It is hard to avoid dryness and damage even if you take proper care of your hair. Three layers are there in each hair strand. The medulla is the inner layer bounded by the middle layer, the cortex. The outer layer is known as the cuticle. The cuticle is the layer that safeguards your hair, and when it is spoiled, your hair becomes dried out and fragile. Together with factors like heat, pollution, and the sun, all of the chemical inputs are bound to have repercussions in the form of damaged hair. To repair damaged hair, you must follow some rigorous healthy tips for hair.
Before we go ahead and know how to repair damaged hair, you must know the causes of hair damage:
Causes of Hair Damage
- Bleaching
Once you bleach your hair, you are compelling your cuticles open to remove the stain from your hair. The harm caused to your cuticle formulates it feeble and prone to breaking and split ends. There is nothing to lock in the moisture in your hair anymore; it also becomes lifeless and dry. What is even worse is that if you give heat to your hair when bleaching it, it speeds up the process of bleaching and thus causes more harm to your hair.
- Chemical Treatments (Relaxers And Perms)
Perming is the modification of your hair structure to make it wavy. Relaxing makes tightly coiled hair straight. Both use chemicals to rupture the disulfide ties between the keratins that make up the hair shaft to either twist the hair or straighten it. Both damage the cuticles significantly, thus resulting in dry, brittle hair.
- Hair Colouring
While dying your hair may seem like a harmless thing to do, the chemicals present in the dyes you use can damage the hair. They make your hair shaft permeable to the point of exposing the cortex of the hair. This harm can last for up to two months, even with appropriate care for your hair. Lasting dyes do the majority of harm to your hair.
The less lasting the dye, the less harm to the cuticle. Temporary dyes that last through one to two shampoo cycles are giant molecules and only coat the cuticle, not disrupting it considerably.
- Over Brushing
Brushing your hair excessively will cause more abrasion than it can take. The brush will hitch at knots and result in split ends and breakage. Cheap brushes cause much harm as they get trapped in your hair more quickly.
- Heat Styling
Heat, usually, is terrible for your hair as it opens up your cuticles and dries up any dampness. When concentrated heat is applied to your hair, it becomes brittle, damaged, and dry. Using a flat iron or a curling iron frequently will leave your hair thirsty and lifeless for moisture. If you do not use your hairdryer, it can also cause damage to your hair shaft.
Tips to repair damaged hair
- Your hair takes a daily beating from the elements. Too much exposure to rain, wind, and sunlight can cause dryness that, if not checked, may result in a crack. Thus give your hair additional protection by conditioning it once a week with an exhaustive mask or oil treatment. This will assist nurture your strands from within for healthy-looking, stronger-feeling hair.
- Experts say it is always better to avoid combing when the hair is wet. Repeated, vigorous combing can cause harm to the cuticle of the hair, which can cause breakage and split ends. To safeguard against this, comb hair in the shower after applying a conditioner, as this will help coat your hair strands and act like a barricade, making it simpler to work through tangles and knots. Choose brushes with wide tooth combs or broadly-spaced plastic bristles as they give strands more space to move through, meaning it does not take so much force to untangle them and work softly through the hair in sections.
- There is nothing like the sensation of newly rinsed hair, but regular rinsing can slip your strands of wetness resulting in it becoming brittle and dry. Rinse your hair less frequently by utilizing a mild anti-dandruff shampoo amid washes, as this will assist soak oils and getting rid of the odour for hair that appears and feels recently washed.
- Dry skin looks dull and cracked, so you should never skip your moisturizer. Dry hair is the number one cause of hair breakage and damage. If your hair does not have the optimal moisture level, it will become fragile and brittle, just like your skin. If you are prone to dry hair, embrace a moisturizing regimen that comprises a conditioner, hydrating shampoo, mask, and leave-in product. It is the best way to stop your strands from becoming dry.
- At times a DIY schedule is not adequate for highly damaged hair, and that is when you may need to bring in the professionals. Professional, in-salon hair treatments comprise the highest possible concentration of active ingredients. They aim at any hair damage from weak or over-processed strands to hair that requires a mega-infusion of moisture. Your stylist will generally apply a hair damage treatment, and as these formulas are so concentrated, you will see and feel a transformation right away.
- Your hair can extend to a certain point before it breaks and snaps. The flexibility of a damaged hair strand is a lot less than a healthy one. If your hair breaks effortlessly, it is likely damaged.
- Damaged hair lacks shine and lustre, and the hair shafts prevent shining when the cuticles get damaged. With damaged hair, you will see that there is no shine even after deep conditioning treatment. It is better to get hot hair treatment in such cases as this helps get the hair shiny and beautiful.
- Follow a balanced diet and take a multivitamin suggested by your doctor. If you are dieting, you could have dry hair or experience hair loss. Talk with a physician about the proper measures you need to take.
These are some tips that you can refer to when it comes to repairing damaged hair.