There is plenty of hope and a good chance of success when restoring damaged and dry hair. However, you’ll succeed only if you don’t neglect any part of the treatment. Hot styling, coloring, bad haircare, lifestyle, and even your diet can make your locks damaged, brittle, and extremely dry. If your locks are like this, you need to overhaul your haircare right away as the longer they are damaged the higher is the risk of that damage becoming permanent. Damaged and dry hair treatment is a gradual process that requires specialized care and possible change of some lifestyle habits.
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Damaged and Dry Hair Treatment Guide: 3 Golden Rules
1. Learn to be gentle
The first and most important rule of caring for dry and damaged hair is to be very gentle in handling it. This means no shampoos laden with sulfates and parabens, no breaking your hairs with rough brushing, no rubbing your tresses with towels or pulling it too hard when shampooing.
Extremely dry hair is very-very brittle, so the lighter and more gentle are your touches, the lesser is the chance of breaking it.
The basic rules to follow are:
- Brush your hair gently starting from the ends and gently unknotting it while you move closer to the roots.
- Be careful when washing your locks and massage your scalp very gently.
- Pat your hair dry with a soft towel made of natural fabric instead of rubbing or wringing it.
- Cut down on styling that requires the use of a hairdryer or hot iron.
2. Buy haircare products that meet your specific needs
Using shampoos and conditioners for dry hair isn’t always the best option. Choose the type of product to buy depending on the source of your problem. In many cases, the issue of damage and extreme dryness comes from color treatment. Bleaching, in particular, often causes this kind of problems.
In this case, you’ll need to use specialized products for colored and bleached locks. For example, a shampoo with a purple pigment designed specifically for platinum blonde locks. The pigment neutralizes the yellowing effect of the bleach and helps keep the locks silvery. You can also find tinted shampoos and conditioners for dark-colored hair. If you color your tresses, you should consider using these solutions first as they help preserve the color. This means they help reduce the frequency of treatments and therefore reduce your need to damage your locks.
In rare cases, issues with your scalp, such as dandruff, can cause the brittleness and dryness. However, extreme dryness also causes scalp to scale, which can be mistaken as dandruff. If you aren’t 100% sure what exactly the problem is, consult a professional.
3. Use deep conditioning treatments regularly
For the majority of people, deep conditioning treatments are a kind of pleasant luxury to spoil their locks with before special occasions. However, these products are the basis of damaged and dry hair treatment.
You’ll have to use them at least once a week. This can be quite hard for some people as deep conditioners are rather expensive. You can buy a variety of them today, but choose carefully. You can find suggestions of the best products in specialized beauty publications, like Elle.
However, you can save a lot of money by making restorative and hydrating hair masks from the products in your kitchen. Dry and damaged hair reacts best to masks made from:
- Mashed ripe avocado and an egg
- Coconut oil
- Olive oil
- Egg whites (3), olive oil (2 tablespoons), and apple cider vinegar (1 teaspoon)
When using these or similar homemade remedies, apply them to clean damp hair and cover your head with a shower cap. Leave for about 20-30 minutes (up to 45 for oils) and wash your locks with a soft shampoo in lukewarm water.