Is your hair brittle and dry with split ends and without any shine? We have good news for you: Cutting your hair is not the only solution. We reveal how to fix damaged hair with the proper care and gentle styling methods, bringing vibrancy and shine back to your hair.
Most damaged hair tells a story of small, minor injuries, building on top of each other. For example; ongoing use of styling tools like brushes, blow-dryers or the curling iron or even rougher chemical treatments, such as colour treatments, bleaching, and perms. Stress and unbalanced diets also contribute to hair problems. In some cases, improper care is the sole culprit. Over time, rough treatment dries the hair out, the naturally smooth cuticle layer becomes rough, the hair starts to appear brittle and then also begins showing split ends.
Treat your hair with loving care by keeping all potential harm away from it. Be sure to use a shampoo for damaged hair repair and massage it gently through your wet hair. Vigorous rubbing during shampooing will only make it harder to comb your hair later on. Thoroughly rinse out all shampoo. Damaged hair definitely needs a conditioning rinse or treatment after every shampoo. Conditioners are particularly necessary for the most damaged ends. Allow the conditioners to do their work for a short while before rinsing them out thoroughly.
Certain ingredients in shampoos and damaged hair treatment products save distressed hair. Moisturizers like Aloe vera, panthenol, glycerol or silk proteins are life savers for stressed fine hair. Plant oils and proteins work wonders for hard to manage stressed hair. Active components like macadamia nut oil, argan oil, shea butter or wild brier oil coat every individual hair with a very fine protective layer. That repairs the cuticle layer and as a consequence the hair looks healthier and has more luster.
Hair swells during shampooing. Freshly washed hair is therefore particularly sensitive. After shampooing you should therefore not vigorously rub your hair dry but rather cover it with a towel turban. Then comb the damp hair with a wide-toothed comb while holding the root portion of the hair. Air-drying is of course the best hair treatment for damaged hair, but if there is no time for such luxury you should set your blow-dryer to full air stream, never to higher than medium heat. This keeps the exposure to the blow-dryer short and the drying effect to a minimum. At least for a while, you should avoid heat-styling tools like flat irons, curling irons or heated rollers. Please also remember that chemical treatments like colouring, bleaching or permanents will cause additional damage to already damaged hair. Just for a while, you may like to rely on colouring rinses for the desired colour effects in your hair.
Split end fluids help if split ends are the most obvious part of the damage to your hair. The silicone oil in these fluids mend the split ends at least temporarily thus eliminating the frizzy look. Simply work (very!) few drops of split end fluid through your towel-dried hair and then allow it to dry in the usual way. Rolling the split ends over a round brush while blow drying them also helps to fix damaged hair and minimize frizz. If all fails and the split ends increasingly turn into split hair ask your stylist to trim off a centimeter of your hair. Your reward will be instantaneous! Without the split ends your hair is going to look a lot thicker and healthier.