A Few weeks ago I went to highlight my hair like I always do;
which is about every 6 months or so. Simple enough procedure, put cap on, mix
ingredients, apply to hair, and rinse. Unfortunately I did not have a great
experience this last time. I guess I grabbed the wrong bleaching kit at the
store. Looks like I bought an Ultra Blonde Highlighting Kit of which has a
higher volume peroxide in it and really messed up my hair.
The blonde was indeed ultra blonde and did not look good,
not to mention it fried my hair. With
some professional advice from a good friend, I was able to tone it down a bit
to a more natural looking blonde color. Well at least it was a color I can sort
of live with at the moment. So happy it did not turn out green or real orange.
Whew!
So the purpose of this blog today is to share some of the
conditioning treatments I have found that work for severely overprocessed
hair.
No more bleaching – hold off on any bleaching for at
least 4-6 months. If you must color use a demi or semi permanent hair color.
This will be more gentle on your hair. I
used Natural Instincts Demi Color. Really nice and gentle.
Get a really good hair cut. You may have to snip a
little off the ends to get it looking healthy again.
Try to avoid heat products like the hair dryer or
straightener.
Shampoo Less and Use Less Shampoo.
This may be kind of obvious -- shampooing every 2 or 3
days will help keep your hair moisturized -- but it took me awhile to realize
that actually using less shampoo (i.e., a little dab instead of a
heaping handful) also kept my hair from looking so dry post-wash.
Air-Dry As Much As Possible.
This gets soooo boring after awhile. My hair's default
setting is limp and after a few weeks without heat styling I was ready to
strangle myself. If you can stand it, I recommend air-drying for a few weeks
just to give your hair a break
Apply a Leave-in Conditioner and Let Dry 80 Percent
Before Heat Styling.
When you can't possibly stand another day of tendril-y
spaghetti hair or whatever your natural texture nightmare entails, you can try
blowdrying again. But you must heartily apply a leave-in conditioner and let
the hair air-dry 80 percent of the way before you take a round brush to it.
When doing the leave-in conditioner, make sure to apply just
on your midshaft and ends, because you don't need it at your root. Use a metal
round brush to help smooth out the hair, and avoid any holding products with
alcohol in them, as they can be drying.
Apply the finishing touches.
When you're all done, use a polish or balm to smooth the
cuticles and calm down fly-aways. I've also always had luck with any Frizz-Ease
Product.
Here
are a few more Natural alternatives to deep conditioning Hair.
Olive Oil or coconut oil – this is the only oil that
will penetrate the hair shaft and moisturize.
Some essential oils have the capacity to stimulate the sebaceous glands in
the scalp, and thereby reduce dryness and give your hair a beautiful glow.Some of the best essential oils for dry hair include: lavender, bay, rosemary, lemon, chamomile, geranium, sandalwood, birch, parsley leaf, rosewood, carrot, palmarosa, and yarrow essential oil.
-A very efficient home remedy for dry hair is to mix 4 drops of any of the above-mentioned essential oils with 6 tablespoons of carrier oil, such as wheat germ, coconut, almond, castor, sesame, or avocado oil. You should then warm up the oil mixture and gently massage it into your scalp and hair with small circular motions, using your fingertips. For best results, it is good to do it for at least 10 minutes and then cover your hair with a shower cap and leave the treatment on for 1 hour or overnight.
Warm regards and love,
Erin
