How to have a great hair day without the damage

There’s something about a dramatic new hairstyle that makes you feel like a whole new person. Layered and feathered, bleached and dyed into any colour of the rainbow that your heart desires. We all felt the itch to experiment while being indoors and working from home. We brushed up on our skills with a curling iron to then make those hairstreaks really pop. Hair damage is not something we paid any mind. It was a problem for another time. Unfortunately, as we’ve all returned to the office, it has dawned on us that that time is now. 

Now that we have weddings, conferences and parent-teacher meetings to attend we no longer have the luxury of time to allow our hair to fully recover. Experts recommend staying away from tight hairstyles, heat tools and dyes. But while giving our hair some work event-worthy gentle waves using the ​​Philips thermoprotect hair straightener, we realised that in our world of appearances and first impressions, what worked better is to pick the right kind of products and adopt healthy hair habits. 

Your search for how to breathe life back into your locks and protect it from hair damage ends here. With easy-to-adopt tips, as well as our favourite hair tools and accessories that treat your tresses with the gentleness it deserves. 

Picking the right kind of heat styling tool

You don’t need to break up with your heat tools completely. It’s about finding the styling product that understands your hair’s needs, and the importance of hair health, while also allowing precision styling. 

You can get the best of both worlds – healthy hair and a glam look – with the Philips thermoprotect hair straightener. 

We’re partial to hair straighteners over other styling tools because you can create multiple looks with the same tool. Tight curls, beach waves, sleek and straight. And the Philips ThermoProtect hair straightener does all that with 30% less damage. Their ThermoProtect technology evenly distributes the heat which doesn’t allow the creation of any hotspots which can make your hair more vulnerable to damage. 

To sweeten the deal they’ve added keratin-infused plates, six temperature settings to choose from according to your hair’s needs and Ionic Care for a smooth, frizz-free hairdo. 

The Philips thermoprotect hair straightener has longer plates so you can get the job done faster and easier. And the best part? It has an auto shut-off mechanism. So on the mornings that you fly out of the house like a tornado, you won’t have to worry about potentially burning the house down. 

You really can’t go wrong with a ​​Philips product.

A nourishing DIY hair mask

Eggs, banana, milk and honey. We’re not talking about the breakfast options mama presented us with before we decided on dessert for breakfast and made cinnamon rolls in a mug (here’s how you can too). 

 This recipe is a power-packed smoothie for your hair. 

Enlist the help of keratin from honey, proteins from milk, hydration and moisture (as well as important minerals like potassium) of banana and vitamins A and E, biotin, and folate from eggs. Remember to mash the banana well before you blend all the ingredients together. Trust us, there’s no bigger test of patience than pulling out dry banana bits from your hair. 

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp honey

1 banana

1 whole egg

Method

In a small bowl mash the banana well with a fork before adding it to the blender. Whisk the egg in a bowl to mix the yolk and white and add to the blender. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend till it’s a smooth consistency. You can add some water or more honey to reach a smooth yet slightly runny consistency for the hair mask. 

Apply the mask from root to tip and leave up for 15-20 minutes before rinsing it out. Follow up with gentle shampoo and conditioner. 

 Make a wide-brim hat your new favourite accessory

We’ve been so busy slathering sunscreen on our faces that we forgot all about how UV rays can cause hair damage as well. Prolonged sun exposure can damage the hair’s outer layer called the cuticle. The cuticle is what gives our hair its shine and gloss. Lying below it is the melanin, the very same in our skin, that’s the source of your natural colour.

“Sun damage can come in the forms of discolouration, dry and brittle strands, broken or split ends, thinning and frizziness,” says dermatologist Wilma Bergfeld. 

“The sun’s rays act very much like bleach on hair,” adds Bergfeld. “Bleach reacts with the melanin in the hair and removes the colour in an irreversible chemical reaction. Bleach also damages the hair’s cuticle and protein, which is called keratin.”

What we’re then left with is a dry, frizzy jhaadoo that can be as difficult to manage as a toddler on an aeroplane (check out these tips from moms on how to ease the journey). Headgear, or more simply, a hat or a scarf to cover your hair with will be your new best friends in the fight against hair damage. A wide enough brimmed hat can protect both your scalp and hair as well as your face from the harmful effects of the sun. 

Make up with silicones

Silicones became that one kid in the neighbourhood that your parents would keep telling you to stay away from. They cause buildup, clog pores, made a hole in the ozone layer and sided with Thanos instead of the Avengers. 

There is truth in the fact that silicones create buildup. After all, the feather-light softness created by most hair conditioners is because of silicones.  But instead of a roadblock, think of it as a protective barrier created around the outer cuticle of your hair and external heat. The barrier also helps your hair retain moisture. 

“This protective barrier shields the cuticle from direct exposure, without preventing heat from penetrating completely, which mitigates the amount of damage the hair is exposed to while still allowing enough heat in to achieve the straightening effects. I understand that silicones have garnered a bad reputation for causing buildup on the hair. However, in this case, it is the buildup that is saving your hair,” writes cosmetic chemist Erica Douglas on Curly Nikki. 

So it’s time to make amends and bring silicone-based products back into your haircare routine. You can start slow with a heat protection spray or leave-in conditioner.

Don’t slack on your supplements

There was a time when a balanced diet would have been sufficient to maintain hair health. But as time went on, environmental stressors grew and the nutritional quality of ingredients depleted, supplements have become crucial for people suffering from vitamin deficiencies. 

“Our hair needs around 14 different nutrients to grow. Some of these can be derived through our diet, while for the others that can’t be derived from food, we turn to oral supplements for hair. This is to keep a check on deficiencies, which if not addressed, can lead to hair fall or other problems like dryness and scalp concerns,” says trichologist Dr Rigvita Raizaday of Jean-Claude Biguine’s Trica hair clinic.

Always consider consulting a doctor before including an oral supplement in your hair care routine to see what works best for you. 

You’ll want to include biotin, a coenzyme that plays a role in protein synthesis, including the production of keratin. Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant and prevents free radicals from damaging our hair. Iron, one of the most common nutritional deficiencies to keep in check is iron, a key suspect in hair fall. Vitamin D helps stimulate hair follicles, both, new and old, and vitamin A doesn’t just promote cell growth and differentiation, but also aids the production of sebum or natural oils which keep the scalp moisturised. It also prevents hair breakage.