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How To Care For Treated Hair With Chemicals

Chemical hair treatment is often the only way to achieve a certain result, but it is widely known that procedures such as color treatment, hair perming or straightening do a great deal of damage to your precious locks. There is however something you can do to restore your hair's health and maintain your new style or color.

Here are the basics of what you need to know about the most common chemical treatments:

How To Care For Colored Hair

The alkaline products used in the coloring process (like most chemical treatments) lift the cuticle layer of the hair and leave it more porous then it is in a normal condition. This is needed for the color molecules to penetrate the hair shaft and to actually color the hair. Although the coloring is successful, the hair is still with raised cuticles. This is the cause for most hairs to feel rough and breakable after coloring. This process has also dried your hair a lot, so it is essential to reseal the cuticles in order to not only protect your new hair color, but to stop moisture loss and regain that silky smooth feel of your locks.

This can be done by using a moisturizing cream conditioner
after dyeing. The hair conditioner moisturizes the hair and
restores the cuticle layer's normal condition. You should by all means do that if you plan to use bleaching agents to
lighten the hair prior to the coloring procedure.

If you have chosen to color your hair in red or golden
shades, you probably already know how these vibrant colors
tend to lose their richness and brightness faster than other hair colors. In this case you'll need some extra protection. To keep your new color as long as possible use both color-enhancing/color-preserving shampoo and conditioner.

It is also recommended to deep condition your dyed hair once a week, to fully restore its moisture and compensate any damage from daily styling.

How To Care For Straightened Or Permed Hair

Dyeing is not the only procedure that involves chemical
treatment. Chemical straightening and permanent wave services are the other most common treatments that can greatly damage your hair's structure. Moreover, they often tend to be more aggressive than any hair coloring and leave the hair more porous and vulnerable. Thus you need to take care of your straightened/permed hair even more. Needless to say it's a killer combo if beside chemical texture services you also color your hair.

If your hair is very damaged, you'll have to apply a protein-rich hair mask or conditioner to enhance your hair's structure, moisturize it and bring back its strength and elasticity. After that you'll need to apply a good smoothing serum to seal the cuticle layer and make your hair as smooth and silky as it was before the texture service. We have already said that sealed cuticle layer keeps the moisture in.

As for the shampoo � it should be very gentle. If you can't
find a color-preserving shampoo, a baby shampoo is always a good alternative. Don't shampoo your hair too often though � no matter how moisturizing your shampoo is, drying is inevitable and provokes over production of sebum. Thus use a shampoo only when hair is soiled. To hydrate and refresh it you can just apply rinse-through conditioner and use plenty of water to wash away.