Last updated on November 9th, 2024 at 03:50 pm
Your hair is dealing with a lot on a daily basis. Dry office air, pollution and smog, toxins and chemicals in shampoos and laundry detergent, rough combing and brushing, heat styling and dry blowing. After the summer it seems to be even worse, with the bleaching from the sun and the swimming pool chlorine making your hair look like a tumbleweed.
If your hair isn’t the shiny, healthy way it used to be, it’s high time to repair your damaged hair. And naturally, here at Wasteless Planet, you’ll learn how to repair damaged hair naturally.
When your hair isn’t damaged, skip the steps below and go straight to 25 eco-friendly ways to keep healthy hair. That article is all about maintaining your great head of hair in an all natural way.
Read your labels
You might start by taking a look at the products you are using. Maybe you already switched to organic or all natural products. But even those may contain ingredients that don’t do your hair any favors. You are better off using products without alcohols, sodium and sulfates. The same goes for glycerin and silicons. These ingredients could make your hair dryer. You can moisturize all you want, but if you keep using products that have the opposite effect, you are getting little result.
Shampoo less often
Next step, is to shampoo less. You don’t need to wash your hair with shampoo every day. Water alone will do the trick most of the time. You only need shampoo to remove dirt. When shampooing too often, you risk washing out the oils that protect your hair. Shampooing your hair once or twice a week is more than enough.
I used to wash my hair every other day, because it would be greasy. Until I read that washing it often made my hair go greasy fast. So I started to wash every third day. At first, I walked around with greasy hair for a day. But after a week or two, that changed. So I added an extra day and went through the same cycle.
For me, shampooing once every 5 days turned out to be a great sequence. Unless I’ve been doing filthy work, of course. Then, I wash it immediately and return to my 5 day cycle after.
Trim the split ends
No matter what manufacturers of hair products say, there’s no good way to repair split ends. The best way to handle split ends is to trim them. Cut off the tips that are beyond repair and your hair will immediately look fuller and healthier. A hair dresser knows how to handle split ends the best. But if you prefer to do it yourself, make sure you use a very sharp pair of scissors. Blunt scissors will only damage your hair more.
Reduce heat
Heat exposure is bad for your hair. If you don’t want to damage it any further, you need to reduce the amount of heat you use on your hair. Do as little as you really need to do. Stop dry blowing your hair so much. Your hair is extra vulnerable when it’s wet. Wrap your hair in a soft towel instead, like bamboo towels or organic cotton ones. Don’t rub it dry, just let the wrapped towel absorb the water. Stop using heat-styling tools. And don’t use chemical treatments. Simply let your hair be whenever you can to avoid damage. Or use softer methods for styling, like curling your hair with foam rollers.
When you do need or want to use heat-styling equipment, make sure you protect your hair first. Cover your hair with a heat protector first. And set the tools on a low temperature instead of turning up the heat.
Moisturize and condition with food
When it comes to repairing damaged hair naturally, food is an awesome resource. You’ll be surprised how much you can do with everyday items and things you already have in your kitchen anyway. Avocado, butter, olive oil, tea, vinegar, egg, coconut oil, banana and mayonnaise. These are all great foods that can do wonders for your hair. If you want to deep condition overnight, wrap your hair in a soft scarf. Satin is the best fabric to keep your hair from damaging, but any soft fabric will do.
Avocado
Take an egg and a ripe avocado without the pit. Mash them up together. Wet your hair and spread the avocado-egg cream all over it. Leave it for at least 20 minutes before you rinse it a couple of times. To repair your hair, repeat it once a week. When your hair is healthy again, use it once a month.
Olive oil
The least processed olive oil, is the extra virgin oil. That’s the one you want for your hair. Warm up 2 teaspoons of olive oil. If you heat it a bit, it’s easier to use. Massage the warm oil through your hair, than comb with a wide-toothed comb. Put on a shower cap and let the oil soak in. Keep the cap on for at least 15 minutes. Or sleep with it, if you like. When you take of the shower cap, wash your hair and dry it. You can do this once a week.
