After Decades of Bleaching My Hair, I Finally Got My Hair Done. I Asked a Professional How to Save It

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I knew my hair was in trouble when my sister-in-law innocently asked if I was dying it silver. A close, panicked examination of my dark blonde roots confirmed that I wasn’t going gray, but something was wrong. Not only was my hair streaked with whitish strands, but my once-healthy long locks were starting to look wiry and straw-like.

In reality, I knew this day would come. Decades of bleaching my hair had caught up with me. doesn’t I knew that the purple shampoo routine I thought would help with brassiness was actually giving my hair a dull silver hue from overuse. My bad hair days were piling up, and my age wasn’t helping. “The most common issues for women in their 40s are hair loss due to hormonal changes, as well as lack of shine and chemical damage from hair coloring,” says Redken hairstylist Monique Coupal.

I figured one of the 12 billion hair-care products lining the shelves of Sephora and flooding my newsfeed could surely help. They had fancy names and formulas containing the kinds of ingredients found in my anti-aging arsenal: hyaluronic acid, collagen, niacinamide, peptides, vitamins C and B3. Could one of these promising miracles save my hair from its midlife crisis?

To set the record straight, I spoke with Dr. Christina Han, a Vancouver dermatologist and medical director of XYON Health, a hair regrowth company. She knows firsthand how important our hair is to our self-image.

“People want shiny, luscious hair because we subconsciously associate it with health and vitality,” she explains. (For the record: Hair doesn’t contain living cells, so it’s technically dead, no matter how it looks.)

Here are Han’s tips for restoring dry, brittle hair.

Pay attention to your scalp: A healthy scalp can optimize the health of your hair follicles, so watch for issues like flaking, itching, or redness, which could indicate inflammation and potentially hinder hair growth. If over-the-counter anti-dandruff and antifungal shampoos don’t work after several weeks, see your doctor for an evaluation. Psoriasis, for example, requires a prescription.

Look at the labels: Look for hair products that contain keratin, argan oil, or ceramides, which help prevent moisture loss and act as a protective barrier against heat, pollution, and UV rays. Hyaluronic acid, a star ingredient in skin care, also works on hair, plumping, hydrating, locking in moisture, and helping to combat frizz. Studies have shown that niacinamide, also known as B3, has antioxidant properties that help prevent hair damage and improve blood flow to the scalp and hair follicles.

Build your links: Hair is made up of three types of structural proteins, or bonds, that can be weakened by heat and chemical treatments. When these bonds are damaged, hair becomes weak and brittle. There are many products that claim to repair and rebuild the bonds and experts say that some of them TO DO The results are good, but don’t expect miracles. “You can improve bonds to some extent, but you can’t completely reverse the damage,” says Han. Not all products are created equal, so talk to your stylist about your options, which could include Olaplex, which makes one of the best-known bonding lines on the market (warning: this is an investment buy), or drugstore brands like Marc Anthony’s Repair Bond line.

Reduce the heat: My hair never looks better than after a blow-dry, so it’s hard to reconcile the shiny, healthy results with the damage it’s done to get there. But that shine is only temporary, warns Rob Smith, senior hair scientist at Dyson. The heat from most hair styling tools actually breaks down the hair’s bonds so they can be reshaped and realigned, helping it look sleek and shiny. But heat causes lasting damage to the hair’s proteins and lipids, making it more fragile and brittle over time. “In the short term, your hair will look great, but in the long term, you’ll suffer from more breakage, split ends and duller hair,” says Smith.

According to Han, hair structure weakens and loses elasticity when exposed to heat around 200 degrees Celsius. If you must use a blow dryer, use the lowest setting possible and blow dry downward to help close the hair cuticle, or outer layer, which will give it a smooth, shiny appearance. Better yet: let your hair air dry and don’t brush it too much when it’s wet.

Drop the dye: Chemicals, like dyes and bleaches, can break down your hair’s bonds and cause damage. If you can’t give up coloring completely, try to do it less frequently and then follow up with hydrating oils or masks with ingredients like argan oil or coconut oil to rehydrate your hair. Look for color-safe shampoos and conditioners that are sulfate- and paraben-free. Sulfates are detergents that can strip color and moisture from your hair, while parabens are preservatives that can cause a reaction in some people (most products are already paraben-free).

Organic or natural formulas can be a good option for sensitive, irritation-prone scalps, but be careful: “They may not be cleansing enough for your hair type,” Han warns. And you may not get the results you want. Non-natural ingredients like silicone, for example, give hair shine and bounce.

As for my hair? I’ve cut back on bleaching, so it’s on the long road to recovery, slightly less blonde, and slowly showing signs of life. Maybe a midlife crisis was just what it needed.

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Eight products to try

Although I’m not ready to give up on color and processing, I spent seven months testing hair products designed for dry and damaged hair. Here are the standouts:

To clean and repair:

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This sulfate-free shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in combo uses citric acid to help repair weakened hair bonds. Bonus: They smell like a salon and left my hair feeling silky and conditioned.

Redken Acidic Bonding Concentrate Shampoo and Conditioner, 300 ml, $33.99 each; Leave-In Treatment, 150 ml, $39

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Dubbed a “luxury product” by marketers, this drugstore-branded deep conditioner actually lives up to its hype. After a three-minute treatment, my hair felt hydrated, manageable, and smelled divine.

Pantene Miracle Rescue Deep Repair Conditioner, 237 ml, $11.49

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This five-minute mask works to repair hair’s disulfide bonds, which can be damaged by chemicals and heat.

Marc Anthony Repair Bond + Rescuplex Hair Mask, 227g, $15.49

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For protection

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Spray this keratin-containing protectant before blow-drying to protect against heat damage and achieve a smooth, shiny finish.

Dry Bar Liquid Glass Miracle Smoothing Sealer, 188 ml, $46

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Designed specifically for bleached blondes and rich in hyaluronic acid, this lightweight, oil-like serum helps lock moisture into the scalp and hair.

Kérastase Blond Absolu 2% Hyaluronic Hair Serum, 50 ml, $78

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Olaplex made a name for itself as the OG haircare brand when it launched in 2014, spawning countless copycats. This lightweight, fresh-smelling serum is the best of the bunch, repairing and protecting against heat damage, fighting frizz, and leaving hair shiny and tangle-free.

Olaplex No. 9 Bond-Protecting Nourishing Hair Serum, 90 ml, $41

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For the style

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If you can’t seem to ditch your flat iron, you might as well use the Cadillac of hair styling tools. This wet-to-dry hair straightener uses air instead of hot plates to reduce heat damage, leaving you with a sleek, salon-quality blowout.

Dyson Airstrait vacuum cleaner, $699.99, dysoncanada.ca

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These lightweight styling tools are easy to use and won’t snag or pull your hair, thanks to the triple-coated ceramic plates infused with coconut oil.

Revlon Smoothstay Coconut Oil Infused Curling Iron, $39.96, and Revlon Smoothstay Coconut Oil Infused Straightening Iron, $44.96, walmart.ca