With hair color trends constantly changing, there is no surprise that many of us are suffering from severely chemically damaged hair. When you add in heat-styling, tight hairstyles, and poor haircare routine habits, you’re sure to get stuck in a damaged hair rut. It’s important to understand the main causes and repair chemically damaged hair and that cab be through in-salon treatments that will help, and learn about an arsenal of the right products and tips to win your healthy hair back with a repair of chemically damaged hair. Here are the causes and tips on how to repair chemically damaged hair.

 3 major causes of damaged hair:

Here are the 3 main causes of severely chemically damaged hair

 Chemical hair dye

 Dying hair wrong and without taking proper precautions can strip your hair’s natural oils, leaving it dry and brittle. We recommend staying within 2-3 shades of your natural color to limit damage. Hair becomes chemically damaged when harsh chemicals used in perms, brazilian blowouts, hair color dyes and bleach attack the protective outer layer of your hair (the cuticle), leaving cracks in the exterior. For example, hair color penetrates the cuticle in order to access the cortex that changes the hair. The hair cuticle is the outermost part of the hair shaft, made up of dead cells. This layer protects your hair shaft. When your hair is severely chemically damaged, the cuticle wears away, exposing the cortex. 

Related Article: Tips for Coloring Hair at Home

Bleach

Drastically changing your hair from dark to light will cause damage if your stylist isn’t taking it slow with sessions over a period of time. When hair is bleached, UV rays and other environmental stressors will suck out all of the moisture in your strands, leaving hair dry and frayed.  Continuous bleaching is one more cause for severely damaged hair

Hot tools

If you’re using heat styling tools too often, avoiding a heat protectant, or if you keep the heat setting too high, chances are your hair will be more prone to breakage, especially if it’s colored. 

Learn how to identify severely damaged hair.

Signs of Chemically Damaged Hair:

• Lack of moisture through your mid-shaft to ends
• Dramatic change of thickness
• When wet, your hair feels more slimy rather than wet
• You can visibly see split ends (when the hair shaft splits into two or three fragments)
• Dulled shine
• Lack of elasticity
  • How to test: stretch a strand while it’s wet - If it breaks without stretching, that means there’s no moisture in your hair. You want your hair to be stretchy, which shows you have normal elasticity

Understanding the signs, here are key techniques to follow on how to repair chemically damaged hair

Treatments that will help repair severely chemically damaged hair:

Products that can help repair severely chemically damaged hair.

Pai-Shau Signature Hydrating MulTEA Treatment & Blow Out

 If you are experiencing dry, brittle hair, the Pai-Shau Hydrating Ritual Collection is a must. It includes the Replenishing Hair Cleanser, Replenishing Cream Conditioner (conditioner to strengthen hair), and the Supreme Revitalizing Mask (Moisturizing mask for hair) The Replenishing Hair Cleanser promotes healthy growth and leaves the hair feeling soft, silky and full of shine. The Replenishing Cream Conditioner will detangle your hair while adding shine and moisture without the weight. Lastly, the Supreme Revitalizing Mask will completely nourish and revitalize your hair. This hydrating mask gives volume and makes your hair feel soft and luscious. The icing on the cake to this perfect hydrating Pai-Shau MulTEA Treatment is adding in our Biphasic Infusion from our Enhance Ritual Collection to the ends of your hair. The Biphasic Infusion is an oil-free rejuvenating concentrate that contains a potent amount of our Signature Tea complex. This “Liquid Gold”  serum smooths, softens, enhances shine, protects and nourishes the hair. Use these treatment products to repair chemically damaged hair.

Keratin Treatment

 In most cases the extremely popular Keratin Treatment can help you repair severely chemically damaged hair. This smoothing treatment puts natural keratin into your cuticle to reduce frizz and add shine. Keratin also calms your texture making the maintenance of your hair a lot easier. Thus, you’ll be less tempted to manipulate your hair in other ways such as heat styling tools and tight hairstyles. We recommend this treatment for coarse, thick hair.

Tips on how to repair severely chemically damaged hair:

Key tips on how to repair chemically damaged hair

1. Avoid harsh products to the scalp, since that’s where healthy hair starts. When shampooing your hair, use chemically free products that are not so harsh and don’t have ingredients such as parabens and sulfates. Pai-Shau’s Replenishing Hair Cleanser promotes healthy hair growth because it has a combination of amino acids, vitamins, and minerals essential for restoring hair. This product removes build-up without stripping necessary oils, leaving your hair soft, silky and full of shine.

