As the improving COVID-19 situation encourages us all out of our front doors and into the beautiful spring sunshine, many are re-starting the health and beauty routines that they may have deprioritized during the lockdown. This means freshly styled, curled, and dyed hair.
However, your hair can easily be damaged by harsh chemical hair dyes, bleaching, blow-drying, products, and styling methods. The results? Brittle, dry, lackluster locks. A common question that we hear at the office is “how do I repair my damaged hair?” Caring for your hair properly can help ensure that your hair looks and feels great today and in the future, even avoiding hair follicle damage which can lead to hair loss.
Here at Look Natural Hair Restoration, we are experts at ensuring that people develop healthy and lustrous-looking hair. Whether you’ve undergone surgical and non-surgical hair restoration procedures, or received no treatment at all, your hair has the potential to look beautifully healthy.
So, as your resident hair experts, we have pulled together our top tips for ensuring that any damage to hair gets fixed.
1. Use conditioning oils
According to a 2015 article in the Journal of Trichology, conditioning hair oils can help people to avoid further damage to their hair. Oils work by reducing the amount of water that the hair absorbs, reducing the repeated swelling and drying of the hair, which is a main cause of damage.
2. Be careful with wet hair
When your hair is wet, it has the highest potential for damage. This is particularly true if your hair is already damaged, fine or curly. Many standard hairbrushes and combs actually do more harm than good, if you’re brushing your hair while it’s wet. This is because they pull at the hair, causing it to stretch and break. We recommend using a wide-tooth comb to gently detangle the hair before blotting it with a microfibre towel to dry.
3. Cut your hair regularly
Think about when you pull a loose thread from a t-shirt. What happens? It causes more damage, unraveling the stitches and eventually breaking the shirt. The same happens with split ends. If your split ends continue to split, your hair becomes fragile and brittle. Trim the hair up to the place where the hair is whole again. Regular hair cuts, every 6-8 weeks, can keep split ends at bay and ensure that your hair looks great, day in, day out.
4. Be careful with the sun and sea
While a few days at the beach or swimming pool are great, regular trips can cause damage to your hair. The saltwater, the chemicals from the pool, and the direct exposure to the sun can all cause your hair to become brittle and fragile. Luckily, the solution is simple! Wear a good-quality swimming cap to protect your hair when you’re in the water. Then, when you’re out of the water a baseball cap or any other kind of hat will protect your hair from the sun. If your hair does get wet, cleanse it with clean water and a gentle conditioner.
5. Try healing hair masks
Healing hair masks are great because they provide real deep conditioning, which can help prevent further breakage and improve the appearance of the current breakage. They’re thicker than regular conditioners and you apply them to damp hair. From there, these formulas penetrate the hair deeply, filling in small gaps and broken surface areas of the hair. Even after you wash the mask away, it will keep working.
6. Lower the heat on your styling tools
From your blow dryer to your curling wands and straighteners, your beauty tools are great for achieving your perfect look! However, they may be causing unexpected damage to your hair. They use heat to create long-lasting change to your hair, and this heat damages, dries out, and breaks your hair. Most people don’t actually need the temperature to be so high on their styling tools. Unless your hair is particularly thick or coarse, a medium or low temperature may work just as well. Check out different heat-free styling options, too.
These hair tips are great for cultivating that healthy, shiny head of hair that we all strive for. If you’re noticing solution-resistant thinning or receding hair, however, Look Natural Hair Restoration is happy to help. Simply reach out to us today for your free consultation. We offer a range of surgical and non-surgical options that can help you restore your hair and achieve your ideal, natural look.
