How to Treat Damaged Fried hair?

Mar 2, 2012

Loyda C.

Yes i recently got my second time highlights done and the next day after washing my hair i noticed how badly damaged my hair got. My hair got fried!!!! so dry and frizzzy! Since then I've been soo depressed and want to cry out of frustration! Any tips on how to treat REAL damaged FRIED HAIR? I really want to cut it off, but I'm married and i know my husband would have a heart attack! Please help!! Thanks!

Mar 2, 2012

Vanessa M.

I used to have platinum blonde, dry, crunchy, frizzy, damaged hair! Here's what I suggest :
-If you use heat styling tools I recommend immediately ceasing to do so unless it's absolutely necessary...part of the reason my hair was so damaged on top of highlighting it so frequently was because I straightened my hair every day..once I decided to let my hair be natural and curly I saw improvement.
-Deep condition your hair at least once a week (I use Neutrogena's hair mask)
-Use a nourishing conditioner when you're not deep conditioning..squeeze excess water out of your hair after shampooing and leave it in your hair while you're shaving or whatever
-Keep shampooing to a minimum and make sure it's not detergent like..target your roots only
-Use a leave in conditioner when you get out of the shower. Apply only to your ends so your roots aren't greasy, but you definitely want to put something creamy and smoothing in your hair when it's wet (I use Herbal Essence's Long Term Relationship leave in conditioner... I know it's on the cheaper side but its so worth it!)
-Use boar hair brushes to distribute the natural oils from your roots to your ends...you'll notice immediate results from this

It's good that you're catching it sooner rather than later...by the time I realized I needed to make a change I had split ends at my roots! Good luck :)

Mar 2, 2012

Vanessa M.

also try not to wash your hair every day! 

Mar 2, 2012

Gina M.

Joico K-pac!!!!

Mar 2, 2012

Bekah P.

Try washing with theMoroccan Oil shampoo and conditioner. I used to have horribly fried hair and this works really great.

Mar 2, 2012

Nabila V.

My hair is an unnatural shade of red and to get it to that shade I have to unfortunately bleach. The other posters gave you great advice, the only other thing I would like to add is that dried fried damaged hair needs protein treatments,When my hair was fried and looked like straw from a barn, I did Sebastian Penetraitt Reconstructive Protein treatments every 10 days, it needs heat to create a protective layer similar to a shell on your hair. I used a blow drier when I wasnt at the salon to get that crunchy ramen soup like layer on my hair. I used Redken's Anti Snap as a leave in conditioner and on weekends I did a oil treatment with either Organic Coconut Oil or Extra Virgin Oil and in 6 weeks my hair was back to better than Normal :)

Mar 2, 2012

Chelsea K.

Use shampoos that dont lather like WEN from Chaz Dean or anything without sulfates or parabens. If it lathers it strips your hair of the natural oils it needs. Use extra virgin olive oil. Me personally i use Palmers extra virgin olive oil conditioning spray you can get it at walmart & it works a charm. Make sure to use heat protectant before each flat iron session. You will have that beautiful hair back in no time. 

Mar 3, 2012

Christine R.

Another vote for the Joico K-Pak Reconstructure. This saved my hair after dying it many times 

Mar 3, 2012

Jacki C.

I just bought the Joico K-Pak Reconstructure yesterday because of many of the problems you are having I also am experiencing. I will let you know how it works for me! 

Mar 5, 2012

Loyda C.

wow ladies!!! Thank you for all your advises, i will defiantly try these! Thank you all sooo very much...THERE IS HOPE!!!  

Mar 5, 2012

April A.

If you want to go natural I've heard to try this (I haven't done it myself, but I want to even though my hair is fine, lol):
Mix together 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1/4 cup of a peeled cucumber. Cover you hair with the mixture and leave it on for 10-20 minutes. You’ll see your hair return to normal almost immediately.

Mar 5, 2012

Myra-Paula A.

If you're looking for something more natural, you might want to try out virgin coconut oil. I got mine at Trader Joes for like 6 bucks, and honestly, it is the only thing that has improved the texture of my hair. My ends are not crunchy anymore, my hair is shiny, and it smell good. I did try olive oil, but it didn't really penetrate my hair that much, but the coconut oil immediately makes your hair feel soft, not necessarily oily. SOOOOOOO FREAKING GOOD!!!!!!!!!!
If I want a sleek ponytail, I'll take a little bit of coconut oil in my hands, warm it up, and just run it through the ponytail, so it is just soft, not crunchy at all, and sooooooo shiny. Then when you wash your hair afterwords, it will still be soft. I use coconut oil like twice a week and my hair and scalp are sooooo much healthier. 

Mar 5, 2012

Loyda C.