2. End your wash with a cool rinse. Cold water tightens cuticles and pores, which helps your scalp from drying out and prevents the natural oils from becoming clogged.

3. Use a hair mask in place of your normal conditioner once a week. Our Supreme Revitalizing Mask infuses your hair with weightless moisture and intense hydration. BONUS TREND: Apply this mask to your hair during the day and comb through. This gives you a “wet” look that’s super cute and will treat your hair at the same time. It’s a win-win!

4. Avoid heat-styling and tight hairstyles all together. Mixing both of these together on top of already chemically damaged hair is a HUGE no. Instead, embrace your natural hair. If you’re extra cautious for at least a year, you’ll see a dramatic change in the health of your hair. It’s a commitment, but well worth it!

5. Visit your stylist to cut all of the dead ends off in a timely manner. Sometimes, you need to chop it all off in order for new, healthy hair to grow. If you’re dealing with split ends or breakage, hydration will help immensely but you need a fresh start or those split ends will keep splitting.
6. Consistently seal the ends of your hair daily with our Biphasic Infusion --aka-- Liquid Gold. This oil-free daily treatment has the largest concentration of our Signature Tea Complex. It penetrates deep inside the cuticle to nourish the hair's structure, which attracts moisture and locks it inside.

All this pro tips can help you repair severely chemically damaged hair

So, that’s it! If you have any additional questions about Pai-Shau products or how to repair severely chemically damaged hair, feel free to reach out to us at info@pai-shau.com.

Have you ever wondered what unprotected heat is doing to your hair? When you heat-style your hair the wrong way, the keratin proteins that give your hair strength break down. The result is cracked and frayed cuticles. Also, the pigments that give your hair its color will change, vibrancy and tone will fade, and you will notice your hair losing its shine and becoming dull.

 If you don’t protect your hair from the dangers of heating tools, you will damage your hair. It’s important to take the right steps to make sure you’re protecting it, so we’re sharing some tips to keep your locks shiny and healthy.

10 Tips to Protect Hair from Heat

1.   Choose high quality tools: When shopping for a new tool, don’t get the cheapest one out there. Instead, look for tools that offer a variety of different heat settings. For hair dryers, we recommend using a professional brand from a beauty supply store. You’ll get stronger airflow and more power with less damage to the hair. When using curling irons and flat irons, find a brand that uses higher quality material like ceramic or titanium. Investing in good-quality tools is worth it in the long run.
2. Hydrate your hair: Using moisturizing products weekly will keep your stands healthy and less prone to breakage. We recommend using our Replenishing Hair Cleanser to wash and Supreme Revitalizing Moisturizing Mask for Hair to moisturize if you tend to style with heat often.  Replenishing Hair Cleanser contains amino acids and essential vitamins and minerals that deeply infuses hair with moisture and shine. Nourish your cuticles by using our Supreme Revitalizing Mask once or twice a week to further strengthen and moisturize your hair.
3. Protect your hair: Applying a heat protection spray for hair prior to heat styling is ESSENTIAL. We cannot emphasize that enough. Our Miracle MulTEAtasker spray, Something To BeLeave-In (daily hair moisturizer), smooths, detangles, and protects from pollutants and heat (up to 450F). This product contains our Signature Tea Complex, which is a blend of five steeped teas, each with their own purpose for the scalp and hair. These teas work together to insulate your hair from heat. Work this hair protector through your hair after you towel dry and comb through to evenly distribute.
4. Lower the heat setting: If you’re using quality heat-styling tools, then there should be heat settings that you can adjust. Just because the heat setting goes up to 400F, doesn’t mean you should use that much heat. Think about when water is over just 212F, it starts to boil. Can you imagine what this is doing to your hair without protection? The average heat styling tool goes up to 185-200-degrees.  If you have fine hair, we recommend staying around 180F. Medium to higher settings are okay for coarser hair. If you see steam coming from your hair while heat styling, that's a major indication that the heat is set too high.
5. Never use heat on soaking wet hair: Never, ever put heat to your hair immediately after you wash it. If you’re blow drying your hair after the shower, towel dry first and then wait at least 10 minutes. You can also wait until your hair is about 50-70 percent dry, depending on your hair type. Be extra careful by putting your blow dryer temperature low until your entire head of hair is dry and then going in with a higher heat where it’s needed most.
6. Regularly visit the salon: Get a trim from your stylist every 4-6 weeks. The ends of your hair are typically the most damaged from heat styling. When you cut the ends every month or two, you will continuously strengthen your hair. Talk to your stylist about any additional in depth tips on heat styling and protecting hair from heat. 
7. Limit how often you style: While styling your hair with heat may be part of your rouTEAne, try to limit yourself to only using heat 1-2 times per week. Cutting your normal time in half will help revitalize your hair back to health.
8. Use sections when styling: Creating sections will minimize damage by allowing you to control where you need the most heat. Sectioning out will also help manage your time so that you’re not rushing and being careless.
9. Work quickly: Keep the styling tool moving to protect your hair from heat. This avoids overheating any one specific section of hair. On average, you should only be in one section for 3-5 seconds.
10. Prolong your style: Use satin pillowcases or a satin cap while sleeping to prolong your heat style. This will lessen the amount of times you will need to refresh your hair during the week.

