Advice on improving the quality of my damaged brittle hair?

Question

I've decided that I'm fed up with my hair. It's unhealthy, damaged, split ends galore.. I have quite the addiction to straightening irons and hair blowdryers.. I'm wondering if there's any ideas on how I could ween myself off of using them.
These are the problems I have:
1. Split ends
2. Annoying kink in my straight hair, which forces me to use straight iron
***3. Whenever I wash/brush my hair sooo many strands fall out for some reason
4. Hair feels like straw

My hair falls about an inch and a half below my shoulders, and growing it out is important to me..
but is it a good idea to cut off maybe 3/4 of an inch? Would this help?

I also dye my hair every so often, will it help if I stop this?

If I use a deep conditioning treatment will this help?

What's a hot oil treatment? Is it effective/expensive? What does it do?

Please help me,
I need to change my hair!

Answer 1

First of all, stop the blowdry and straight iron combo. This is painful for your hair. If you must though, get a ceramic straight iron and use a lower tempurature setting. Also do not pass over and over the same strands of hair. Use a product to protect your hair from the heat a little. I would also suggest washing your hair at night and letting it dry on its own and then straight ironing it in the morning. If you need to use a blowdryer, get one with a diffuser on the end. Yes, get your hair trimmed. Long hair is pointless if it's unhealthy looking. Trimming regularly looks better but it also stimulates growth. In the shower, wash your hair first thing and then put a moisterizing formula conditioner on (I like Pantene's) and leave it one while you do the rest of your stuff. At the end of your shower rinse the conditioner from your hair with cooler water (as cool as you can stand). This helps close your pores and prevent more hair loss. Never, and I mean never, use a brush to brush your wet hair. Use a comb and start at the bottom and gently work your way up. Spray on a leave-in conditioner. If you dye your hair, do not go substantially lighter since this is a lot harsher. If you can afford it, go to a pro, they have gentler methods than the box stuff. If you can't, use a botanical based formula like Garnier Nutrisse. I wouldn't worry about doing hot oil treatment, they are very messy and no more effective than the things I've mentioned. Good luck with your tresses.

Answer 2

Hair that is already damaged (including split ends) cannot be repaired so trimming is a good idea. But you can prevent the same thing from happening to the new growths and the healthier parts of your hair. To wean yourself from the addiction to straightening irons you need to learn how to cope with your hair type naturally. There are great ways for you to style your hair without heat. You seem very focused on making your hair stick-straight but going against your hair's natural texture causes all the damage. Instead of trying to get your hair perfectly straight, try a more wavy style which is much less damaging and easier to maintain. You can achieve this style by scrunching your wet hair with a towel or by putting it in braids or rollers. Remember never to brush wet hair!! It can also cause excess breakage. Dying your hair can break it too but if you do it in moderation (not as often as you do now) and don't heat style it too much then I think your hair should survive. If these tips aren't enough to stop your hair from feeling like straw use hot oil treatments (you can use olive oil), mayonnaise, or deep-conditioners. They are all fairly cheap methods to keep your hair healthy. What is a hot oil treatment? It effectively replaces the oil lost from washing, helps condition hair, and helps reduce breakage. It is not expensive if you use olive oil but if you use expensive hot oil products (which work just as good as the olive oil) then it can cost a lot of money. All you need to do is heat up the olive oil for a couple of seconds in the microwave and put it on your hair (make sure it is warm not hot, you don't want it to cook your hair either). Leave it on for 10-20 minutes and then shampoo it off. I wish you the best of luck. I used to have the same problems but by doing these things my hair has become much longer and healthier.

Answer 3

My hair is naturally dry and I recently bleached it. I went dark brown to blond. It destroyed my hair. My hair is probably worse than yours, because I dye it all the time and I use straighteners and hair dryers a lot too. For shampoo, I use aveeno shampoo and conditioner for dry/damaged hair. I also really like John frieda hair products and Garnier Fructis. Whatever you use, make sure it says that it is for dry/damaged hair on the bottle. Also, something I like to do to give my hair moisture is to leave some conditioner in my hair after I wash it. I use quite a bit since my hair is so dry. I have also used baby oil in my hair while it was wet. It made my hair very soft and shiny after I dried it. It gave it lots of moisture and it lasted for days. If you do that, don't use a lot. Use a very small amount (about a dime size). Get it all through your hair. Do it only once or twice a week since it lasts for so long. Don't use brushes either, I suggest using a wide toothed comb. Brushes can break and damage your hair and make it frizzier. It may make your hair greasy if you use too much. But if you wash your hair afterwards, it will wash enough out so that it isn't as greasy. It lasts because it is hard to wash out. Baby oil is normally used for dry skin. It works wonders on your skin because it gets soaked in really well and keeps it soft. It doesn't have any ingredients in it that will dry you out more. It does the same for your hair. Most products you buy from the store don't saturate into your hair strands. Baby oil does. If you don't want to try those ideas, you can also use Biosilk Serum. It's a little pricey, but they have shampoo and conditioners too. You can buy it at your local salon. I just prefer baby oil to Biosilk. It's stronger against my dry hair and lasts much longer. Plus, it's a whole lot cheaper.

Answer 4

Your hair is feeling overprocessed! :) Have the split ends trimmed, quit coloring for awhile. A cheap deep conditioning trick -- use mayonaisse. Put it in your hair just like a conditioner, put a plastic bag over your hair (not your head - you need to breathe!). Now wrap your head with a towel -- this will help keep in your natural body heat and activate the mayonaisse into your hair folicles. Leave on for about an hour - shampoo out. Your hair will feel alot better. Try to use good quality shampoo and conditioner and don't braid your hair. Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Hmm... I almost have the same problem of yours. Yes, you stop dying your hair because it is killing those important proteins or something in your hair. And cut your hair or at least trim it about every 4-6 weeks... and when you wash your hair use a wide tooth comb to brush it... that could at least help stop creating more split ends. And then I use aussie deep conditioning which is called 3 minute miracle deeep... and that should help your hair turn smooth... well, thats all I know... hope it helps

Answer 6

~Split ends-get them cut:just dead ends keeps your hair from growing
~Dye-if its not put in correctly,it makes your hair fall out
~Iron-i just know its not good to just it a lot
~H.O.T.-sometimes its effective(can't guarantee it)and its Cheap:can be bought from Dollar General
~You probably just need to shampoo and condition your hair regularly, use the straighten iron every once and a while, and go somewhere to get the split ends trimmed.

Answer 7

How to Take Care of Dry and Oily Hair
http://hair-care-info.blogspot.com/2006/09/how-to-take-care-of-dry-and-oily-hair.html

Hair Growth Vitamins
http://hair-care-info.blogspot.com/2006/09/hair-growth-vitamins.html