Best Haircare Products to fix your damaged hair over time, to prevent future damage and to make your hair look shiny and healthy immediately!
Now i have been battling with damaged hair from when i started dying and/ or bleaching it weekly as a teen to when i tried to use lye (an ethnic hair relaxer) to chemically straighten my hair to today where i still flat iron daily and blow dry my hair every time i wash it.
Yes of course it's easy to say don't put heat on your hair and get a big chop (cutting all damaged hair off.) And using homemade remedies for hair masks often and if you have the time and the inclination to do that by all means go for it.
For many of us this is not possible for whatever reason. For me personally i have naturally frizzy and tightly curled hair that I've always hated and now damaged the curl pattern so much that letting it be natural is out of the question. And then when i let air dry and flat iron instead of blow dry and flat iron my hair sticks to my head in a lifeless manner.
But there is hope for us heat and dye addicts yet.
Maybe you just have frizzy hair or bad split ends or damaged hair for a multitude of reasons. It really doesnt matter. This will work for you and these products are amazing.
I've tried many products from drugatore to high end. From hair masks to leave im treatments to latherless and detergent free shampoo. For years nothing would work perfectly and if it did it was only temporary or it couldn't hold the style.
For example i fell in love with CHI products after i fell in love with my CHI Flat iron. Not only was my hair stick straight but it smelled great and looked healthy. But over the course of a day unless the weather was absolutely perfect, cool and dry (and that rarely happened.) It didn't last.
So i continued spending countless hours reading articles and thousands of dollars on all types of hair products throughout this 13 year journey. Not only did i find the correct way to bring health back to my hair but i also found a way to keep my style from frizzing out no matter what the humidity or temperature or water in the air or me sweating.
Step one. It all starts in the shower. It can start before but we will address that in a moment.
Depending on your hair type and needs you need to back off washing your hair every day. Almost no one needs that. Shampoo isn't good for your hair in general so a shampoo plus conditioner or co wash shampoo would be preferable but honestly thats the least important product of them all. I like WEN products since it does help the hair but like i said, this is not the most important step and doesn't really require special products. I consistently use what smells best and usually thats some cheap drugstore brand like the original herbal essences in pink or yellow. And focus on your scalp not your hair. We need to dry our hair out the least amount possible and when the soap rinses out it will wash the dry strands enough. Just get it in and get it right back out.
A good rule of thumb is only wash your hair the day it is way too oily to do anything with or the day after if you can stick it out.
This is important as our hairs natural oils are like the best hair mask/ serum we could ever have and it's free.
It takes some getting used to of course but this is the most important step.
Also starting with a pre shampoo rinse that's good for your hair like Lush Cosmetics Roots Hair and scalp treatment is a great one and it gets the blood flowing and in turn gets hair growing.
I go 4 to 5 days without washing. I have thick, damaged, curly hair that's never oily until day 4. Someone with super thin hair may need to wash as much as every other day. Utilize dry shampoo to get you through that last day or two to go as long as you can but also use a dry conditioner on the middle of the hair down to ends to add a shot of moisture. Drybar Dry Shampoo and Dry Conditioner are absolutely amazing.
Next step and a very important one is choosing your conditioner. This is where you really get what you pay for. But to save my expensive conditioner i rinse and scrub my scalp again with a cheap conditioner like Garnier Smoothing Conditioner so my hair is smoothed and detangled so i can use less expensive conditioner. With the cheap one i put it on as normal and then massage my scalp. Massaging promotes hair growth and tackles any leftover grease and dirt without stripping your hair. Co washing would be washing your hair with a conditioner and it's a great move if it works for you. Rinse immediately. Its just to detangle. We need the expensive one to sit as long as possible so we need to get it in as fast as possible. Focus on the mid shaft down to the ends but get it everywhere. Make sure its got enough product on each part of your hair.
I love Moroccan Oil Rose Conditioner. It smells amazing but smooths and detangles my hair instantly leaving it feeling and looking much more healthy and soft. Another good option, although not as great is the Lush American Cream Conditioner for lighter hair that needs more volume and less weight. The Moroccan oil wont weigh you down but it won't give you volume either.
Also use a hair mask once a week. This is where spending good money can really pay off since there's some really great ingredients out there. Any mask is better than no mask though. I use PhytoKeratin Extreme Hair Mask. I wet my hair with hot water to open the hair cuticle and put it all through my hair. Then tie a plastic bag over it and go to sleep. Rinse the next morning and condition. Do not wash your hair this day with shampoo.
Now we get into styling and protecting products.
