Dry, damaged hair!

Hi guys.


Being a girl that used to regularly have my hair bleached (for around 6 years) I know only too well how damaging, dying your hair can be.

By summer 2011 I hated the dry frazzled texture of my hair and I also felt that my hair wasn't quite reaching the 'white' blonde colour I desired. It would often have a yellowy tinge, especially towards the ends of my hair, despite always having it done at a good salon.

Bored of battling the roots (I only ever had highlights but my hair grew so quickly that I would need them doing every 6 weeks and I couldn't afford it) and unhappy with the damaged feel to my hair, I opted for a fairly drastic change.

I went from blonde to brunette in just under 2 hours! I don't think the blonde picture shows how long my hair was because I had layers at the sides but I also had around 4 inches chopped off to combat the badly damaged hair!

I was a happy brunette for just over a year. The first couple of dyes didn't hold its colour too well as the bleach kept creeping through, but after the first 3 the colouring stayed fairly dark.

All was well until I went on holiday to Gran Canaria. Prior to going I had my usual brown colour done at the hairdressers. Perhaps this was a mistake?

As you can see in the picture (taken whilst on holiday) I guess the sun and perhaps the salt water from the pool took its toll on my hair and my ends became blonder and dry. In hindsight I guess I should have invested in some product to protect my hair from sun damage or whatever, but it's never been an issue before so I never thought about it. I mean, I was only there for a week!

Upon returning home and moving back to uni I attempted to fight the damage with ambitious helpings of conditioner (whatever I was using at the time) but it didn't seem to be working. Worried that I'd have to have my hair cut shorter (it had only just grown long-ish again and the longer the better imo!) I looked for products that might help fix the problem.

Being a student and money being quite tight and all, I decided to rumage through my cupboards to see if I had anything relevant, before going out to buy something.

I found this Herbal essences intensive mask hidden away. Given to me as a christmas present I hadn't thought to use it, up until now, as my hair was always in good condition and often a regular conditioner would do the trick. Now, this particular one probably wasn't the most ideal as it did specify normal/dull hair and not dry/damaged hair but I had it, so I thought I'd give it a go. Nothing to lose.

I applied the product through the middle/ends of my hair after my regular shampoo had been rinsed out and aimed to leave it on for 5 minutes. However, I guess the patient me might have left it on for around 2 minutes before washing it off.

The results were almost instant and the ends of my hair were utterly soft! I noticed a difference when blow-drying my hair too and the finished result was definitely more shiny and healthy looking.

However, after a day or so my hair became dry again. I was aware that if I used the product regularly then my hair would likely get used to it and the results would be less effective.

My uni housemate (who naturally has quite dry, frizzy hair) suggested that I should try hair oil. The thought of using oil in my hair was never something I thought about trying, as I have naturally oily hair and it gets greasy very qucikly. But, desperate to return my hair to its once healthy state, I went shopping.

I picked up L'Oreal Paris Elvive ExtraOrdinary hair oil for coloured hair as I remembered my housemate telling me she used one of these and really liked it. At £6.66 from Boots I was hoping to also like it!

For me, this product has been a lifesaver! Or, rather a hairsaver! I did make the mistake of applying this to the ends of my hair, dry, which left a lovely greasy effect! I have quite thin hair so obviously dry hair didn't agree with it, but when applied onto wet 'just washed' hair and blowdryed out it works a treat. It leaves my hair looking and feeling soft and nourished!

Don't get me wrong, I still get dry hair every so often but when I do I just add a little oil. I usually squirt two pumps into the palm of my hand, rubs my hands together then run the products through my hair, focusing directly on the ends.

I've been using this product for a couple of months now, on and off, and I still have loads left so I should imgaine it'll last me a long time.

Do you suffer from dry, damaged hair? I'd definitely recommend you go and try this for yourself!