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Excessive heat can badly damage the hair, making it dry, frizzy and lifeless. While dry and damaged hair might not directly affect your health or your life, it can be a cause of much distress since hair is directly related to one's self-image. Most people damage their hair by exposing it to excessive heat during hair straightening or curling sessions. Chemical treatments used to straighten color or perm hair generally cause excessive damage. If you spend a lot of time outdoors, especially during the afternoons, you hair can get burnt. Unlike your skin, your hair does not have any melanin to protect it and so it suffers great damage. The end result is hair that is dry, brittle, pone to breakage and looks more like the strands of a broom than a lustrous mane. Since everybody desires a mane of healthy, lustrous hair, you can start by taking good care of your hair. However before you can improve your hair, it might be a good idea to get it cut in a short style so that the damage is less evident.
Damaged hair cannot really be repaired. Having said that, I must also mention that it is important for you understand that you can change the appearance of your damaged hair. Hair has an outermost covering called the cuticle. The cuticle is made up of a single layer of cells that are uneven and resemble shingles on a roof as they overlap each other. When your hair gets damaged, these cuticles get pushed up and so your hair feels rough. Although you cannot repair the damage, you can smooth down the cuticles so that your hair is smoother and glossier.
You can start by regularly massaging your scalp with some warm coconut oil, almond oil or even virgin olive oil. This helps to improve the blood circulation in your scalp thus improving the supply of nutrients to your hair. Allow the oil to soak into your scalp overnight and wash it off the next morning using a mild, herbal based shampoo. While it is important to keep the hair clean, you should avoid washing your hair too often since it strips away the natural oils and leaves the hair dry. You should also avoid drying your hair using a blow dryer. Instead you should gently squeeze out the excess water from your hair and allow it to dry naturally. In addition to oil massages, deep conditioning is crucial for improving damaged hair. You can of course invest in a good hair conditioner but the best conditioning ingredients are available in your kitchen. Application of a dollop of mayonnaise on your hair around thirty minutes before you wash your hair is an excellent way to nourish your hair and ensure that you have soft and shiny hair once you wash the mayonnaise out with lukewarm water. Another good hair pack that helps to deep condition your hair, can be prepared by beating together 1 egg, with 1 tbsp almond oil, 1 tbsp coconut oil and 2 tbsp honey. Avocado, a fruit rich in vitamins and fatty acids, can be mashed with half a banana and mixed together with the yolk of 1 egg to make an excellent hair mask.
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