Help for a friend's damaged hair

[Lady Lilya]

My neighbor is not a hair person.

She has hair about shoulder length, brown, probably about 1b and about ii.

The last 3ish inches of it have damage.

She wants to know what she can do about the damage.

She says she uses Pantene shampoo, and she tried something labeled as being good for fixing damage and it had olive oil in it, but it didn't help.

Any ideas? I have no clue about damage, since I have never had any.

Thanks in advance!

[Amara]

It would be helpful to know what her damage is from - dye jobs? Heat styling?

[Rohele]

Is she trying to grow it longer?

Nothing can fix the damage once it's there but cutting it out. :( If she's not trying to grow it long that's the fastest and easiest way to solve the problem.

Products with silicones (ie shine serums) will coat the hair and make it look temporarily smoother and shiner, but they can build up over time and cause issues unless they are clarified. They only mask damage, they wont heal it. (I'm not anti-cone I used them for a long time and liked them until I started to experience build-up).

Lots of moisture will help dried ends.

Protein treatments can help if the hair is breaking and has been damaged by chemicals.

And of course, laying off heat styling and gentle handling will help prevent further damage.

I've got damaged ends from dye and heat styling and what's working for me at the moment is to use a very moisturizing conditioner on the ends and an occasional heavy EVOO oiling, prior to washing.

[RancheroTheBee]

It sounds like she might have to trim it. Products just extend the amount of time she'll have to wait to trim, but she will have to do it, if the damage is that bad.

[SharkDisco]

I've managed to revive my extremely dry, damaged ends by applying coconut oil to them at night, smoothing conditioner through them in the shower the following morning (no shampoo on the ends - the conditioner seems to be enough to remove the excess coconut oil), and rubbing a tiny bit of Alba leave-in conditioner before my hair dries. I know this sounds like a lot of conditioning, but I have straight, coarse, thin hair, and this makes my horrible ends smooth and shiny without weighing them down too much. What works for one person, however, may not work for another. She should definitely check this website out and experiment on her own.

[BroknRechord]

Agreed, the best thing to do is to really experiment and figure out what her hair responds best to... in the short term, tedious and not a quick fix, in the long run she'll know how to care for her hair forever!

[rogue_psyche]

Things that have made my peroxide-damaged ends look better include cutting out SLS except for clarifying, braiding at night with a good condish full stength in the tassels. I can do this with my Biolage knockoff, Sally's GVP Conditioning Balm and wake up in the morning with it completely absorbed. Then in the morning I use it diluted in a sprayer on the length to ends.

This makes my feel soft. Sometimes it feels like it has just been cut, even though my last trim was in fall 2008. I'm gonna have to trim eventually, though, but I'm waiting as long as I can.

Search and destroys are a must as well.

[jojo]

Needs a good cut by the sound of things, also pantene ruined my hair last time round. Maybe switching to a more chemical free poo and condish may help with any future damage.

[AmyJorgensen]

She must become an LHC member! :D :cheese: