There’s a lot of hair advice out there. Do this, don’t do that. Blah Blah Blah. I’m here to keep it simple, affordable, and realistic. Here are my tips and some products for when you are ready to repair your hair and get your back your healthy hair!
First, my hair used to be this:
Now it’s been like this for over 4 years:
Assess where you are at, your goals, and get honest!
Where is your hair at?
Are you really taking care of it?
Are there just some tweaks you need to make?
Are you ready to actually take the time and make changes to heal your hair?
Do you want longer hair?
Do you want thicker hair?
Is your hair thinning?
Is your hair dull, dry, and/or lifeless?
Now that you have answered those questions, here is the reality of repairing your hair no matter where it’s at or what your hair goals are:
- Cut back on bleach
- Limit heat (you don’t have to eliminate it just maybe once a week)
- Chop it off to start fresh
- Get a SILK PILLOWCASE and scrunchies!
- Wash your hair when you need it. Hair training is NOT a thing
- Prioritize your scalp health (washing, scalp serum, etc)
- Be gentle with the lengths and ends of your hair
- Stop with the slick back hairstyles
Cut Back On Bleach
You can still color and bleach your hair, but find a hairstylist that will work with your goals. They don’t need to be re-bleaching your ends, only the roots.
Try a more low maintenance hair color like a balayage so you can go like 6 months without having to go to the salon and bleach your hair.
With bleaching, you are breaking down your hair bonds so look for a bond-repairing treatment/conditioner, etc. They have great ones I’ll link at the drugstore to help repair your hair.
Limit Heat
When you use heat, you better be using a heat protectant and you better be using it all over your hair so it’s ALL covered.
To get healthy hair you don’t have to stop using heat, just limit it to like once a week, get really good at heatless curls, and use a heat protectant.
Here is my favorite way to do heatless curls.
Chop it OFF
I know we don’t want to cut our hair if our goal is to get long hair, but if you don’t start fresh, you are working backward. So get a good chop so you don’t have dead or split ends.
Then once you feel like you need a trim, ask for a ‘dusting’, not a trim. A dusting is just barely cutting off the ends of your hair. I have a blog post of how I do it at home and it’s so easy to avoid losing the precious length that you worked so hard for gone and lying on the floor.
Silk/satin Pillowcases and Scrunchies
Regular cotton or whatever fabric they are causing friction while you sleeping causing breakage and frizzy hair. Your hair will glide across the silk pillowcase helping your hair in the long run and help you look better in the morning. It’s also better for your skin.
Same idea for silk/satin scrunchies helps reduce breakage. You should also sleep with your hair in a loose top bun with a silk scrunchie or a silk bonnet. I have both and do both depending on the night.
Here is more on why you need a silk pillow case if you still don’t believe me.
Wash Your Hair When It Needs To be Washed
Stop seeing how long you can go without washing your hair! It’s 1. Gross and 2. Not good for your hair health AT ALL!
Your hair follicles can get clogged with your oils that can lead to hair thinning if you don’t cleanse your scalp enough or effective enough. You need to wash your hair depending on your hair type and scalp oily-ness. Some people can go 4 days and others need to wash their hair every day.
Focus on Scalp Health
When you wash your hair, shampoo your scalp twice and only use shampoo heavily on your scalp.
And use a shampoo with sulfates. I said it! You need to be really cleaning your scalp and 9/10 people need to be using a more cleansing shampoo.
If you can or want to, add a scalp serum into your routine. I have used them for years and I swear by them! I’ll link the ones I have used and loved, but really, any hair serum will be good (usually).
But don’t get a scalp OIL confused for a scalp serum. A serum should not be leaving your scalp greasy or oily. So don’t try to DIY your oil scalp serum.
Be Gentle with Your Lengths and Ends
Once your hair grows out of your new healthy scalp, you need to protect the lengths of your hair. It’s dead so you need to preserve it as much as possible and here are some ways to do that:
- Be SUPER gentle on your hair when it’s wet. Wet hair is when it’s more fragile so gently detangle with wet brush or wide toothcomb, use a detangler, and slowly work on tangles
- NEVER go to bed with wet hair. Blow dry it (and use a heat protectant) if you need to.
- Use a leave in conditioner and evenly coat your hair. Lift your hair up, spray underneath and do it in sections. Leave in conditioner is almost more important than conditioner in the shower because you are leaving it on your hair and not washing it out
- Use a hair oil on mid ends to ends to hold in moisture on your ends. I do this on wet and dry hair (at the end of the day)
- Get a dusting when you need it. If you wait too long, your hair will break off at the ends making it seem like your hair isn’t growing
Stop Doing Slick Back Hairstyles
If you feel like you are looking hair around your hairline, STOP DOING SLICKBACK HAIRSTYLES! You probably are pulling too hard causing tension breakage.
Another tip is switch up wear you wear your ponytail or bun. If you notice breakage around when your hair going into your ponytail holder, try a higher or lower placement. Also make sure you are using a good hair tie that isn’t causing the breakage.
If you need new hairstyle ideas, follow me on Instagram or TikTok. I post new ones all the time that are super easy!
I hope this post give you encouragement and somewhere easy to start on your hair repair journey!
XO, Annie