Tea
Various types of tea can be good for your body and mind in many ways. Not just by drinking it. Tea can help you get beautiful shiny hair when you use it as a moisturizer. You brew the tea as normal and let it cool. Used your regular shampoo to wash your hair, than use the tea in between the shampoo and the conditioner or as a final rinse after the shampoo. You could also let the brew cool overnight, making it a much stronger tea. Tea is known to have an effect on your hair color. So if you’re a brunette, go for black tea. If you’re a blonde, try lighter herbs like chamomile.
Mayonnaise
A few tablespoons of mayonnaise can go a long way conditioning your hair. It’s especially great for dry hair. The oil in the mayonnaise can make your hair shiny again and moisturize it. You can use it as is: just rub it onto your scalp and work your way down from the roots to the tips of your hair. Leave it for about half an hour, than wash and condition as you usually do. You could add an egg to the mayonnaise to help clean your hair and seal in the moisture. You probably figured out that this can be a messy mixture and choose to wear an old shirt when you use it. To see lasting results, you need to use the mayonnaise treatment once a week for several months.
Moisturize and condition with natural products
If making your own food mash up is a step too far for you, you could always turn to ready-made products. Be sure to use moisturizers and conditioners made from organic ingredients or at minimum all natural ingredients. You’re not doing your hair and scalp any favors by using toxic chemicals. And the planet is better off without those too. Win-win. The same goes for products for hair repair: go organic and natural for the best results.
Moisturize your natural curls
Natural curls may need some extra attention. I love curls. And I love how more and more women of color are transitioning to natural hair. Just Nutritive has a line of natural products especially for natural curls and for transitioning to natural curls.
Lisa from Napturally Curly has great tips for women of color with natural hair. Read her blog post about moisturizing dull and dry natural hair for remedies to repair your curls. She doesn’t just share her own experience and advice, she also offers some awesome and funny hair t-shirts. Be sure to check them out.
When nothing works
The last resort. Yes, you feel it coming don’t you?! If nothing works for you or the damage to your hair is too much to handle, you can always cut it. Sometimes there’s nothing better than to cut your hair back into a short feisty coupe. Because after all, hair grows back. And it will be healthy and stronger than when you keep trying to repair it. Once you’ve cut it and regrow it, make sure you take better care for your hair than before.
When the repairing is done
Next blog post, I’ll share ways to keep healthy hair. After you’ve gone through all the trouble to repair damaged hair naturally, you’ll want to keep it in great shape. So get the Wasteless Planet tips and tricks to help you take care of your hair from now on: 25 eco-friendly ways to keep healthy hair.
In the mean time, let me know what works for you and how you repair your hair. Drop me a line in the comments below. I’d love for you to help out others with your best tips for hair repair.
Hello there, I am glad to have come across this post. My daughter has had problems with her hair and we have tried some other option which seem to be causing more damage. I will love to give these suggested natural steps a try and I truly hope it works out, because the other plan of cutting her hair wouldn’t go down with her at all. Thanks for helping.
I’m happy you see hope in this article, Chloe. It’s so tempting to throw expensive hair products at our hair problems. But in my experience, using all natural products give the best results in the long run. And they don’t need to be expensive, because you can do a lot with what you have in your cabinets already.
Cutting her hair should be the last resort. I fully understand that she wants to be sure she’s tried everything else first. Just know that it takes some patience, like I said to some other commenters as well. It takes time for hair, scalp and body to adjust to non-chemical, all natural products. But in a few weeks time, she should start noticing the difference.
She may still have to cut split ends, because that’s better for her hair anyway and it looks much, much better instantly. But I hope she won’t have to cut it completely and will be able to repair her precious hair. Will you let me know if it worked?
Wow, This is a really useful post and I must say it came at the right time. My girlfriend has been complaining about her hair and she also complained about some fake products she encountered. Her hair has been damaged and she’s been on the look out for things to use for her hair to get back to normal. I’ll share this article with her and I’m sure she’s gonna like it, because it is really going to help her with her hair and she’ll be able to know more about how to keep her hair using natural products. Thanks for sharing this article, I like it and its content is really beneficial.
Thank you, I’m so happy you like this article. I sure hope your girlfriend finds a way that suits her for making her hair look and feel good again.