 By not following these simple tips and tricks on how to protect your hair from heat, within seconds, your hair can become extremely damaged, while repairing that damage can take a long, long time. That’s why it’s important to live in moderation when heat-styling your hair. Don’t over do it. When you have the chance to let your hair rest, air-dry! By working these easy hacks in your styling rouTEAne, you will notice reduced split ends and improvement in the overall health of your hair.

 Read this: How to Detangle Hair

“Wait, do I have to start washing my hair more now?”

If you’ve asked yourself that question during a recent 20-second hand-scrubbing stint at your sink, you’re not alone. 

Personal hygiene is one of our clearest bets for beating the coronavirus, which is leading many to wonder if the same hardcore washing routine implored for our hands needs apply to our hair. 

Popular Products for Daily Hair Routine

Here’s what we know right now about your hair’s potential involvement in the spread of COVID-19, along with some tips for how you can take extra care of your hair (and ultimately, yourself) during these challenging times.

Impact of COVID-19 on Hair Salons and Hair Stylists 

If you’re reading this post, there’s a good chance you’re already aware that coronavirus is hitting the hair and makeup industry hard. 

In about a week, we went from some people proactively canceling appointments as salons stayed open and increased their preventative hygiene measures to half the nation forcing salons and spas to close up shop indefinitely.

By the end of March, at least 229 million people across 26 states, 66 counties, 14 cities and one territory were being urged to stay home. “Shelter-in-place” and “stay-at-home” mandates are instructing people to avoid all nonessential businesses until further notice. And as much as many of us believe our hair appointments are essential, the government does not. 

It’s taking a significant toll on the more than 1.7 million people who work in the hair and nail industry. Some are willing to set up shop at home or come to your place for a cut and style to maintain their only source of income, but these types of interactions are still strongly discouraged in the name of social distancing. 

If you want to support your salon or stylist during these challenging times, consider shopping from their online retail store, buying gift cards for future appointments or sending a friendly tip rather than risking your health. 

Because in addition to the risk of socialization right now, your hair itself could also play a role in curbing or contributing to the spread of COVID-19.

Can the Coronavirus Live on My Hair? 

The short answer is yes. Or at the very least, probably.

Scientists’ understanding of COVID-19 is evolving in real-time, so there isn’t a definitive ruling on how long the virus could stay locked onto your locks or how common hair has been as a mechanism for its moving from one person to another. 

The CDC suggests the virus could stay viable for hours or days, depending on the type of surface. But because hair is more porous, the coronavirus shouldn’t be able to survive as long as it could on something smoother, like stainless steel. And because we don’t reach out and touch things with our hair quite as much as we do with our hands, it’s a significantly lower threat for coming in direct contact with the virus to begin with. 

Still, hair is a surface of some sort. And thanks to the “don’t touch your face” direction, we’re all pretty aware of how easy it is for us to make incidental contact with our head and hair.

Doctor Recommended: Daily Shampooing to Defend Against Coronavirus

That’s why several doctors recently recommended to Today that washing your hair belongs on the list of best practices for beating COVID-19. 

