"Protects Hair Against Any Abrasive Tossing and Turning While You're Asleep."

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Hair Damage – Causes, Treatments And Fixes You Can Do At Home

If your hair's feeling dry and damaged, helping your locks recover without going for an extreme chop can seem like an impossible task.Causes of damaged hair can include overdoing it with heat with tools like hair straighteners or over-colouring, a particular problem if you're trying to cover greys.Or perhaps the summer elements have played havoc with your strands. Mix together the sun’s harmful rays, humidity and high temperatures, the chemicals from your holiday-pool, and salty seawater, and you’ve got a cocktail for causing damaged hair – leaving strands straw-like, dry and brittle.But fear not, put your hair into our TLC rehab session, using one, more, or all of our treatments and fixes below and it’ll be oozing health in no time. 

1. Start at the salon

Make a visit to your hairstylist your priority, as trimming off any frayed ends is the best start for fixing damaged hair’s health.If you’re in need of hair colour, you no longer have to forgo it – unlike we would have advised you to do a few years ago – but only if you add a bonding treatment to it too.Olaplex is the original bond builder (available in salons nationwide), a three-step salon treatment that cleverly rebuilds broken hair from within. It can be added to your colour service or used as a standalone treatment. If you’re wondering how celebs change their hair colour constantly without any damage in sight it will be down to a bonding treatment.If you’re a home-colourer, you get a similar clever bonding tech in Schwarzkopf Color Expert Hair Dyes with Omegaplex, £6.79.

2. Choose the best shampoo for dry hair

Sulphates can over-strip the hair of natural oils that dry, damaged hair really needs. So do make a swap with your regular shampoo to a gentler, sulphate-free shampoo, but still make-sure it’s targeted at dry, damaged hair so it’s packed with moisturising ingredients too.Ouai Repair Shampoo, £22, is a creamy-formula that really softens straw-like strands. And coloured hair will love Fudge Damage Rewind Shampoo, £11.95. ‘Also when washing it’s so important to change the temperature of your water, says Patrick Wilson, Color Wow’s Artistic Director. ‘Use a cool setting to close the cuticle, if you use a high heat it will open the cuticles leaving the hair feeling ruff and straw like.’

3. Comb don’t brush

Your hair is at its weakest state when wet, so any excessive brushing will only cause more damage. Keep a wide tooth comb in your shower for detangling after washing, as it will put less stress on your strands.Try the ghd Detangling Comb, £7.50.‘If you have really knotty hair, leave in some conditioner before you start to comb,’ says PRO:VOKE Expert Stylist, Lisa Laudat. ‘Otherwise you will break the ends!’If you can’t live without regular brushing treat yourself to a natural boar bristle brush. We love the Moroccanoil Boar Bristle Classic Brush, £39.85, because it’s super gentle. But remember, keep brushing to a minimum!

 4.Multi-masking is a must

You need not one, buy two masks in your haircare arsenal to give your dry, damaged hair the nutrients it’s craving.‘I would recommend alternating between a protein-based mask and an oil-based mask,’ says celebrity hair-stylist, Edward James.‘Dry, damaged hair needs both moisture and strengthening proteins put back into the hair structure.’Moroccanoil Intense Hydrating Mask, £25.45, is packed with argan oil to give the thirsty areas the drink of oil it needs.Nexxus Emergence hair Masque, £19.99 rebuilds broken bonds in hair strands. Use one of each, once a week for real results. 

5. Leave in a treatment

‘It’s what you do after shampooing and conditioning that really makes a difference,' says Patrick Wilson. And whilst masks are great, try aiding your strands further with a leave-in protein treatment combed through your mid-lengths and ends before drying.We loved the difference Color Wow Kale Cocktail Bionic Tonic, £22, after only one use – strands were softer, smoother and silkier. For a purse-friendly option, we also rate Charles Worthington Grow Strong Longer and Stronger Protein Treatment, £8.99.

6. DO use your hairdryer

Yes, you heard that right! Science now suggests it’s a beauty myth that leaving your hair to dry naturally is better than using your hairdryer.‘When hair is wet, hair fibres swell and become weaker,’ says Dr Tim Moore, ghd scientist. ‘And so the longer it’s in a weakened-state the more chance it has of being broken or damaged.’He found using your hairdryer on the lowest cool setting, and very slowly increasing the heat as sections became dryer caused less damage.With this in mind, if your tools only work on high temperatures do stay clear, and you should still always use heat protection, like Tresemmé Pro Collection Biotin+ Repair 7 Primer Protection Spray, £6.10.

Try our top tip, of wrapping your hair in a Silke 100% Silk Wrap, £45, at bedtime. I normally wash my hair every day, but found I could leave it for 2/3 days, and so didn’t wash or dry it as often – plus it protects hair against any abrasive tossing and turning while you're asleep, too.