What's the best way to take care of my damaged hair?

[Lollie]

Since a month or so, my hair is very hard to handle. It's frizzy, the ends are very dry, it has lost its shine and even with the help of my flat iron, my bangs won't stay straight.
My hair is long, thick and wavy and my hairdresser dyes it once in 6 to 7 weeks. I have it cut about 4 times a year. I always use conditioner and I use a mask and a deep cleansing shampoo once a week. I wash my hair 3 times a week and I quite often use a flat iron (CHI), mostly for my bangs.
In the past few years I've tried a lot of hair care brands: Joico, Goldwell, Wella SP, Paul Mitchell, Fekkai, Lush, Bumble and bumble... but only Fekkai seems to be quite good, but unfortunately their products are very expensive...

My hairdresser is good at dying and cutting my hair, but I have the impression that she doesn't know a lot about hair care and such. Is there anyone who can recommend me a way to make my hair healthy again? I'd prefer to use brands that are not tested on animals.

Thanks!

 

[Almond_Eyed]

I had some really damaged hair at one point too, except I don't dye my hair. I can suggest a few things:

• Get your ends trimmed once a month, or at least every other month.
• Try a deep conditioning treatment, the kind you leave in for a while then rinse out. Alberto V05 has a hot-oil treatment, it's a relatively cheap drug store brand so it's worth a try.
• Use a heat protectant even if you're not blow-drying or straightening all of your hair, I use got2b Crazy Sleek Hot Smooth Flat Iron & Blow Dry Lotion.
• Wear pony tails or up-do's more often, when I wear my hair down it gets exposed to a lot more dirt, wind, and more likely to tangle and break.
• No matter what I do, my hair gets dry and fried whenever I colour my hair. You might want to consider holding off on dying your hair for a while if nothing else works.
• If you have the money, I hear the InStyler is good for making damaged hair look healthy again.

Hopefully one of those will help =)

 

[Mabelle]

you might want to try a protien treatment. use it once or twice a week. if you use it too much, it can damage your hair

 

[Pink_minx]

You should try to use natural shampoo & conditioner because a lot of the products you use have silicone or any ingredient with "cones" at the end can cause build up, I know thats what a deep cleansing shampoo is for but that can really dry your hair out. For natural shampoo and condish you can try LUSH or Burts Bees...

Try:
*Deep protein treatment like Phyto I forgot the name of it but its one of their products they are expensive but worked wonderfully on my hair use that once a week or once every two weeks
*If there are any split ends cut an inch off or whatever is needed to be cut off
*buy some jojoba oil, argan oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil use one of these oils on your ends and leave it in over night
*eat healthy!
*drink lots of water!
*take omega-3 and daily vitamins
*sleep on a silk pillow because it wont damage your hair as much as the cotton ones

My hair use to be a frizz ball! I decided to go all natural and stopped flat ironing all together!...it was a nightmare it was soo hard not to straighten but it really improved the condition of my hair. I hope that helps

 

[ashk36]

I'd like to hear some more responses. Really good suggestions so far. Except I have a question for almond eyed: Doesn't wearing your hair up a lot cause it to break MORE? I just always assumed that. I use those no snag pony tail holders, the clear ones that look like plastic, and they are great but I always worry that wearing my hair up was damaging it. And I wear it up ALL the time.

I definitely want the Phytonectar shampoo and that deep conditioning treatment. So expensive, but definitely good stuff. My friend is a product whore and when I took a shower at her house I had to try it. She said the nectar comes with this crazy instruction manual almost of exactly how to use it. You don't need much though, which is good because the bottle is prettyyy small.

 

[Almond_Eyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashk36 I'd like to hear some more responses. Really good suggestions so far. Except I have a question for almond eyed: Doesn't wearing your hair up a lot cause it to break MORE? I just always assumed that. I use those no snag pony tail holders, the clear ones that look like plastic, and they are great but I always worry that wearing my hair up was damaging it. And I wear it up ALL the time.

