Is every day a Bad Hair Day for you? (Kind of like the movie Groundhog Day, but with your hair?)
Maybe you were the victim of an overzealous colourist (it’s happened to me); maybe you tried to DIY with home colour and failed (I’ve also been there); or maybe you just have too much love for your curling iron, flat iron and hairdryer.
Whatever happened—you need some help to nurse those fragile, damaged locks back to health. Yes?
This question was actually posed by not one but two readers lately. And since I’ve managed to recover my locks from a poorly advised 18-month period of trying virtually every hair colour under the sun, I am perfectly qualified to advise you. So here goes…
1. Invest in a shampoo and conditioner SPECIFICALLY FOR REPAIRING DAMAGE.
Don’t mess around with plain old products for dry hair. They’re okaaaaay, but what you REALLY want is all the magical ingredient goodness of a damage-repairing shampoo and conditioner duo. When your hair is damaged, it’s lost protein, so that’s what these kids do—they throw that protein right back atcha. I’m particularly fond of Redken’s Extreme line. Anything from Kérastase is also a sure bet—their damaged hair line is called Résistance and I know it well.
At the drugstore, Dove makes a damaged hair line called Intense Damage Therapy… and there is a Pantene specifically for damaged hair too.
2. You know how beauty people always talk about using a deep conditioning masque once or twice a week? LISTEN TO THEM.
No seriously. You really need to do this. Most damage repair lines include a deep conditioning/repairing masque as well as the shampoo and conditioner… but if you wanted to pull out all the stops (and have a spare $150 or so), Kérastase’s Chronologiste all-in-one hair treatment is to die for.
Another line worth checking out is Philip Kingsley, now available at Holt Renfrew. He makes a treatment called the Elasticizer Extreme, which is specifically for traumatized hair, and I hear it’s fantastic.
3. Easy on the heat styling, tiger.
But you know this. If you can get away with air drying as much as you can for a few months, until your hair is in better condition, it’s a good idea. But if you must use anything with heat-please, PLEASE put in a heat-protective product first. (Not just any old serum—make sure the label says that it will protect against thermal damage.)
No need to spend big bucks either—TRESemmé makes an entire range of stylers with heat-protective benefits, and they’re cheap as chips.
Also: throw out that little nozzle on the end of your hairdryer. It concentrates the heat in a smaller surface area, which means—you guessed it!—more damage potential.
4. Treat your hair like a FINE, DELICATE, SPECIAL FLOWER.
That means easy on the post-shower towel drying. (All that rubbing can cause breakage.) Use a wide-toothed comb—not a brush—when your hair is wet. And as much as I love blow-drying with Ye Old Round Brush, it can cause breakage so try to abstain. The less pulling and tugging you do to your hair, the better.
5. Consider colouring your hair. Yes, really.
I know this sounds counter-intutive, but colour really can make your hair appear a bit healthier because it fills in the hair cuticle and adds shine. I wouldn’t do this if your hair is severely damaged or breaking off though though—in some cases you just need to give it a rest and work on things with the prodz I mentioned above. However, as you’ll see when I post the pics from the Clairol event we did on Monday, a bit of demi-permanent colour (like Clairol Natural Instincts, natch) can make a WORLD of difference.
Just make sure to get the advice of an expert if you’re colouring over a previous colour job gone wrong… this is more of a solution for damaged hair due to heat styling.
And finally… a word about volume
Reader G. asked what she can do to get volume, even though she’s using products to repair her damaged hair.
Unfortch… I’ve yet to see any products that both repair AND add volume. (Attention, beauty marketers! New category alert!) Until beauty companies can come out with a technology for this, you kind of have to choose your most important concern. I’d probably stick with the damage repair… all the volume in the world won’t matter if your hair is dull, dried-out and damaged.
What you CAN do, however—after your reparative shampoo, conditioner and protective heat stylers—is use a root-lifting product like Kiehl’s Super Thick Volumizer (probably my all-time favourite volumizer). TRESemmé also makes a thermal protective mousse that would be good too.
They’re not going to be QUITE as effective as if you paired them with volumizing shampoo and conditioner, but if you blow-dry upside down or even just pull all your hair up into a bun while it’s damp and let it air-dry that way, they should give you a bit of lift. (And curl, when you take it out.)
So tell me, guys—
Do you have damaged hair?
How did it happen? (Were you naughty or is a certain hairdresser now your Enemy Number One?)
What products have you used that have worked?
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Great tips!
One question – as far as using a good shampoo and conditioner for damage, do you find there is a big difference between drugstore and salon brands? Is it worth it to buy Kerastase over Pantene?