"Using shampoo, there are surfactants — charged molecules that will bind to dirt, to oil, to bacteria, to viruses — and get them off or kill them," explained Dr. Adam Friedman, the interim chair of dermatology at the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences. 

"Washing hair will prevent whatever matter is on your hair from being maintained."

Dr. Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, agrees. In that same Today article, he recommends people wash their hair daily during this coronavirus pandemic. 

How To Take Care of Your Hair During the COVID-19 Pandemic 

Wait a minute - daily cleansing? 

If reading that made you shed a tear somewhere inside for fear that shampooing every day will wash away all the hard work you’ve put into your hair so far, we understand.

Typically, most hair care experts recommend you only wash your hair only a few times per week to retain the scalp’s natural oils and avoid the risk of drying it out. 

But these aren’t typical times. 

Fortunately, there are still ways to keep your hair in good condition while keeping it corona-free.  

Here are a couple of quick tips to promote healthy hair growth that will leave hair soft, silky, and full of gorgeous shine, even during this time of duress. 

• DON’T: Wash your hair in scalding hot water

This will result in dehydrated hair and increase frizz and static. It’s alright to begin by rinsing with warm water, which will open your hair’s cuticles and allow products to sink in and do their job. But before you rinse them out, you want to switch to colder water to seal those cuticles back up with all the benefits your products provide locked inside. 

• DO: Use a hydrating shampoo and conditioner. 

You want to keep your hair hydrated and moisturized (yes, those are two different things) during this time of duress. 

Pai-Shau’s Replenishing Hair Cleanser and will not strip your hair of natural oils. Unlike other heavily-based oily products that have large molecules too big to penetrate deep inside the hair, Pai-Shau’s Signature Tea Complex uses smaller molecules in its formula, so it's able to provide deep cleansing power without disrupting any of your scalp’s natural oil production. 

• DON’T: Lather in the shampoo on the ends of your hair. 

This will only further dry out the ends. Instead, experts recommend starting your lather at the nape of your neck and working your way up to your hairline. To really get the most out of your cleanse, section your hair into parts and spend a few minutes scrubbing each section of your scalp.

• DO: Consider adding an oil-free serum to the mix. 

If you’re stepping up your shampooing frequency to be extra safe during the coronavirus pandemic, you might want to add in an additional product to help maintain moisture levels.

Using Pai-Shau Biphasic Infusion - a daily, oil-free hair serum rejuvenating concentrate with a potent amount of our Signature Tea Complex - will nourish the hair structure, attract moisture, and lock it inside. 

It also surrounds hair with a sheer veil of shielding properties to protect against environmental factors, which will prevent your hair from drying out.  

• DON’T: Brush your hair immediately after the shower. 

When you get out of the shower, your hair is extremely fragile and prone to breakage. The chances of doing more harm than good by brushing immediately will increase along with the number of times you’re cleansing each week. Instead, use a product like Pai-Shau’s Replenishing Cream Conditioner (an conditioner to strengthen hair) which detangles hair and adds shine without adding weight, after you cleanse. Following a brief towel dry, spray Pai-Shau’s Something To BeLeave-In all over. The “multeatasking” product is not only a leave-in conditioner, but also adds shine and protects against environmental pollutions.

Tea-Based Products Can Be Your Hair’s Best Friend During Coronavirus 

From healing to cleansing to beautification, the power of tea has been known since antiquity. Today, steeped tea leaves are second only to water as the world's most consumed beverage.

Naturally occurring vitamins and antioxidants make the tea leaves the perfect ingredient for beauty rituals, providing powerful purification and rejuvenation for hair, skin and scalp, courtesy of Mother Nature.

That’s why at Pai-Shau, we pack our Signature Tea Complex into every single product to give you intense moisture, lasting protection and beautiful hair. All Pai-Shau products are cruelty-free, vegan, colour-safe, keratin safe, gluten-free, paraben-free, sulfate-free and phosphate-free. Even the packaging is BPA free!

If you’d like to learn more tips for healthy haircare or shop our collection, visit us today at www.pai-shau.com. We’ll be donating a portion of all our sales during this time to aid in COVID-19/coronavirus relief efforts to Bethenny Frankel’s BStrong Foundation, in partnership with Global Empowerment Mission.