Beauty

How to Repair Hair Damaged by Drying and Bleaching

At some point we all try to change the colour of our hair, especially during the summer months where we want that sun kissed look and choose a slightly lighter colour or even choose blond, adding bleach to our hair which causes serious damage.

It's important to remember that our hair grows each month, so only the hair close to the root is new hair; the rest of your hair has been through a lot from sun exposure to bleaching causing it to become dry, brittle and in some cases, unmanageable.

While you cannot cure your dry hair overnight, there are a number of things you can do to improve the health of your hair, keeping it looking clean, shiny and healthy.

Shampoo

The first thing to consider is your shampoo, choose a shampoo designed for dry hair offering extra moisturizing properties. Another very important thing is to only wash your hair every second day rather than every day. The reason for this is that your hair has essential oils that it uses to protect itself and with every wash you wash those oils away. Washing every second day will allow your hair to produce the necessary oils needed to keep it healthy.

Conditioning

After every shampoo you need to use a good moisturizing conditioner, preferably one designed for dry and brittle hair. Now remember that the hair close to your roots is healthy hair that probably doesn't need much conditioning so rather concentrate at the roots.

The best way to apply conditioner is to start at the roots and work your way up leaving at least one centimetre to the root. Leave on your hair for fifteen minutes allowing the conditioner to penetrate the hair before rinsing off with luke warm water.

Regular Trims

The ends of your hair are the oldest and also the part of your hair that has had the most punishment. Regular trims every six to eight weeks can keep your hair looking healthy. Don't believe the old wives tale that your hair will grow faster if you have regular trims, the fact is your hair will grow at its own pace, but at least it will look healthy as it grows.

Treatments

Once a week you should consider using a treatment on your hair, such as a hot oil treatment, for example. These treatments are designed to nourish your hair, giving it all the minerals it needs to stay looking healthy even though you have dyed it or use hair products on it on a regular basis.

Try Not To …

While you work to improve the overall health of your hair and reduce the dryness, there are certain things you should try not to do to give your hair a fighting chance.

- Cover up in the sunshine. When heading to the beach or in the garden, use a hat to protect your hair from the harmful rays of the sun.

- Don't brush too often, the more you brush the more you risk of breaking your already dry, brittle and damaged hair.

- Don't rub your hair dry with a towel, rather wrap your hair in a towel after conditioning and pat it dry and then leave it to dry naturally rather than using a hair dryer.

- Stay away from the curling irons, hair straighteners and hair dryers for a while, these all cause damage to your hair.

This post was written by Nathan Parsons in partnership with SpaceNK

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