Hair damaged from tape-in extensions? Listen up. I’m sharing ALL my secrets to making my hair healthier than ever! I know many of us want long, luscious locks for summer, and if you don’t have them… lots of us turn to extensions. Now I don’t have anything against extensions, but last summer, I got extensions only to I literally rip them out a few months later… Along with clumps of my hair!! BIG mistake, but it happened, and I was left with thin, damaged hair that needed some major TLC. After some trial and error, I slowly discovered a regimen that took my hair from damaged to healthy! I’m sharing everything I used plus my current healthy hair routine if you’re in the same boat. Even if your damage isn’t from extensions (might be from heat products or over-processing) these tips still apply! Here’s how I fixed my hair:
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1) Olaplex treatment regimen: First things first, you HAVE to find a fresh regimen with products specifically catered to healing damaged hair. The Olaplex products (all listed out above!) are what really helped my hair and helped it go from dry and damaged to smooth and healthy. Remember, this isn’t going to happen overnight so have patience, give yourself lots of time, and allow your hair to repair and grow.
2) Halted use of purple shampoo & conditioner: My main focus was getting my hair back to healthy so purple shampoo and conditioner were a no-go. I didn’t want to add any additional chemicals that could potentially mess with my hair recovery so I dealt with a little brassiness.
3) NUTRAFOL vitamins: These were a LIFE SAVER. I was using the Olaplex regimen to help with the damage, but I had lost so much hair because I had literally ripped some of it out while removing my extensions. I needed help from the root! The NUTRAFOL vitamins are specifically made for thin hair and stimulate hair growth, and over time, new hair started to grow. It does take about 3 months to see progress so they won’t fix everything overnight, but it helped my hair grow faster a fill out a bit.
4) Gave it a chop: Once my hair GREW GREW GREW, it was completely uneven, so we chopped it. I love the look of long hair but when the ends are uneven and thin, for me, it didn’t have the desired look. So I decided to start fresh and give it a good chop! This made my hair look better for a few reasons… One, the ends were even and looked thick because of my new hair growth. And two, cutting my hair actually made it grow so much faster since the damaged ends were removed!
5) Maintained my progress: Since then, I’ve limited purple shampoo to every other week, have been consistent with my haircuts, and continued my vitamins and liquid collagen. I’ve really made it a priority to focus on my hair health and with these small adjustments, my hair is in much better shape less than a year later.
6) DON’T REMOVE YOUR OWN EXTENSIONS LOL!
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Now that I’ve gotten my hair to a better place, I’ve found my perfect regimen to maintain my hair health and color. I focus on using high-quality products for my hair type, and sticking to my regimen strictly! Another major PRO TIP: limit hair washing; aim for no more than once or twice per week. Trust me- this will make a huge difference!!! I know it can be difficult to only wash your hair once or twice a week but after training your hair I promise it’s easier than you think. If you want to learn more about how I limit hair washing, let me know in the comments! Now, here is my current healthy hair regimen…
1) Olaplex #3 once per week: Leave it in for 10 minutes and follow with the Olaplex shampoo and conditioner. This hair treatment is such a great product and always leaves my hair silky smooth. Make sure to only use it once a week though, as it has proteins for your strands that aren’t good to use every day.
2) Shampoo hair with a mix of Eleven Purple Shampoo (every other week) and Kevin Murphy Repair Me Rinse: As I mentioned, I limit my use of purple shampoo but I do use it every other week to eliminate brassiness. My trick with purple shampoo is to NOT use it at the same time as purple conditioner. I use the purple shampoo paired with a repairing conditioner to not dry out my hair.
3) Condition hair with Kevin Murphy Repair Me Wash and ELEVEN Purple Conditioner (every other week): On the weeks I don’t use purple shampoo, I stick to a purple conditioner paired with a repairing shampoo. Basically, I swap using purple shampoo or conditioner every week. But as I mentioned, pairing the purple hair product with a repairing hair product has made such a difference in my overall hair health and still successfully gets any unwanted brassiness out of my hair.
4) Prep hair with Aveda Bond Repair Styling Cream and WOW Dream Coat Spray: I try not to style my hair super often and rather do it once or twice during the week and make it last so I don’t use too many heat tools. When I do style my hair, I use these two products to protect it from the heat and make my style last!
These products and routines are what has worked for my hair, but keep in mind everyone’s hair is different! My biggest tip is to find what works for you and STICK WITH IT. Hair recovery does not happen overnight and will take time, so be patient. It took almost a year until I finally felt like my hair was looking and feeling good again, but now that it is, I take such good care of it! If you have any game-changing hair tips, let me know in the comments below!
