Here’s A Step By Step Guide Detailing Exactly How To Repair Dry Damaged Hair

Does every day seem to be a bad hair day anymore?

Are you struggling with a hopelessly dry and damaged mane but aren’t quite ready for a crew cut?

Maybe you could use some help to take those unruly tresses from mangled to manageable. If so here’s …

But before we get into all that from what I can tell, stories like this are not that uncommon. Read on to see if you agree.

Plagued By Troubled Tresses

How sick am I of enduring fragile, frizzy, flyaway hair that is damaged beyond belief? Girlfriend, you don’t even want to know. I wake up thinking today’s the day I find the miracle product or tool or trick or whatever that fixes the problem.

But each day passes without me making that life changing discovery.

Each day leaves me to wonder why me?

I mean I never stole my BFF’s boyfriend.

I never unfriended someone on Facebook in anger.

I was never ugly to the poor unfortunates who worked in the high school cafeteria who had to wear hair nets while standing in that steam rising from our so called lunch.

So why am I stuck with hair like this? Hair that is….

Dry.

Dull.

Brittle.

Curl resistant.

Prone to frizz.

With more split ends than I believe I’ve got strands of hair. Is that even possible?

I get no admiring glances.

I make no heads turn.

I’m stuck with a mop that makes even Raggedy Anne’s straw mane look like J-Los.

I’ve got no idea what to do. You got any ideas that can help ME?”

Gosh.

Can you feel her pain?

Maybe you can identify with her ceaseless dry hair drama. That plays out day after day as an endless string of bad hair days.

Perhaps you’ve lived with an unruly untamable mane that no one would ever confuse with sexy.

Then too you could be frustrated to tears with what the Hair Fairy Godmother gave to you.

I understand. If so maybe you could use some …

Hair Rehab

To help let’s see if we can’t identify some common hair hangups and then prescribe the hair rehab to try that should begin to fix the problem and let you get back your shine. These are everyday problems that all of us endure from time to time if we were totally honest. That mostly stem from locks that are damaged goods in one way or another and dry beyond belief.

Hair Hangup: Frizz
It’s true. Dry damaged hair just invites frizz. Not to mention that frizz and humidity seem to go hand in hand. Which is why frizz blossoms on hot and humid summer days with great regularity. But with these tips it doesn’t have to be that way.

Fast-Track Fixes:
Stay hydrated. That vital since it’s a known fact dry hair sucks up moisture like a sponge. This swells up each and every strand. Leaving you with an undesirable shine killing halo. Hydrating products can help keep frizz from happening. Read the label looking for frizz-fighting essentials like shea butter, wheat germ and panthenol. Proteins on the label can help with hydration as well.

Conditioning regularly helps too. The right product will shut down and smooth out your cuticles. Giving your hair a soft feel and shiny look. And a fighting chance against frizz.

To further ward off frizz follow a deep conditioning routine weekly if your hair tends towards that naturally. In addition to cutting down the risk of frizz, the added moisturizing will work to make your strands more supple and reduce the risk of breakage. Here’s a simple routine to follow

• First you want to focus the product where the damage is most pronounced – on the ends. Work your way up to at least your ears (or beyond) as needed.
• Next, after applying the treatment wrap your hair in a damp hot towel you’ve warmed in the microwave. The heat will open the cuticle making your hair more receptive to the product.
• It’s good to rinse your mane no sooner than 20 minutes after application to give the product time to work. The longer it has to work the better however. Sleeping on it is best of all.
• In cases where damage is especially bad apply your regular conditioner after rinsing out the deep conditioning mask. This doubles up on the hydration power of this process. Rinse as usual.

Those with drier manes find it’s also best not to lather up every day. So see if you can’t shampoo less. But don’t worry. That doesn’t mean you have to walk around with dirty, flat, oily hair though. At least not if you employee a not so secret secret weapon: dry shampoo. It’s a great way to freshen second day hair. Products available today do a great job of absorbing oil and sweat while giving your roots a badly needed lift making it hard to tell you didn’t just wash your tresses.

Finally stylists will pass along one smaller trick. That is the finer the mist of hair spray the better it is at preventing frizz for the simple reason it goes on dryer. So why not see if an aerosol product works better at preventing frizz then a pump hairspray.

Hair Hangup: Crispy Fried Ends
Crispy and fried may be good when it comes to chicken but not so much when used to describe our hair. And no one is to be more pitied than those girls we’ve all seen who’s hair is loaded with frayed ends. This is a recipe for frazzled and dull looking hair. It’s a guaranteed shine killer. What to do?

Fast-Track Fixes:
First this is clearly a case where prevention is much better than any hope of cure. The best way to prevent splits is to resolve to not use any hot styling tools on your hair without first spritzing heat protecting spray.