Thanks April, that sounds very interesting, I'm into natural stuff, so i will try that out!
Thanks Myra, i heard a lot of good stuff about coconut oil, I'll give that a try too!
I'm soo excited now...for sure i need to stop washing my hair every night!!!!!!! How often should you wash your hair???

Mar 5, 2012

Camille M.

I have never cut my hair, and I love to dye it, but it fries it. I went through a phase where I was WAY over dying it. I read an article somewhere about shampooing with conditioner, sounds weird right?
What you do is use a cheap conditioner to 'shampoo' your hair, rinse, then apply a normal conditioner. At first it was hard to get the hang of, and my hair felt dirty, but once I learned to actually scrub and rinse well, it works amazing. This works really well for hair that is normally thick or wavy and curly.
I only shampoo once a week shampoo dries and brittles my hair. Another thing to do is use olive oil and leave it in your hair for about an hour, then rinse. Every couple weeks, I apply conditioner to dry hair, and leave it in over night. It always makes my hair feel amazing. I use a deep conditioner every three days, and always apply Garnier Fructis Style Sleek & Shine leave in conditioner after I shower. It's only 3.99 and works wonders! :)

Mar 5, 2012

Camille M.

*For the shampooing with conditioner thing, don't start right away just using it to shampoo. Make a gradual transition. And if you have naturally fine hair, this might not be for you :)

Mar 5, 2012

Oana O.

Technically, hair is dead - I doubt there is an actual solution to fried, damaged hair. Products just give the impression of doing something by forcing the parts of the hair that are detaching to stick back to it, smoothing it down, but the effect goes away with the water from your shower. Moreover, while most commercials talk about 'nourishing' the hair with amino-acids, those amino-acids also go down the drain because the molecules are way too big to penetrate the hair and do anything to it. The only 'miracle product' which worked for me were the scissors. Although I've had a bob most of my life, which meant trims were a must, now I have medium to long hair and cutting it almost makes me cry, I have to keep telling myself I want it healthy&silky smooth.
Also, don't play with your hair. It's bad for it.  

Mar 5, 2012

Julie A.

I dyed my hair a lot in high school and my hair became really damaged, my stylist gave me Sebastian Potion #9 and it worked wonders! They still make it and it smells really good. 

Mar 6, 2012

Karen C.

I've been violet, brown, blonde, white blonde, little mermaid red, blue, violet, and black within a 9 month gap, and although that is a very unhealthy amount of times to do things to your hair, I still have hair :) and it great condition.

I used Bed Head's Dumb Blonde for a while.
I also avoided washing my hair everyday and used dry shampoo from Tresseme to keep it relatively clean and okay looking.
But the best product by far that I swear by is Aussie's 3-minute miracle, I swear this is THE BEST AND MOST AFFORDABLE deep conditioner I've used and you'll thank me after you use it.
It's only 3-4 bucks at Target and when you wash your hair, you only leave it in for about 2:45 and your hair will thank you.

Also try using heat protectors when using heat products to prevent further damage and try getting trims.

Good Luck!

Mar 6, 2012

Kika C.

Aussie's 3 Minute Miracle has an almost instantaneous effect.
Also, I trimmed my ends and then took a month of from heat styling. It's hard but it's worth it - my hair was so much stronger when I combined that with a restoring shampoo/conditioner along with 3 Minute Miracle. Now it holds up a lot longer without a trim!

Mar 6, 2012

Loyda C.

Thank Julie, Karen and Kika!!! I actually have tried Aussie's 3-minute miracle, and your right it does work good! I ran out i need to get me more! And yeah i need to stop washing my hair every night...how is every other day? Is that still to often? How do you use a dry shampoo?

Mar 6, 2012

Lizz N.

i wash my hair maybe once a week... it took a few weeks for it to get used to it, but your hair *theoretically* will only produce as much oil as your hair needs. kind of like breastfeeding, it's a supply and demand thing (not to say some people's glands won't go crazy and over-produce, but thats beside the point) The less you heat style, the better as well. My hair is really damaged from a bleach-wash gone awry... so i've been working on it!

i swear by extra virgin coconut oil from trader joes... it works MIRACLES on your hair, as well as your skin, too! Leave it in for like 1/2 an hour to an hour, then wash it out, and ta-da! beautiful hair!

dry shampoos you just spray where your hair is oily, and then brush it through your hair. it can leave your hair feeling funky, though... it is just clay and other minerals to absorb the oil... so if you're willing to have kinda crazy hair for a few weeks... shampoo less often (even look into the no-poo hair cleansing solution. that's supposed to work miracles) and you'll be oily for a while, but your hair will look so much better in the end!

Mar 6, 2012

Shelly T.

The scissors.

Mar 6, 2012

Loyda C.

Thanks Lizz very helpful!