Ahhh this is the question that keeps beauty editors up at night. It’s hard to say. If you ask any hair expert (a neutral one, not affiliated with a certain brand because then they will lie) they will tell you there is definitely a difference with drugstore vs. salon brands. The brands that come up time and time again are Kerastase, L’Oreal Professionel, Shu Uemura, Redken, Oribe.
But then you hear these rumours about all the products being made in the same factory, etc. And you know—L’Oreal, for example, manufactures a TON of hair lines: Garnier, Pureology, Biolage, Redken, Shu, etc. So one would think there would be some sharing between the high and low ends of their offerings.
Also, I visited the Pantene labs in Cincinnati a couple months ago and there is no question that they put an incredible amount of R&D time/money into coming out with products that perform. And you have to think about the economies of scale – because Pantene is a mass brand, that means they’re able to invest that much more in R&D… whereas a smaller scale niche brand can’t.
So I don’t really have an answer for this! I think it just comes down to personal preference and budget. In general, I’ve found the higher end brands to have richer moisturizing ingredients… but again, it depends if you want/need/like that kind of thing.
I’m using the Kerastase damage shampoo and conditioner. To be honest, the only reason I was willing to fork out THAT much money for it (close to $100 for both after taxes) was because my hair was SO bad that I was desperate to find something that actually worked. I was worried that drugstore brands might not have enough umph to get the job done so I spent the extra bucks. I haven’t tried the drug store brands so I can’t say this for sure …. But for day-to-day maintenance, like if you’re dealing with daily heat styling damage and not something “temporary” like what I’m going thru, I don’t know that you need to spend the extra bucks on the uber good schtuff.
Hey Michelle!
Since I seem to have started all this mess (readers, I’m G mentioned in the posting) here’s my story …
First, some BG on my hair. At the time of the “incident” I was just about at the perfect angled bob length. Very short in the back, and about 1.5 inches longer than my chin in the front. You should also know that I have supa fine limp hair. It’s always been in perfect condition — never dry, damaged, oily or anything — just lacking volume. I had coloured it many times in the past, everything from red to dark chocolate brown to chunky blonde highlights with no problems at all … except for maybe colour choice
Okay, here we go …
I won a makeover at an Aveda salon in Etobicoke. I figured it was reputable with the Aveda name attached to it, plus I had been going there for years for spa services on a regular basis, and had recently started to get my hair done there as well. They put some chunky highlights in a few months before I won the makeover and my hair looked great, but I figured hey what the heck! I NEVER win anything!!
Long story short: they bleached out my hair … twice … in the same visit … which I’m told is a definite no-no. They put the bleach on all over for about 30 mins. The roots took it well but the rest didn’t so they added MORE bleach to everything except my roots and left me to bake for probably close to an hour. I went from a medium-dark brunette to a platinum blonde and it actually looked great … until my hair started to break off and fall out. My hair broke off at the root where my existing highlights were, leaving me with 1″ pieces all over my head, and the rest became a very dry, brittle mess. Oh, and it turned green at one point, too.
I’ve spent over $1000 since trying to fix my hair with products and salon services. I’m STILL trying to fix it and it’s been 6 months!
Worst part: the salon wouldn’t even own up to possibly making a mistake. They totally left me in the dark and didn’t even offer to help me out. In fact, the manager tried to turn things around and blame it on ME, saying that I wasn’t taking care of it. Um, lady … you guys never told me how to take care of it in the first place, even when I asked!! I wrote them a very strongly-worded letter that was copied to Aveda and even THAT didn’t get me anywhere. All I wanted was an apology, and an attempt to try and fix things. But no. Got nada. They completely ignored me and my letter. So they’ve lost me, someone who frequented their salon and spa on a monthly basis, as a client forever, and I tell everyone I can about them every chance I get.
Ahhh …. feels better to get it out. Lol!!
Oh wow – I’m so sorry to hear about your terrible experience! And shocked that it was an Aveda salon that did that to you. (Guess that’s the power of the Internet… horror stories can circulate more widely now.)
I wonder what possessed them to put your hair through all that bleaching. They should have at least offered to help correct the problem somehow instead of blaming YOU! (although not sure how much they could truthfully do if hair was falling out… I don’t think you’d trust them putting any more colour near you!). But at the very least you shouldn’t have to PAY for this kind of trauma.
It’s also crazy that Aveda HQ has ignored your letter. (Although their PR dept has never been stellar so it sort of doesn’t surprised me.) Do you have photo proof you can send them?
Unfortunately there’s not too much that can be done for all that bleaching… I’ve had it done myself, although not to that degree, but was told by several hairdressers to just leave it alone. I did end up going dark, which helped camouflage the damage, but it was at least 6 mths – 1 year of using damage-repair products before it felt in good condition again. Sometimes the best thing you can do is just cut it off and let the new hair grow in.
