Harry Potter: Tom Felton Was Relieved When He No Longer Had To Bleach His Hair

Tom Felton is best known for his "Harry Potter" role, Draco Malfoy, Harry's (Daniel Radcliffe) long-term Hogwarts rival. Draco is a pure-blooded wizard from a prestigious family who looks down on Muggles (people without magic) or any witch or wizard who possesses Muggle blood. For this reason, Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) becomes a constant target. Draco's been raised to believe that he's better than everyone, and he projects that until his father sells him to Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), the Dark Lord.

Draco is written as a very distinct character, visually. He has a specific look and style that marks him as a Malfoy, mainly the blond hair that's so light, it almost looks white. Both of Draco's parents have similar hair, making it easy to identify them as the core members of the Malfoy house. When paired with Hogwarts' black robes and Slytherin green, it makes Draco's hair stand out even more.

As expected, Felton's hair doesn't look like that in real life. To achieve the nearly white-blond signature color, Felton had to bleach his light brown/dark blonde hair regularly, not only to get the correct color but also to maintain it. When "Harry Potter" was finally coming to an end, Felton admitted he was excited not to have to keep up with the bleaching process.

In a 2009 Entertainment Tonight Canada interview, Tom Felton was asked if he was happy he wasn't going to have to keep bleaching his hair once "Harry Potter" finally ended. After eight films that Felton had worked on throughout the better part of his childhood and well into adulthood, saying goodbye to the franchise was a bittersweet reality, but one thing Felton was looking forward to was no longer needing to bleach his hair.

"It's going to be one of the greatest reliefs of it all when it's done," Felton responded with a huge smile on his face. "I would love to have counted how many times I've had it done, mind, 'cause it's literally in the hundreds at least now."

Felton went on to elaborate on how he had a lovely woman who managed to keep the process short and painless. He recounted that each session took 30 to 45 minutes and it never hurt. This was likely due to all the questions he's gotten over the years about if it causes him pain. Bleaching hair can be extremely damaging to both hair and skin if done incorrectly. The pain associated with the process usually comes from chemical burns along the scalp from applying the bleach mixture wrong. Fortunately for Felton, the woman who did his hair was a professional who made the process soothing and relaxing.

"I've actually grown quite oddly attached to it," Felton confessed, which makes sense since he's lived so long with the platinum look. The maintenance to upkeep it, though, is the problem. "I don't know that I'll be committed enough to every five days or whatever it is getting the old roots touched up. That's not really my style."