.
Wait till your wig is completely dry before you wear it. Now, this is very important to prevent the mildew smell.
Once your wig is completely dry, the knots will no longer be visible. You might notice a few visible knots but it wouldn’t be as obvious as before. It will begin to look more like a natural scalp.
Some Helpful Tips To Remember
Bleaching the knots on your lace wig is actually quite easy to achieve at home but if you’re not feeling very confident, you can take your wig to a professional to help you with it.
Anyway, here are some tips to help you if you choose to run this yourself.
1. Use The Right Amount of Bleach on the Closure
When applying the bleach to the lace closure or frontal, make sure you don’t add too much. You want the base looking natural but, at the same time, you wouldn’t want to colour your wig. Applying excess bleach increases your risk of accidentally colouring your hair.
2. The Right Consistency is Key
It is super important to ensure that the consistency of the bleach-developer mixture is thick. If you whip up a runny mixture, you make it easy for the mixture to sip through the lace closure or frontal and colour the hair.
3. Use The Right Developer
Using the right volume of developer is crucial to success when bleaching knots. As we recommended, the best is 20 to 30 milliliters.
4. Take Your Time to Do This
If you’re in a hurry to rush out, then don’t do this. You need to take your time to do this else you won’t do this well. At least, make sure you have a full hour to spare. Because although the bleaching itself takes about 20 minutes max, remember you’d still have to factor in prep time and rinsing time.
5. Only Use Neutralising Shampoo
Do not use regular shampoo when bleaching knots. The reason we insist on neutralising shampoo is because it is only neutralising shampoo that can stop the bleaching process. If you use regular shampoo, you might rise off the mixture, but you wouldn’t stop the chemical process from continuing.
6. Air Drying is Best
Yes, you can blow-dry your hair after you’re done rinsing. But is that the best? It isn’t. Air drying sure takes time but it is better than further damaging your hair with heat. Don’t forget that the bleaching process is already quite the intense process. So, you want to stay away from anything that could cause further damage.
7. Keep Bleaching to the Hairline
When explaining the steps to bleaching the knots on your lace wig, if you notice, we stuck to bleaching the knots at the front hairline. It is not a good idea to bleach the knots on the entire base of your lace wig.
Keep the bleaching to the hairline and forehead where you create your hairstyle. The aim is to be able to part your wig in any direction and maintain a natural look.
Bleaching is harsh treatment to your wig. So, only do it when and where it is needed.
8. Virgin and Remi Hair are the Best to Bleach
When it comes to bleaching knots, virgin and Remi hair are the best. This is because Remi and virgin hair are unprocessed which means that you minimise the extent of damage done from bleaching the knots on the lace.
With already processed hair or coloured hair, bleaching the knots on the lace would only make the already weakened hair weaker. So, there are higher chances of shedding when you bleach the knots on processed hair.
That’s not to say that you can’t bleach the knots on processed hair (although you probably shouldn’t bleach the knots on a blonde wig) but you must be very careful with them in order to minimise damage.
Now, the thing with Remi and virgin hair is that they are dark coloured so bleaching them might be a little difficult. Nonetheless, they can be successfully bleached once you do it the right way. Click here to learn how to get authentic virgin hair.
Advantages of Bleaching The Knots on Your Lace Wig
Bleaching the knots on your lace wig removes the seedy look that naturally comes with lace closures and frontals. This way, it looks like the hair on your wig is growing right out of your scalp instead of looking like a wig.
Disadvantages of Bleaching the Knots on Your Lace Wig
Well, applying bleach to your wig, as you can probably tell, is an intense process which damages your hair in some way. It also weakens the roots of the hair and makes your lace less durable. This is why we discourage drying your wig with a blowdryer after such a process.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How Long Should I Bleach My Knots?
Altogether, the bleaching process itself might take about 20 minutes but this is as long as you use the right volume of developer. A 30 milliliter developer is best for a beginner because it’s not too fast or too slow.
As developers increase in volume, they typically work faster, which brings us to another important aspect of the bleaching process. We don’t recommend that beginners use 40 milliliter developers because such developers process much faster which might be too fast for a first timer.
It’s better to begin with a slower developer than a fast one. This is why we recommend the 20 to 30 millimeter developers.
2. Does Bleaching Knots Cause Shedding?
Now, you’ve got to be very careful when it comes to bleaching knots especially when handling dark hair. If you’re bleaching dark hair, try to go a reasonable one shade or two shades lighter. If you go all the way from dark to very light, you would damage your hair. This could then lead to shedding.
Nevertheless, if you stick with what we’ve walked you through in this article, you shouldn’t have any cause to worry when it comes to shedding.
Time to Slay!
Now that you’ve successfully bleached those knots, all that’s left is to slay!
Cheers!