Back to normal usually means, back to basics. And all natural products are the basics. It may take some time for her hair to adjust. When you switch from chemicals to natural, it takes some getting used to. Sometimes your hair feels worse for a little while, but that changes over time. She’ll need some patients. But in the long run, natural treatment makes your hair healthier, shinier and stronger.
If it works for her, I’d love to know which tips she tried. Wish her luck from me.
Whao! Am seeing many great way I can use to take care of my hair. I love pouring water on my hair despite being a natural hair, but I never knew too much shampoo can destroy hair. It is great that I know that now.
Is it ideal to use shampoo to wash, when it is time to remove the applied olive oil on the hair?
I also want to ask another question. Is it true that too much relaxer can turn hair into grey hair? Thanks for these tips on how to take good care of our hair.
Thanks for the compliment, Stella!
When you’ve put olive oil on your hair and let it soak for a while, your hair will be greasy. Most of the time, washing it with water won’t remove enough of the oil. So if you don’t want to walk around with slippery hair, you should wash it with shampoo. Just make sure the shampoo you’re using, doesn’t have the chemicals (the alcohols, sodium, sulfates, glycerin and silicons) that makes your hair dry, because then you’d have oiled your hair for nothing.
There are many things that make hair turn grey. Most of them are in our dna, though, and beyond our control. For instance: race matters, because the lighter your skin, the earlier you turn grey. But the environment can also play a role: pollution, the sun, stress, harsh chemicals. They can cause damage to the cells that form the pigment of hair and make you turn grey. That means, that if you use a harsh chemical relaxer, you’re not doing your hair any favors.
If you want to use less chemical relaxers, or even stop using them altogether, you might want to try all natural relaxers. There are even some homemade recipes for them. The website Black Hair Tribe has an article about it: Natural Hair Relaxers. Plenty of extra information and tips in there.
Thank you for your post. It is a timely article for me. Recently I am experiencing heavy hair loss without apparent reasons. I am busy and never bother to perform the investigations on my situations.
Here comes your article, it is an extensive review on hair health. Every item described in your article may be associated with my hair loss. I have been using shampoo and conditioner every day. I am going to follow your advice and use shampoo less often. I am also going to replace my current shampoo and conditioner with natural products. I am also going to supply food for my hair.
It is kind of you sharing this useful information with us. I am going to try as mentioned and will report back the outcome of my efforts.
It must be so hard for you to experience hair loss without knowing why. That’s a tough thing to go through. You mentioned you’re busy. Just remember that stress can be a reason for hair loss too.
I’m glad that you’ve found the tips you need in this article. And I sincerely hope that they work for you. But if they don’t, please talk to a doctor about your hair loss. Sometimes you need more than a switch of shampoo. I know, because my hair loss was caused by a thyroid disease. And there’s no shampoo in the world that can cure that.
I would love to hear from you again, to learn if you found out the cause and the ways to stop losing your hair. Good luck, I wish you a great head of hair 🙂
Ah, these are really good tips you have given here. My little sister has very bad hair. It’s painful, because we have spent quite an amount of money on the hair. I didn’t know that there are other natural ways to deal with the problem. Having read your post, we know now what to do. I will personally supervise her judicious use of some of this tips. After that, I will be back with a feedback. Thanks!
How sad for your sister, John, that she’s got hair problems. I hope with all my heart that she’ll benefit from these tips and from natural treatments.
She will have to be patient though. Sometimes, when you switch from chemical products to all natural products, it feels like it gets worse before it gets better. Your hair, scalp and body need to adjust to the transition. Sometimes hair might feel sticky, or look dull in the beginning. After a while, you should start noticing improvement: the hair feels cleaner, stronger and starts to get its shine back.
It’s not a quick fix. It can take a few weeks before the hair gets used to the new, all natural way. But I know I’m happy that I switched to organic and all natural. I hope it will work for your sister too.
Thanks for promising to let us know how she’s doing. I wish her beautiful, healthy hair.
Hair problems have been one re-occurring problem amongst so many people, especially those from 18 years of age till late 20’s. However when this problems occur, they often take some measures that damages the hair more, like adding some conditioners that aren’t really safe, and this is done often.
So far I have come to understand that organic products or natural means of treatments have been the best ways to handle these problems. I must commend the steps you have given here as to treat damaged hair. Also, I never knew avocado and tea can actually work for damaged hair. Can these measures be used for maintenance of hair as well?
