Why You Should Wait Two Weeks Between Highlights and Keratin Treatments

If you’re someone who gets regular highlights and loves healthy, manageable hair (who doesn’t?), then understanding the two-week rule between bleaching and keratin treatments is essential. At SMOOTHED, we always recommend waiting two full weeks after highlights before getting a keratin treatment—and here’s exactly why.

⚡ Bleach Is a Tasmanian Devil for Your Hair

Let’s start with what bleach actually does. Bleach doesn’t have the ability to “choose” what to break down in your hair—it breaks everything.

When you highlight your hair, the bleach:

• Breaks color bonds

• Breaks curl bonds

• Breaks keratin bonds

• Breaks protein bonds (a.k.a. the structure of your hair)

This is why your hair often feels dry, brittle, and straw-like after a highlight—it’s because all the internal structure has been compromised. That’s just what bleach does. There’s no escaping that kind of damage.

🛡️ Why You Should Never Bleach After a Keratin Treatment

If you get a keratin treatment before a highlight, a few things happen:

1. The bleach doesn’t just lift color—it lifts everything, including the keratin that was just applied.

2. Your hair will still be vulnerable because the bleach will break down the faux keratin, essentially wiping out the treatment you just paid for.

3. The damage still happens—you’re just wasting the benefit of the keratin by bleaching it right back out.

So while it’s slightly better than bleaching untreated hair (because some faux keratin is sacrificed instead of your natural keratin), it’s far from ideal. In fact, you’ll need another keratin treatment right away.

💡 Best Practice: Highlights First, Then Keratin

Here’s what we recommend at SMOOTHED:

1. Get your highlights done first.

2. Wait a full two weeks after the highlight before getting your keratin treatment.

Why wait?

• By then, the hair cuticle has had time to settle.

• Your toner has had time to naturally fade a bit (so keratin won’t interfere with it).

• Your keratin will not strip your color if you’ve waited the proper time.

• And most importantly—keratin will now rebuild what the bleach broke down.

🔁 Timing Is Everything

Here’s how your hair cycle might look if you highlight every 8 weeks:

• Week 0: Highlights

• Week 2: Keratin treatment

• Weeks 3–8: Healthy, low-maintenance hair

• Repeat

This strategy maximizes the time between bleach sessions and gives your hair time to recover. It’s especially critical if you’re trying to grow your hair longer, reduce frizz, or just get out of the cycle of dry, crunchy, breakage-prone blonde.

🌟 Real Talk: Bleach Breaks, Keratin Builds

Bleach is chaos. It breaks down the hair’s foundation.

Keratin is restoration. It seals, smooths, and strengthens the foundation that bleach destroys.

If you’re highlighting your hair regularly but not following up with keratin, you’re skipping the one step that can actually restore your hair from the inside out. That’s what makes keratin different—it’s not just coating your hair. It’s rebuilding the broken bonds.

💬 In Closing…

Bleach will always damage your hair. But keratin treatments—when timed correctly—can be your greatest tool in repairing and protecting it.

So if you’re highlighting your hair, be kind to it. Give it two weeks to settle, and then treat it to the smoothing, healing power of keratin. Your future self (and your ends) will thank you.

Need help planning your blonde-and-keratin routine?

Book a free virtual consult with one of our specialists at www.smoothedsalon.com. We’ll help you build the best custom schedule to get the most out of both your color and your treatment.