When we get out of the shower a detangler is almost necessary as brushing wet hair stretches and then breaks it. If you detangle it brushing with anything will be much easier and therefore wont tear your hair. This also makes brushing wet hair with a wide toothed comb possible and thats the best brush for wet hair since it won't cause damage. DryBar Prep Ralley is amazing as it also offers heat and UV protection and can be used as a conditioning style refresher throughout the week.
Next a leave in conditioner is a must. Use all these products sparingly so they last and so they won't weigh your hair down since we are using a few. A leave in conditioner i think is pretty self explanatory but it's a step that shouldn't be skipped. My favorite is DryBar Mr Incredible Leave In.
Now if you're going to blow dry a good brush that heats up or allows air to pass through and has bristles that aren't too harsh. The Moroccan Oil Round brush is amazing but any blow dry brush will work. You also need a blow dry heat protectant like DryBar Hot Toddy or Briogeo Rosarco Blow dry perfection which also smooths and helps style the hair (only the Briogeo, not DryBar. Drybar has UV protection so you have to pick by your needs).
Now before flat ironing you want a smoothing creme or frizz serum or something like that with heat protectant although you should be covered there with the other products more can't hurt although these are meant for giving really velvety smooth, soft and healthy looking hair. I like to use Chi Silk Infusions if I'm searching for more of a serum and protectant but i absolutely adore DryBar Velvet Hammer. A very tiny bit goes a very long way in making your hair appear very healthy and shiny when used in conjunction with a flat iron.
Now that we are clean and straight or curled or whatever your heat style was we need a shine spray or a smoothing cream. For a shine spray i love, love, LOVE DryBar Sparkling soda. I will use this alone or with Lush R&B hair cream. I also use the cream for smoothing out my emds on the rest of the remaining days and same with the shine spray.
Last but certainly not least i needed something to stop my flyaways and my hair from frizzing when it had rained or snowed or when it was too hot and humid or when i was sweating or came in to contact with any amount of heat or water. I couldn't figure out how to stop this until recently. Then i came across the Living Proof Humidity Shield Finishing Hairspray. I was skeptical at first since hairspray had never stopped it before but this stuff really did stop the poof all while not making me hard or stiff or doing anything that hair spray does. This stuff is amazing and makes it so i don't have to continually flat iron throughout the day.
I use these products that i described here from when the hair was dry onwards throughout the no wash days period to keep my hair smelling fresh and looking shiny and healthy all while still protecting my hair from the daily heat from the flat iron.
A good flat iron is a must. You don't need the highest heat setting. You just need a quality iron. If you have to do one or two more passes with the iron to not fry your hair then that's ok. It took no time for us to damage our hair but if we want it to grow and/ be healthy we do have to take the time and make the effort to get it back. The GHD Platinum is amazing and only goes to approx. 360 degrees. I never thought that would be enough but not only is it enough, my hair also looks healthier and shinier than when i fried my hair with the 450 degrees of CHI Ceramic plating.
Also, for more body use a texturizing spray and a moisturizing gel instead of alcohol based hair spray and a teasing comb that breaks your hair and dries it out. Bumble and bumble Dryspun Texture Spray is amazing. Spray it under the layer on the roots and your hair looks like it teased itself. Its amazing. Use IGK Rich Kid coconut oil gel for holding hair in place without drying it out.
And lastly, hair ties break your hair every time you tie them tight. Use the Invisibobble Hair Ties instead. They look like 80s spiral key chains but how they work is so simple it's genius. Instead of bringing hair all to one stressed point it seperates sections into each pocket of corkscrews. You can't see it but it gives you a sexy almost layered look ponytail with no effort and takes away the too tight feeling, migraine inducing tightness of old bands. I have these in every color and size and haven't looked back. I even went as far as throwing my normal hair ties away. That's how much i love them.
Now it will take time to get your hairs health back. Get trims every once in a while of small amounts. It will all come off eventually if you continue. Don't dye your hair at all if you can help it, but if you must highlight or lowlight at home or in the salon every few weeks to couple months to slowlu and naturally change the color with minimal damage and more healing time in between. Just grab your box dye and put dye on random steaks of hair starting a quarter inch down from your roots and any mistakes will look natural and you will get a natural progression instead of a crazy, harsh immediate and damaging change.
All styling products do help protect and help keep hair healthy in the long run but also give the illusion of dramatically more healthy hair just after styling.
Not to mention they all smell great.
Hope you enjoyed this post. It's taken years of trial and error but with over a year of using these products and following this protocol my hair has never looked better. Ever.
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