We agree, Dane on organic and natural being te best way to deal with hair problems. Unless people have a medical condition, of course. They should consult a doctor first. But the most common hair problems are treated best with what this planet provided.
The tips for repairing your hair, also help to keep your hair in a good condition. So yes, it’s great for maintenance as well. But there are many more ways to keep your hair healthy. Check out 25 Eco-friendly Ways to Keep Healthy Hair. Because when you’ve repaired your hair, you want to keep it in great condition. So I’ll be giving tips to do just that in this blog post 🙂
Using food to repair my damaged hair? I would never have considered that option even in my wildest dreams. Thankfully here I am that I can gain so much information concerning the approaches to take to repair my hair. I always like natural approach towards healing my hair. I have tried some creams but nothing worked well so I decided to make use of an organic approach. Some nice tips and ideas here. Cheers!
Nature gives us a lot and we can use it in many ways. Isn’t that amazing?! Food can be medication, food can be a moisturizer, food can be emotional support and food can be just food 🙂
If creams didn’t work for your hair, keep trying with natural products until you find one that works well with your hair type. Organic might take a bit longer, but the results are usually better and long lasting. Good luck!
Mayonnaise works? Wow, that’s a first time for me. I’m pretty surprised to see a number of things on your tips here. I have been battling with some problems with my hair. I think it is because I shampoo my hair too often. I think all that will change now and I will try using tea too. Hopefully, I can get a fix to my hair. Thank you for the tips.
Hahaha, yes mayonnaise is the big surprise for many people. But the main ingredients in mayonnaise are oil and eggs. And together they are an amazing mix to strengthen your hair and make it shine.
Using shampoo too often truly is a big problem for our hair. The more often you shampoo your hair, the faster it feels greasy again or even dirty. And the more you want to wash it, again. It becomes an endless cycle. It takes time and patience to slowly change the frequency of using shampoo. And sometimes a bit of courage, because in our minds we think we are less clean (not true, of course, but sometimes we think that way). But if you reduce the frequency (and amount) of shampoo and replace it with a water wash, in a few weeks time you’ll start noticing the difference. It’s worth it.
I hope you’ll be able to repair your hair and make it healthy and strong again. Will you let us know when you notice improvement?
What an amazingly interesting article. I have learnt so many new tips, thank you. I never knew that leaving my hair unwashed for a couple of days was in actual fact better for it! I certainly learn something new everyday. I am definitely going to try and moisturise and condition my hair with our recommended foods – certainly food for thought!
I love your tips for colouring hair. I am certainly going to try out herbal tea to make my hair lighter.
Great for the planet. Great article.
Thanks so much
Thank you, I’m so glad you find these tips useful. Some things will take some getting used to, like not washing your hair that often. It takes time to let your hair and your scalp adjust to that. But if you’re patient, it will make your hair stronger and healthier.
If you want your hair to become lighter, you could also use lemon. Lemon juice is known for its natural bleaching effect. I hope you’ll share with us what happened after you tried the herbal tea or any of the other tips. Have fun experimenting!
Hello Bianca! Thank you very much for this thorough investigation on how to repair damaged hair. Personally, I use beer for moisturization and then I apply a green clay mask. You can’t leave the clay too long on your hair, only less than one minute. I did not know I could use, tea, though. Cheers! Anso
Hello Anso! Beer is another great moisturizer, you’re right about that. The proteins in beer help to make your hair stronger. And it gives your hair a beautiful shine.
The green clay mask was new to me, so I looked into that right away. Great tip! It’s supposed to remove toxins from your hair, cleaning it and give it volume. Sounds good to me 🙂
Wow! This is really awesome and I must say that I found this to be worthy of reading. I never knew that shampoo could have been a major reason for hair damage. I do shampoo my hair atleast three time a week because it makes it much more soft. Unknowingly I was the one who damaged my hair by myself. Thankfully I came across this article. I would consider all the tips you have shared on how I can repair my damaged hair naturally. Thank you
Thanks! I’m happy you picked up a few things from this article, Shelley. Checking your shampoo labels can help finding better brands that don’t damage your hair. If you try some of the tips, please let me know how they worked for you.