How to revive chemically straightened hair

If you’ve use chemicals to straighten your hair, then you’re probably well aware of it’s possible complications. Sometimes, the treatments meant to make our hair straight and more manageable can end up damaging it.

Repeatedly subjecting your hair to straightening treatments can increase the chance of chemically burning your hair. Your hair will start feeling brittle and stiff. If this happens, you don’t need to panic.

Restoring Chemically Damaged Overprocessed Hair

There are many methods you can use to revive it. You can choose to give it time to grow or use conditioning treatments to help it grow back or revive it. The following natural procedure can help to restore your hair fully.

Stop using harsh treatment

The first thing you must do is to stop using the harsh treatments. This is because often, chemical treatment strips the natural oil from the hair this damage the hair shaft. When you stop using the chemicals you allow the oil to return and your hair will return to its natural state. Unfortunately, this outcome may not be attained if you have the type of hair that relies on treatment to look good.

Better results can be obtained if you use natural dye such as henna or tea which are known to restore the hair to their natural state. You should avoid bleaching the hair since bleaching damages the shaft and is one of the things that make the hair get brittle and finally break. Perhaps taking time off colouring your hair will give it a chance to recover from damage. Similarly, you must avoid using chemicals that straighten or curl the hair since they often end up damaging hair even more. If you like the effect of keratin on your hair but would rather not have a full treatment, you can use keratin shampoo and conditioner to help keep your hair smooth and silky.

Washing and drying

Learn to handle the hair gently when washing and drying it. You must remember that wet hair is fragile and thus it should be handled with a lot of care. Wet hair can easily be streaked and break. For this reason, gentle washing and toweling may save the hair from breaking. Treat your hair like a special fabric that must be handled with enough care.

When you wash the hair, ensure that you massage your scalp gently using the fingertips. Put the shampoo through the hair gently and don’t rub. You can also use the hair conditioner to do it. After you have finished massaging, you need to let the hair drip for a few minutes before you start squeezing the excess water gently. You may use a towel to pat it dry.

Ensure that you use shampoo once or twice per week since sebum which refers to the natural oil that protects the hair from drying is produced by the scalp and thus, when you wash it regularly you remove the sebum and it may not provide the protection required. The less often you wash the hair, the more health and shine it retains, although this may not be case for those with oily hair that needs regular washing.

Letting your hair to dry naturally is one of the methods you can use to restore your hair to good health. Avoid using hair dryers since the heat strips natural oils and forces the hair to look perfect. Let the hair dry naturally so that it can heal naturally. If you must use heat, ensure that the heat is set at very low temperatures. Do not be tempted to iron out frizzy curls just because you feel that the hair is taking too long to be restored. Be patient until your hair recovers and is healthy. If you are patient, you will be happy to watch the texture improve immensely.

Combing the hair

If the hair has been badly damaged by chemicals and you want it to recover fast, you should avoid brushing it. The reason for this is that brushing your hair with a bristled brush will obviously damage the hair as you attempt brushing through tangles. The brush will pull out the hair and may make them break off in the middle. Using a wide toothed comb is recommended but one should use it by working though the hair gently. You must start by combing the tip and gradually as you move towards the root. This should be done systematically until you are able to remove the comb without being stopped by tangles.

Alternatively, you can cut your hair short or choose a hairstyle that’s low maintenance whilst you wait to grow out your hair.

If you try these natural methods but you don’t get good results, you can restore your chemically damaged hair by using deep conditioning treatments. The treatments will penetrate your hair and keep it hydrated all week long. If this is done weekly, your hair will fully recover in less than six weeks.

Photo Credit: mujerenarmonia.com.mx