What hair shampoo and condition is best for repairing damaged hair?

Damaged hair can be a real problem, and people don't always treat it right. It's a difficult balance, it truly is. So I am going to go over what I consider damaged hair, what you can use at home to help it, and what NOT to use or do. Hopefully this can help some of you! You can click on the product names throughout the article to learn more about them and purchase them.

Why is my hair damaged?

Hair becoming damaged is normal. The truth is everything damages our hair. Hair ties, bobby pins and clips can cause breakage from tension and pulling. UVA/UVB rays from the sun can cause our hair's cuticle layer to open, which causes our color to fade as well major loss of hydration. But the two main culprits of damage are chemical services (perms, relaxers and coloring) as well as heat styling. Both of these things cause your cuticle layer to open, and can eve cause your cuticle layer to break and chip in a way that is irreparable.

In order to heal your hair you have to repair that cuticle layer. There are some at home products you can use and in this post we are going to talk specifically about shampoo and conditioner, as well as repair masks and leave in conditioners because I think they all go together. But first...

What Not To Do

Some common mistakes that I see people make include using hot oil treatment, over treating and using to much protein in your hair. Big mistakes. There are some treatments in the salon that can be made more effective by adding heat to slightly open the cuticle so the treatment can penetrate better, but these are not oil treatment. When you heat up oil what does it do? It literally cooks things. We don't want to literally fry your hair. And there are some wonderful treatments out there, many of which I will recommend, but you don't want to use to use them to often. I get the idea, that your hair feels frizzy and that this treatment should help it, but to much can actually cause more damage. If it says 2-3 times a week, only use it 2-3 times a week MAX, not 5, not 7. Especially with protein and keratin products. There is a balance in all things. Switch up your products. Use a good keratin treatment or protein shampoo every other wash, and a ultra gentle hydrating one every other time. Trust me on this one, you will get better results.

Last but not least we need to take off the kid gloves. Don't decide you're going to use Pantene's Restore shampoo and get results when I am recommending high end options. There truly are some decent products on drug store shelves, and I am trying to review them more frequently on my blog. But when it comes to repairing damage you have to commit to the best products if you want results. If you can't afford it, you'd be better off using sulfate free and wax free options that are anti-frizz or smoothing. But cheap repair products (even from the best of walmart brands) are simply not effective, and can often do more harm than good.


Shampoo and Conditioner

To me the holy grail shampoo and conditioner for bond repair and maintenance is the Olaplex No4 and No5 (pictured on the left). These will cost you a pretty penny, but they are worth it. Another option is the Joico KPak Shampoo and Conditioner, or the Bumble and Bumble mending shampoo and conditioner. All of these option will help to repair your hair, but like I said it's important not to solely use a keratin or protein based option.
 
I like to supplement with a good moisturizing option. You need to be sure that whatever hydration shampoo you use only has the highest quality ingredients. It must be free of silicone, wax and sulfates. Some good choice are the Bumble and Bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil shampoo and conditioner, or Redken's Frizz Dismiss Sulfate-Free shampoo and conditioner but make sure it's not the new frizz dismiss in the orange bottle. It needs to be the sulfate free option in the gold bottle (pictured on the right). I also love the new Biolage RAW Nourish. I also love the Living Proof No Frizz line, which is the one I personally use at home right now.


 Masks and Leave Ins

 Same as with the shampoos and conditioners you must remember not to over do it on the treatments and leave ins. Use a mask every other shampoo, and every other mask should be keratin or protein, while every other in a simple hydration mask. So your shower routine would go No Mask, Repair Mask, No Mask, Hydration Mask, and then repeat itself. My favorite protein masks and treatments are the Joico KPak as well as the Kerestase Resistance Masque Therapiste Hair Mask (pictured on the left) Olaplex No3. For hydrating masks there are tons of great choices honestly. Some of my tried and true favorites are the Joico Moisture Recovery Treatment Balm, the Redken Frizz Dismiss Mask, the It's a 10 Miracle Hair Mask.

For leave in treatments you should do the same, use leave in treatment every single day, and only use a repairing one every 2-3 days. For your standard hydration I like UniqOne all in one leave in hair treatment for those with thick to normal hair. For finer hair I love the Biolage Smoothing Shine Milk or for a more matte option the Wella EIMI Perfect Me Leave In Beauty Balm. For something to repair I like the Strong Sexy Hair Coreflex (pictured on the right) and the Redken Extreme Leave In.
      

But really the very first step to healthier hair is a haircut. You need to get your haircut every 6-8 weeks, there are no ifs, ands or buts about it. You can read the post linked below to get a better idea of why it's so necessary.

Does Cutting Your Hair Actually Help It Grow?