Ya, since adding the brown pieces a few weeks ago my hair at least looks a bit healthier now. Whether it is or not is another story though. And I THINK I’ve found a salon that I can trust; they didn’t even TRY to touch up my blonde locks. They went straight for the brown and said “let’s fix this mess.” Only time will tell though.
The good news is that I know I look good with a short pixie cut, so if I do get uber frustrated I’ll just cut it all off.
Wow…I will never ever go to an Aveda salon after reading that. Thank you for taking the time to share.
Any time
Hey Michelle!
Ah, helpful tips!
My hair is very fine and I have a lot of damage since I use my straightening iron almost daily. (If i don’t my hair looks extremely dry and frizzy and its just unmanageable) I have been looking at some products but couldn’t decide which would be best for my case. Like you mentioned, Redken Extreme would be one of my choices. I also looked at L’Oreal’s Absolut Repair and Joico’s Kpak Reconstruct. I’m just worried that these are made for coarse, thick hair and they will make my hair oily. Do you have any suggestions for me? Shampoos, Conditioners, Leave In Treatments, Masks… Anything!
Thanks a lot!
Do you use anything to protect your hair from the straightening iron? That would be the #1 thing I’d worry about first… and also try to ease up on the heat styling if you can, even to doing it every other day. (Do you have to wash your hair every day or can you just refresh it with dry shampoo? I have the same hair type and find the dry shampoo does the trick just fine.) Or maybe you could let your hair air dry (overnight, say) and then just touch it up with the flat iron.
As for non-greasifying damage products – well by their very nature they’re going to be more moisturizing as that’s what your hair needs to repair itself… But I have the same hair type as you and found the Redken Extreme not too bad. Kpak is a little heavy; haven’t tried the L’Oreal Absolut Repair. I think you can go heavier on the mask since you rinse it out and only use once a week – but for daily use you want a pretty light conditioner. From memory the Redken line has this; they also make a really good protein treatment.
Kerastase’s Resistance line is also pretty good – it’s more moisturizing than the Redken, I think, but I was still fine with it. It’s made for “weakened, damaged hair” – not specifically coarse hair.
So – in a nutshell – I think either the Kerastase or Redken lines are excellent choices if your hair is on the fine side.
Anyone else care to weigh in?
I also have very fine hair that gets oily quickly, I’ve tried L’Oreal Absolut Repair leave-in and didn’t like it! It gives my hair a weird texture when it dries with it on it – like you can feel the product on it, not very soft at all. I’d go with Frizz Ease or the Kerastase/Redken instead, maybe just on the ends if it gets really oily.
Yeah, I’m not big on leave-ins either (didn’t realize that’s what the L’Oreal product was… as I said, I haven’t tried it). Usually way too heavy for fine hair and I hate that crispy texture you’re talking about… ugh!
@Barbie: I’m using L’oreal’s Absolut Repair Mask and it hasn’t made my hair oily at all. I use it about twice a week, leaving it in for about 10 mins. It leaves my hair super soft … which unfortunately means it’s hard to do anything with it. I try to use it at night so my hair is a bit more manageable in the mornings. I’m almost out of it though, and will likely try the Redken line after.
I’d be interested to hear from Michelle on this one, too. Also, is it a bad idea to keep “switching it up” with the hair treatments/masks/shampoos? Will switching cause my hair even MORE heartache?
Oh good! Someone who has tried the L’Oreal mask. Glad to hear it isn’t too greasy!
As for switching up treatments – no, I don’t think you can damage your hair this way. And I don’t really believe you need to use all products from one line (except sometimes in skincare when there are actives that could trigger a reaction).
What IS damaging are all the things you DO to your hair (eg washing too much, heat styling, colouring, tugging/pulling/rubbing it too vigorously). As long as you’re gentle and putting moisture back in the hair with your conditioners and masks, then no – I think you’re fine to switch things up and rotate different brands.
And of course – lots of people are of the school of thought that your hair “gets used to” certain products too. I think this may be because of build-up – switching it up removes it and causes your hair to look better again.
Thanks Gimped! I will likely to try the line out then. And good question, because I’m always switching up the products I use!
Me too! Hazard of the job
wow thats really bad what aveda did to the person above, I’ve bleached out my dark hair before and I would never recommend it to anyone.
Especially since the salon I went to (zampino the not so glamorous studio) the hair dresser didnt even explain to me how to properly care for my hair when its been highlighted blonde!
Unless your rich and famous and have the time to hire someone to wash, condition blow dry your hair out every other day dont bleach it out!
