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Burn Notice: Fix Hair Damaged from Beauty Tools

Use hair straighteners and chemical processes? Chances are
that your hair is burnt! Here's how to repair your hair...

One of the many great things about summer is that its casual vibe allows you to wash and go, giving your hair a much-needed break from abusive heat styling. But when winter returns, most women bust out the hair dryer and flattening iron. "You're more likely to load up on treatments such as hair coloring and chemical straightening in the winter months�especially around the holidays," says Los Angeles�based hairstylist Michael Shaun Corby. Following are the two most common types of damage and simple steps for nursing your mane back to health.

Chemical Damage

Too many chemical treatments, like highlights and hair
straightening, sap strands of natural moisture, leaving them dull and brittle. "Chemicals penetrate into the hair and eat away at the protective lipid layer, which is what keeps your locks nourished and glossy," says Emily Overton, a principal scientist for Procter & Gamble.

How to heal:Do a steam treatment once a week to help open the cuticles and let your conditioner really seep in to rehab your hair, says New York City colorist Rita Hazan.

Here's how: After shampooing, apply a deep conditioner with protein and essential fatty acids to wet hair. Try Living Proof Restore Mask Treatment ($42, at Sephora). Microwave a big bowl of water for three minutes, then put on rubber cleaning gloves to prevent your hands from getting burned. Quickly dunk a medium-size towel into the bowl, wring out excess water, let it cool for a few seconds, and then wrap it turban-style around your hair. After five minutes, rinse.

Heat Damage

Hot tools such as hair dryers and curling irons fry off your hair's cuticles, the first line of defense against dryness, leaving the cortex exposed. The parched cortex is left no choice but to soak up moisture from the air to compensate, causing frizz. And if you continue using hot tools on damaged hair, it will become even more brittle and eventually break off completely, warns Overton.

How to heal: Prior to blow-drying, towel-dry hair (pat, don't rub) and spritz on a heat protectant with panthenol�it will help evenly distribute heat, and coat and condition areas that are already damaged and weak, says Overton. Try Pantene Pro-V Medium-Thick Style Heat Protection & Shine Spray ($6, at drugstores).

Then use a dryer with a powerful airflow, which reduces
styling time and minimizes heat exposure, and a nozzle
attachment to create a safe distance between your hair and
the dryer's piping-hot metal coil. Try Remington Fast Finish Hair Dryer ($28, at Target).

If you flatiron, go over each section just once, and turn
down the heat. Corby says 360�F is enough for fine hair; use 410�F for thicker strands.

10-Second Healthy Hair Test

Pluck a strand from your head and drop it into an eight-ounce cup of water. The faster and deeper it sinks, the less protein and moisture it has. If you hair floats, it's healthy.