Over-processing, heat styling and lack of proper care can leave hair feeling dry and damaged. There’s plenty of products out there to prevent damage and breakage, but what do you do when your hair has already reached the point of being dry and damaged? Its time to pull out the big guns for some serious hair repair and deep reconstructing.

The Basics:

When hair is damaged and breaking from over-processing, heat styling, highlighting etc. chances are its lacking in protein. Protein is what keeps hair strong and elastic and prevents it from breaking. The highlighting/bleaching process involves removing color and proteins from the hair giving it a pale-yellow blonde appearance. Remove too much of the protein and the hair is left damaged and easily breakable.

The Solution:

Restructure hair by adding back protein to strengthen hair and giving it moisture to soften and add shine.

Step 1: Protein

First and foremost its imperative to start out with a good protein treatment. For this you’ll want to look for products containing proteins like keratin, panthenol, cystine, biotin or other animal proteins. The strength of the protein treatment you use should depend on how damaged (and in need of protein) your hair is. A good light source of protein is Redken Extreme Anti-Snap treatment, this is a leave-in product that can be used a few times a weak to strengthen hair, I would recommend this to anyone who highlights or lightens their hair, but do note that hair can also be negatively affected by too much protein so its important to find a balance and for most daily use would be too much. Next for something stronger is an intense treatment from Joico the Joico K-Pak Deep Penetrating Reconstructor. K-Pak is applied to damp hair after shampooing for around 15 minutes then rinsed and followed with a moisturizing conditioner. And last but not least, the strongest protein treatment, definitely for the brave (read: desperate) is ApHogee Treatment for Damaged Hair (available at Sally Beauty Supply.) This is quite intense. Its a liquid substance that is poured on towel dried hair then left to dry, or blow dried. The stuff smells pretty bad and after its dried your hair is pretty rock hard. I’ve only ever had to use this twice, and its best used a week or so before highlights etc. Once the treatment is dried and the hair is rock hard you can begin to rinse it out, but you need to be careful not to break the hair. This treatment is again followed by a moisturizing conditioner which should be left in for at least 5 minutes. This treatment should only be used once every 6 weeks as it is quite intense and should you need to use it after coloring or highlighting hair, you should wait two weeks post hair appointment to do the treatment.

Step 2: Moisture

Any protein treatment should always be followed by a moisturizing conditioner treatment. For daily moisturizing conditioners I love Terax Crema (Sephora) and L’Oreal Feria Color Moisturizing Treatment (Yes they actually sell that amazing conditioner from the hair color box separately (Sally Beauty Supply.)) For something a little more moisturizing I recommend a good moisture masque like Bumble and Bumble Creme de Coco Masque or Kerastase Masquintense which can be quite expensive but lasts a while.  Another good moisture treatment is L'OREAL Nature's Therapy Mega Strength Fortifying Deep Treatment (Sally Beauty Supply) which is a fraction of the cost of Masquintense but still works great.

Step 3: Daily Care

I definitely recommend a good quality salon brand shampoo and conditioner, there are many great ones out there. Try to wash your hair as little as possible, 2-3 week works for me. Dry shampoo is a godsend when it comes to stretching days between shampooing. Always follow with a good leave-in conditioner. I love AG Fast Food and Sexy Hair Concepts Soy Tri-Wheat Leave-In. I like to follow with Moroccan Oil for extra moisture. If you heat style with curling irons or flat iron then a good heat protectant is a must. Some favorites of mine include Chi Silk Infusion, Biosilk Silk Therapy and Chi Iron Guard.

As always, regular trims are important, try for every 6-8 weeks. When it comes to highlighting, only getting a half-head rather than full head of foils can save the hair from feeling damaged drastically and its likely no one will notice. If you tend to wear your hair up a lot, you can ask the stylist to put a few foils on the bottom so if you wear your hair in a pony tail it doesn’t look like your hair is 2 different colors. If a half head of foils isn’t for you, you could also only do a full head every 2-3 times rather than each time you get your hair done.

So before you resort to dying your hair black, or pulling a Britney and shaving it all off completely, give these tips a try and get your hair to feel like hair again!