I guess it depends on HOW you wear your hair up. I made this suggestion because one cause of hair damage is friction.

I have super thick/straight Asian hair so I never do the "scrunched" bun, I find that it bends my hair follicles and causes a lot of damage. I use elastics that have the nylon (or whatever material it is) over the rubber so that it doesn't get stuck to my hair and break it. Any hairstyle that reduces hair from rubbing together (causing friciton) like a pony tail, braid, or twisted bun tends to keep my hair protected.

This was just one suggestion out of many because everyone has different types of hair, which ultimately determines what will and won't work for you. Hopefully that clarified my point =)

 

[BEA2LS]

my hair was really damaged, it still is but it is improving.. i got a good cut and laid off the blow dryer, flat iron.. after awhile i really do not even miss it to be honest.

 

[dolcedaniela]

file your nails, and try using sally hansen miracle growth in the gold bottle.

 

[Lollie]

Hi Daniela, I think you replied to the wrong topic ;-)

Just a small update. I've decided to gradually get my natural hair color back. Tomorrow I'm going to have it dyed. A little bit scary because it's been more than 10 years since I've seen myself with this color and it's a very big difference from the color I have right now (natural: chocolate brown, right now: highlighted).
But I still want to use the flat iron. My hair looks 100x better when it's straight!

I've also ordered some Joico products: a K-pak travel kit to use once a week and a moisture recovery shampoo and conditioner for regular use. I've read a lot of good reviews on MUA.

What do you think: is this a good idea?

 

[Pink_minx]

^I think its a great idea...I hear Joico is a really good product and you may never know it might work wonderfully on you! You just gotta try different things to see what works best for you and this will be your first step.

 

[shatteredshards]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Almond_Eyed I guess it depends on HOW you wear your hair up. I made this suggestion because one cause of hair damage is friction.

I've heard the same thing as ash, and as I understood it, it's not anything like friction, but the fact that pulling your hair back puts stress on the hair and on your scalp, and can cause hair to fall out a little faster from that stress. If you just do it loosly, I don't think it's really a problem, but a tight ponytail, for example, wouldn't be good.

 

[dirtball]

im copy&pasting something i wrote in a deep conditioning thread in august.

imagine your hair as a road. flat irons, blow dryers, sun exposure, bleach, color, perms, relaxers, etc all cause damage..i mean potholes in your "road". using a brazillian keratin treatment basically repaves the road and fills in all those potholes.

this is not a chemical relaxer, it is an intense keratin treatment. keratin is the natural protein that makes up about 88% of your hair. it will remove some wave/curl potentially up to 80 percent or so, add tons of shine, restores health to your hair, and reduces frizz!, in some cases eliminationg the need to flat iron at all. the treatment also seals your hair to prevent further damage! it last about 4 months (remember. not chemicals, so it washes out gradually) as you wash your hair you lose some keratin, and your roots will not have been treated. so you need to redo the treatment, but using their own brand of shampoo and conditioner, you can add some keratin back in every time you wash some out- slowing the wash out process.

this is seriously AMAZING i recommend this to everyone who abuses their hair...which is most of us. the website for the specific one i have been talking about is

Welcome to Marcia Teixeira Web Site!

i recomend this one specifically because the buzz right now about hair care is formaldehyde concerns. some treatments require the stylist wears a surgical mask so theyre not breathing it in....well what about you? its on top of your head!! gross, i dont like that. the amount of formaldehyde in the brazilian treatment that i like, is less formaldehyde than is in hand soap or lip gloss. so if you rub it all over your hands and mouth, id say its safe for your hair.

not all salons will have this because the stylist must be certified and trained by the company in order to perform the service. call around and price compare to find the best deal. at my salon we are running a special for $300 with the shampoo and conditioner for free which normally costs $50. most salons in my area do this service for $450 not including any products. so if you can find a salon like mine, youll be saving $200!!

if you live in massachusetts or the surrounding new england states and are interested, PM me and ill tell you where i work.