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Use harsh treatments in moderation. Handle your hair gently when you wash and dry it. Shampoo no more than once or twice a week. Let your hair air dry instead of using heat. Brush your hair only when it's dry. Avoid restrictive hairstyles.
Many popular hair treatments strip the hair of its natural oils and damage the hair shaft. When you're ready to restore your hair, it'll be very difficult to do so unless you stop all treatments and let your hair return to its natural state. If you're used to relying on treatments to make your hair look the way you want it to, you may want to choose a few treatments that are the most important to you and stop using all of the rest. Here's what to avoid: Chemical hair dyes, either professional or from a box. If you love dyeing your hair, try a natural dye such as tea, which might actually help to restore your hair instead of damaging it. Bleaching your hair is never good for it. Stripping out the color in your hair does a lot of damage to the shaft, and can cause your hair to get brittle and break. Chemical straightening or curling, like a Brazilian blowout, relaxers, or a permanent. The chemicals that force straight hair to be curly or curly hair to be straight and sleek do a lot of damage to your hair. Hair is a fragile material that needs to be handled with care, especially when it's wet. Wet hair stretches and breaks easily, so it's important to be gentle when you're washing and drying your hair. Think of your hair as though it's a silk dress or a fine wool sweater. You wouldn't roughly scrub it, wring it out rub it dry with a towel, right? Just like special fabrics, your hair should be handled with care. When you wash your hair, massage your scalp with your fingertips and gently pull the shampoo through your hair, rather than rubbing it vigorously. Do the same with conditioner. Let your hair drip dry for a few moments before gently squeezing out the excess water with a microfiber towel or T-shirt. Avoid using a bath towel to dry your hair as it may snag on the fibers, leading to breakage. The scalp produces a natural oil called sebum that protects the hair from drying out. When you wash your hair too often, you wash away this oil before it has the chance to travel down the length of your hair and provide protection. Washing your hair just a few times a week will help your hair stay shiny and healthy. When you first stop washing your hair every day, your scalp will overproduce sebum, since it's used to your routine of washing it away every 24 hours. After a week or so things will balance out and your hair will no longer look greasy right away. If you have oily hair or skin, this process can take up to three or four months. If you're concerned about your roots looking greasy on the days in between washings, use dry shampoo to clean things up. You can buy a bottle of dry shampoo or making your own by simply mixing 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda. Sprinkle it onto the greasy areas, let it sit for five minutes, then comb it out. This is a difficult rule to follow for people who are used to using hair dryers and other heat styling tools to create the perfect look every day. When your goal is to restore your hair to good health, using heat is like taking a step backward, every time. Start letting your hair air dry, and try to embrace your natural look to give your hair the chance to heal. Try putting in your styling products or combing your hair before you let it air dry. You can even shape it into the desired look before it dries to help with styling it. If you feel you really must use heat styling tools, use them on a low setting, and save it for special occasions. You can purchase a thermal protector, which often comes as a cream or spray, to apply to your hair before you use heat. Since your hair might take awhile to be completely restored, it may not look the way you want it to at first. You might be tempted to iron out those frizzy curls or bring some life to limp, dry locks. It's worth it to hold out until your hair is healthy; you'll see the texture improve immensely if you're patient. If you brush your hair while it's wet, you can easily damage it. Work out tangles with a wide-tooth comb. Gently work it through your hair, starting near the tips and gradually working up toward the roots until you're able to move the comb through your hair without catching on a tangle. Once your hair is fully dry, you can use a boar-bristle brush to smooth it out. Brushing with a plastic-bristled brush is very damaging to hair, especially when you try to brush through tangles. You end up pulling out hairs and breaking them off mid-shaft. If you have curly hair, avoid brushing it at all. Stick to using a wide-tooth comb. Certain styles pull on the hair and cause it to fray or break. Hair extensions and weaves are particularly bad for the hair. Whether they're sewn in or glued to your hair, they inevitable result in damage (and in worst-case scenarios, bald spots). When you're working to restore your hair to health, it's best to completely avoid styles that are hard on the hair.