What is it?
Have you ever heard people talking about bleaching the knots on their lace frontal or closure? What exactly does that even mean? The first step to understanding what this means, is to understand what “knots” are. On lace products, where it’s a lace frontal or closure, each individual strand of hair is tied to the lace. Yes! Every single strand is handtied to the lace. The little knot where the hair is secured to the lace is called the knot.
Why would you do it?
These knots on the lace can take away from the natural look of the wig or frontal. If you’re looking at someone’s scalp and you see all these knots, it’ll become obvious that the person is wearing a wig. That is why many customers in the beauty industry choose to bleach these knots. It’s important to keep in mind that because these knots are the hair, and most units come in a natural 1b colour, the knots would be a dark colour. By bleaching the knots, you are lightening the colour of these knots, which makes them less obvious and gives a more natural look to the install.
How to do it
The following are recommended steps to bleach your knots. You may find that the steps change slightly from person to person. It’s important to do get comfortable with how you will perform this and to follow what works best for you.
Keep in mind you are using bleach – it’s best to always wear gloves and do this in a well-ventilated area. Use caution always
Step 1: Prepare your work space. You will need hair bleach; we recommend Clairol BW2 that can be purchased at your local beauty supply. You will also need developer: the stronger the developer the faster it will work. We recommend starting with 10 or 20 developer and working your way up once you get comfortable. You will also need an applicator: we recommend using a plastic knife or spoon.
Step 2: You want to mix the bleach with the developer. You do not want a runny mixture as this will cause the mixture to seep through to the hair. You want the mixture to be on the thicker side, a consistency that is like toothpaste is the best.
Step 3: Begin to apply the mixture onto the inside of the frontal/closure. This is the opposite side of the hair. It is the side that will be touching your scalp once applied. You want to apply this very lightly. If you apply too hard, it will go through the lace and bleach the hair. Be very cautious when applying this mixture.
Step 4: Once the mixture has been applied all over the lace, you want to put tin foil over the bleach and have the unit sitting with the bleach face down. The tin foil will help to make the bleach work quicker. Sitting the unit the bleach down will prevent the bleach from going onto the hair. Gravity would not be your friend in that case!
Step 5: Wait for approximately 25-30 minutes. It’s best to keep an eye on it and ensure it’s not overbleaching the knots or getting on the hair.
Step 6: Once it’s finished, you need to thoroughly wash out the unit. Rinse the unit first with water and then apply a purple shampoo. Let the purple shampoo sit for 10 minutes to get out any orange or brassy look.
Step 7: Use conditioner on the hair and the lace. Once you’re done washing out the unit, it’s best to let the hair air dry overnight on a mannequin head.
Final Results
After bleaching the knots successfully, you should find that the knots are less noticeable. You may find that not all the knots were bleached – that’s fine. The main thing is that most of them are now toned down and less visible. This will give a much more natural install.
Conclusion
Now that you have an overview of what knots are, and you understand why many people opt to bleach their knots, AND you know step by step how to do it, you’re ready for the real thing. We do recommend also checking out YouTube videos for those who are visual learners. This post is not conclusive of every tip and trick out there. It’s always important to do all of your research prior to trying anything. We hope you enjoyed this! Check out all of our frontals, closures, and ready to ship wigs throughout this website. All orders ship same day.