Better still is to resort to hot styling rarely and only on special occasions. Because you may be able to mend a broken heart but there is no way to mend split ends. Despite what you may see in the hair care product aisle, or what you may read, there is no permanent fix other than trimming the split ends off. Which is wise to do as this will keep the damage from running up the strand weakening it further.

Hair Hangup: Nagging Nutrient Deficiencies
I’m sure you may be sick of hearing about the impact what you eat can have on your hair. But it’s true. Which is also why crazy things like by crash dieting should be avoided at all times. The typical All American diet is bad enough. Crash diets are much worse. It’s only logical that if you are depriving your body of vital vitamins and minerals any it does get from say the cabbage soup diet will be redirected to organs like your heart or liver and not your locks.

Fast-Track Fixes:
If you want lush, shiny strands think brightly colored fruits that are vitamin C rich. Raspberries, blueberries, oranges should come to mind.

Other foods that should top your shopping list would be protein-laden beans and legumes. Eat lean pork and chicken too. Fresh vegetables too are great. Plus healthy-hair essential healthy fats like those found in fish can’t hurt.

Notice I’m not suggesting vitamins. While they can help they shouldn’t be a substitute for a healthier menu.

Hair Hangup: Fly aways
Rogue fly away strands can spoil a look faster than kids can eat a plate of chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven.

Fast-Track Fix:
You want to look for extra hold styling creams with silicones. Then spread just a drop across your fingertips and smooth that over your mane. This can smooth down any flyaways almost like magic. Even better a coating of silicone sets up a barrier that can keep humidity at bay.

Hair Hangup: Blah dull hair
Shiny hair comes down to one thing – how well your strands reflect light. To best reflect light you must have super smooth strands. Problem is once the cuticle is damaged, the accumulated cracks and crevices absorb the light rather than reflect it. When that happens your hair look dull, blah and lackluster not shiny.

And one reason for these flaws in our strands is hot styling tools. Which are often used to make up for what Mother Nature failed to give us when it comes to our hair. Sure they curl, or straighten, or volumize and dry. But you get the look at a price. All that heat can damage and eventually dull our hair.

But you can fight fire with fire, well, rather with hot products.

Fast-track fix:
For one, there are shine sprays that can both nourish and impart a patent leather shine to your strands. Working to cure the problem in part by filling in those tiny shine-busting potholes.

Another shine enhancer would be a home glazing treatment containing crevice-filling silicone. Same story there.

Some would point out using products like this is cheating. So? Isn’t much of our beautifying routine all to create an illusion anyway?

You can also go with a DIY shine fix. This simple clarifying solution cures another shine killer – product build up. Which can go a long way to restoring the lost luster you are looking to reclaim.

Here’s the potion. Simply mix a dash of baking soda, about a quarter sized dollop of your shampoo along with two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Use this concoction to wash your hair every seven to 10 days or so. It will work wonders on the shine by clearing out any dulling product buildup. Which again is another known shine killer.

Home Remedy Recipe for Dry and Damaged Hair

Now if you liked that little home recipe, here’s another way of treating your little problem that is even demonstrated for you in a brief video. As you will see this home remedy is great for moisturizing dry, damaged hair. When your hair is better hydrated it will be less prone to breakage and split ends too. Plus it will be amazingly shiny and soft.

The ingredient list for this hair mask is pretty simple.

• 2 or 3 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon of honey which is optional unless you want to lighten just a touch
• Plastic wrap or shower cap
• Hair tie
• Applicator Brush

It’s smart to wear a top you don’t care about when attempting this because it may end up with oil stains that aren’t easily removed.

First thing you do is warm the oil to liquify it; mix in the honey if you’re using any.

Section your hair off.

Then start brushing this mixture into your hair a section at a time.

You can focus on the ends or run it throughout your strands. How much you apply and where you apply it depends on how oily your hair is naturally. If you hair tends to be oily anyway, you might want to stop ear high.

Once you’ve applied the mixture go ahead and put your hair into a bun. Then you want to use the heat coming off your scalp to open the cuticles so you get in-depth penetration. You can make that happen using either a shower cap or by wrapping your head with plastic wrap as shown in the video.

You want to give this at least an hour to work. Overnight would be better. Those in a hurry might grab their blow dryer to heat things up to speed up the process. Just know that’s not necessarily the best way to go about this.

Next rinse, shampoo twice to get the oil out completely, and condition as usual.

Then be ready to be impressed. Your previously hopelessly dry and fractured tresses will come out soft and luxurious.

Hopefully now you have a better idea what to do with dry and damaged hair. Whether it’s using home remedies, off the shelf products or just keeping it more hydrated, you do not have walk around looking like Raggedy Anne’s ugly twin. Not only that, using these tips for treating the problem should help you to repair it and cure it once and for all. Then things like eating right and using heat protectants should help keep it at bay for the most part. That way you won’t ever again have to wake up wondering to yourself what you should use to try to restore your damaged hair today.