Remedies for Damaged Hair

Chemical processing, heat styling, and environmental conditions can all play havoc with your hair and result in the unhealthy drying, breaking, or frizzing of hair strands. Luckily, there are a few things that you can do to restore the natural flexibility, shine, and smoothness to your damaged hair strands.

Home Remedies for Damaged Hair

If your hair is showing signs of brittleness, split-ends, breakage, or frizz you may not have to search further than your kitchen for a very effective cure for dryness. When hair strands break or look damaged the culprit is usually a lack of natural moisture and hydration. Heated styling tools, harsh shampoos, chemical treatments, and excessive sun or wind exposure can all rob your hair of inner hydration. To defeat this damage you need to put that moisture back.

The easiest, and maybe most effective, hair moisturising treatment that you can find in your home involves the use of mayonnaise. To get superior hydration, stepped up shine, and smooth manageability simply lather mayonnaise on your hair strands, wrap your hair in plastic or put on a shower cap, and wait. After an hour (or overnight for really damaged hair) wash your hair with a mild shampoo until all of the mayonnaise is removed and condition as normal. Once hair air-dries it will look amazingly healthy.

Mayonnaise is not the only household product that makes a great remedy for damaged hair. Super moisturising hair masks can be made from honey and eggs, mashed avocado and olive oil, and pureed carrots and olive oil. Simply mix the ingredients, apply to hair strands, allow the mask to soak in, and wash away the mixture with warm water. You can also get the same results with a simple oil mixture. Olive oil, sesame oil, almond oil, grape seed oil, and even peanut oil, can be applied to hair for luxurious moisturising and hydrating.

Commercial Remedies for Damaged Hair

If putting things from the kitchen on your damaged strands makes you a little queasy you can always opt to hydrate your locks with a commercially prepared moisturising product. Hydrating leave-in conditioners, weekly hot oil treatments, moisturising hair masks, and steam treatments all work to penetrate the hair cuticle and deposit much needed moisture. And, if the product that you choose contains humectants, then the formula will also help your hair hold in the moisture for longer periods of time.

Although home treatments for damaged hair can be very effective, a visit to the salon is usually recommended for extremely dry, brittle, or overly damaged hair. A deep moisturising salon steam treatment will utilise steam, oils, and hydrating conditioners to deeply penetrate the hair's cuticle and deposit as much moisture and hydration as possible. Plus, the treatment will also include a step to close the cuticle so that moisture stays locked into the hair strand for long-lasting results.

Continued Care for Damaged Hair

No matter which remedy for damaged hair you choose you will most likely need to repeat the process once a week for a few months to see real, lasting results. When hair has been damaged the outer layer (or hair cuticle) is destroyed. When this happens the cuticle peels away from the hair strand making hair rough, frizzy, and prone to breakage. Damaged hair treatments work to stick the peeling cuticles back onto the hair shaft, and add lubrication to the shaft so the cuticles do not "catch" on brushes, pillowcases, each other, and styling tools. However, the treatments are not permanent and must be repeated to see real benefit.

In order to help the treatments last longer, and reduce the chance of further damaging your hair make sure that you use a mild shampoo for cleansing, a hydrating conditioner for everyday moisturising, and soft bristle brushes for styling. Also, avoid drying hair with heat, combing hair when wet, using heated styling tools, and the overuse of style products.