I would recommend using oil I use hot olive oil on my hair once a week, my hair use to be extremely dry and limp and damaged from all the coloring now its grown out i haven’t colored it since and the oil is actually making my hair look healthier and it grew out pretty fast. the only thing thats a pain is you have to shampoo twice in the shower to get all the oil out after.
Same thing happened to me with the aftercare stuff. I asked my stylist a number of times what I needed to do to take care of my new hair and she said “do what you normally do.” Really? You JUST stripped my hair completely and I can go home and use my volumizing shampoo like I normally do?? At one point she DID recommend a purple shampoo, and that just gave my porous hair a blue hue. Then when that clearly wasn’t working and my hair turned GREEN I went back to speak to the manager and she put on yet another chemical to strip out the green and sold me a bunch of expensive Aveda products and told me to try that for a week. Did nothing to prevent the green from coming back so I returned them, and then the manager disappeared and wouldn’t help me.
What is it that stylists don’t get? We pay them to do our hair because we can’t do it ourselves. We put our trust in them that they know what they’re doing and won’t let us walk out of the salon looking like a trainwreck. We need their help with products/techniques so we can do what we need to at home. But why is it SO hard to find a stylist that can actually DO both of those?
Some days I feel like my hair would be better off if I pulled a Britney Spears ….
Wow, crazy that the purple shampoo actually tinted your hair! I’ve never heard of that happening.
Please don’t pull a Britney though! While yes, I think a good chop can do wonders, that’s pretty extreme! What you need is a good stylist to take you under his/her wing and give your hair some TLC over a series of appointments… probably will take you 6-12 months to get it back in proper condition.
Finding that person is the hard part though! I wish I had a longer list of people to recommend – one you might try is Jeff at Angst. As per my post last week, I was just in there and he told me to stop getting all-over base colour and just do highlights. So he’s pretty low-key and pretty clued-in about not damaging your hair.
Anyway just a thought!
Oh interesting about the oil treatment, Kat! That’s amazing that it has helped repair your hair. Maybe a good option if people don’t want to splurge on the salon stuff
As for bleaching – yes, a few years ago when a hairdresser convinced me to go solid-colour blonde my hair got horribly damaged. NEVER again. But right now I have highlights and my hair is fine. I think a little bleach is okay in small doses…
Redken is an awesome line. I have never had any negative comments to say about it. It works great and is always a go-to line if my locks are craving more of a treatment haircare line. Love it!!!
http://www.pinkteddylove.blogspot.com
Great article! I’ve got a big problem. Whenever I let my hair air dry, it dries all frizzy, dull, and unhealthy looking. I’m afraid its from how frequently I use heat on my hair. I blow dry and straighten almost every morning, but now even the ends of my hair are looking frizzy and dull. I have some split ends and breakage and I do use heat protecting spray! HELP!
Hi my hair is dull and lifeless and it’s falling out. I am on thyroid medication and after a few months I notice this horrible change in my hair and now I’m trying to get back to the way it was full of bouncy curls or when blowed dryed it also had bounce at the tips and now nothing but burnt thin looking hair. Help anyone???
Help ..I recently had surgery with general anesthesia. …now my hair is fried
It is so dry &frizzy
The texture is different
I lost my curls
I don’t want to cut my hair because I think it will look bigger & more frizzy
What should I do?
Did u ever hear of this happening?
Thank you,
Lisa
well here’s my story, I discovered a straightener and usedit at it’s highest setting for two years! and never used anything at all to prevent heat. than I dyed my hair red every month or so! my hair hasn’t really grown in the past year or so. I’ve invested in glue in hair extensions and had to cut out glue matts that were stuck in my hair. Leaving me with blad’ish spots and pretty much no hair! I wear clip in extensions but they’re so expensive and they are too healthy looking for my horrible damaged hair! I just want healthy hair again. My hair is extremelyyyy unhealthy! I’m willing to do almost anything to have healthy, growing hair!! Please give me advice, will these products really work the best or is there something better??
by the way, I used Aussie’s 3 minute miracle deep conditioner and it helped my hair a bit!
I used to have long shinny beautiful thick hair, I cut it and years later it never grew back the same. then I got a little crazy and wanted it blonde after I died it black. My hair now is burnt and dry and super ugly. Im frustrated and I really dont know what to do or use. I hardly use the iron only on friday and then if I have something on sunday and on friday it got messed up ill do it again but thats hardly never. during the week i let it dry and ill pick it up or if it looks a little good ill let it down but its horrifying. Its burned and broken everywhere. but i still want to keep going blonde cause im still not to the blonde I want. but i need products that are going to make my hair healthy, shinny, and thick again. PLEASE HELP!
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