How to Repair Dry, Damaged Hair

You can repair damaged hair.

Dry, damaged and brittle hair is difficult to style, and trying to find the best product to return your hair to its former luster can be even more challenging. Fortunately, though, there are a few simple steps you can take that can put moisture back into your hair and even prevent it from becoming damaged.

Things You'll Need

• Moisturizing shampoo and conditioner
• Heat protectant
• Leave-In detangler
• Silkening cream

Instructions

1. Limit the use of any sort of heat tools on your hair. This includes blow dryers, hot rollers, straighteners, curling irons, etc. If you absolutely must use heat on your hair, use a heat protecting spray first. It will minimize the damage and breakage. Also, buy a new heat tool if the one you have is more than five years old. The older the tool, the more likely the heat sensor doesn't work properly. You could be overheating your hair.

2. Use butterfly clips, hair sticks or barrettes when you put your hair up. Regular hair ties have a tendency to break hair, especially if you wear your in a ponytail in the same place day after day. If hair ties are the best option for you, tie your hair up in different places on your head or vary the style between ponytails and braids. This will make breakage due to repeatedly tying your hair in the same spot less likely.

3. Apply a leave-in detangler before you brush your hair, especially if your hair is long. This will make your hair a lot easier to brush through and in turn make it less likely to break hair by ripping through knots.

4. Avoid using products like hairspray, hair gel and hair wax. They leave a lot of buildup on your hair and make it harder to brush through.

5. Wash your hair every other day rather than every day, and always use a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. Pay a little extra for shampoos and conditioners that nourish, not just cleanse, your hair.

6. Limit the use of hair dyes, colors and bleaches. If you absolutely must color your hair, use a nonpermanent or semi-permanent dye. They're far less damaging than permanent dyes.

7. Use hair silkening cream on the ends of your hair, especially if you wear it long. Longer hair is more prone to split ends and breakage, and the silkening cream will add strength and moisture to your ends.

8. Brush your hair from the ends to the roots, instead of brushing from roots to ends. If you brush the ends first you'll slowly get knots out a little bit at a time, rather than ripping through them, which certainly doesn't help repair dry, damaged hair.

9. Get regular trims. Most experts say that you should get your hair trimmed monthly, however if you follow all of the above steps, you should be able to go about three to four months without trimming. Trimming does make a world of difference, though, so even cutting only an inch every couple of months will dramatically change the look and feel of your hair.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember it took months or even years to get your hair damaged, and it will take that long to get it healthy again. Depending upon the extent of the damage, you may be able to see a noticeable difference in just a few weeks.

• PLEASE NOTE: This article and the images in it are copywritten. Using them without giving credit is plagiarism and it's against the law.

References

• "Good Housekeeping": Bring Your Hair Back to Life!