Dry, damaged hair can be frustrating to deal with – particularly if you are unsure of the cause, how to fix it or how to prevent it. Here we will provide you with the ultimate guide to dry, damaged hair from the causes, how to repair damaged hair using natural remedies and lifestyle changes, and finally how to prevent your hair from becoming dry and damaged in the future.
What causes dry, damaged hair?
Before we delve into our comprehensive guide for how to repair damaged hair using natural remedies, you must first understand the causes. There are three main causes for dry, and damaged hair: your hair care habits, environmental factors, and medical conditions. You can explore these a little more in-depth below.
Hair care habits
Whilst we all love to style our hair – and enjoy putting together the most trending updos – there are a number of hair care habits that can adversely affect your hair and lead to dry, damaged hair. These include:
- Over-washing your hair
- Brushing your hair too often
- Neglecting to use heat protection when styling your hair with curling irons and straighteners
- Washing your hair with water at too high a temperature
- Regularly coloring your hair
Environmental factors
A number of factors beyond your control in the environment around you could also be the cause of your dry and damaged hair. These include:
- Dry, cold weather
- Windy weather
- Regularly swimming in chlorinated and/or salty water
Medical conditions
There are a few medical conditions that could be the cause of dry, brittle hair. If you are concerned that this may be the cause of your own issues, please seek professional medical advice. These conditions include:
- Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa
- Thyroid conditions such as hypothyroidism
- Menkes syndrome which is a rare genetic condition affecting around 1 in 35,000 live male births
Lifestyle changes
If you need to repair damaged hair, we recommend you start by making a few lifestyle changes.
- Make sure you are using the correct products for your hair. Using products that are not designed for your hair type is a recipe for disaster and could lead to your hair becoming unmanageable and damaged. Do a bit of research and don’t be afraid to spend a little bit more to ensure that you have the best products to take the best care of your locks.
- Give your hair a break from heat styling. You may love to grab your straighteners or curlers and give your hair a bit of heat styling, but if you’re used to doing it every day it may be time to give your hair a break. You should try to limit your heat styling to no more than twice a week. As an alternative to heat styling, why not give following our guide to make your hair silky and straight naturally a go?
- Change up your diet. What you eat has the ability to aid in the health of your hair, just as a healthy diet aids your immune system and more. A healthy scalp needs zinc, iron, vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids. To ensure you get the nutrients you need, take care to include nuts, eggs, seafood, chicken, tofu, dairy products, soybeans, oranges, and leafy vegetables in your diet.
How to repair damaged hair with natural remedies
Read on to discover our easy guide to repairing damaged hair using natural remedies. We recommend using one of the natural remedies that we will share below at least once a week to help you glean the benefits and repair your hair. Here are our top natural remedy choices:
Olive oil
Olive oil is an all-natural product that is great for deep conditioning your hair and sealing your cuticles with moisture. It is full of fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamin E and is super easy to use. Here are four simple steps to use olive oil on your hair:
What you need
- A saucepan
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- Towel
How to use an olive oil mask
- Heat the oil. Start by heating the olive oil until it is warm, but not too hot to touch. Take care when checking the temperature as you don’t want to burn yourself.
- Massage the oil into your scalp. Be gentle and take care to apply it only to your scalp.
- Cover your hair and leave it to work. Place a towel over your head and leave the olive oil to soak on your scalp for around 30 minutes.
- Wash your hair. Whether you need to wash long hair or wash short hair, this step is simple. Use a good quality shampoo and conditioner to rinse the olive oil from your hair now that it has done its job.
Avocado
Avocado isn’t just great on toast – it can be a fabulous option to help you restore hydration, flexibility, and luster to your locks. This delicious fruit is full of minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids – making it a perfect natural remedy for repairing dry, damaged hair. Here’s how to use an avocado paste to heal your hair:
What you need
- Ripe avocado
- Egg
- Water
How to use an avocado mask
- Mash the avocado.
- Add an egg to your mashed avocado and gently mix until they combine to create a smooth paste.
- Using cool water, wet your hair.
- Apply your avocado paste to your wet hair.
- Leave the paste to work for 20 minutes.
- Rinse your hair thoroughly with clean, fresh to remove all traces of avocado paste.
Aloe vera
Aloe vera juice contains enzymes, amino acids, and vitamins C and E – making it a fantastic choice to help your dry, damaged hair. This natural remedy is also one of the simplest choices. Here’s how to use aloe vera to soothe your hair shafts:
What you need
- Aloe vera juice
How to use aloe vera juice
- Apply aloe vera juice directly to your head – including your scalp and hair.
- Ensure that you pay particular attention to any areas of your hair that are the most damaged.
- Leave the juice for between 10 and 15 minutes.
- Use warm water to rinse off your hair.
Black tea
Black tea is full of antioxidants and creating a rinse for your hair is an easy natural remedy to help dry and damaged hair. You don’t need long to get your black tea rinse to work, so here are our 8 simple steps to use black tea to repair damaged hair:
What you need
- 3-4 black tea bags
- 2 cups boiling water
- Funnel
- Spray bottle
- Shower cap
- Cold water
How to use a black tea rinse
- Add the black tea bags to the boiling water.
- Leave the tea bags in the water for a minimum of 1 hour.
- Using the funnel, pour the tea into your spray bottle.
- Use a shower to wet your hair, taking care to get it damp – not soaking wet.
- Spray your black tea liberally over your hair. You should pay particular attention to your scalp.
- Gently use your fingertips to massage the tea into your scalp.
- Cover your head in a shower cap and allow the tea to for at least 30 minutes.
- Use cold water to rinse the tea from your hair.
Coconut oil
Coconut oil is made up of a fatty acid called lauric acid which creates a structure perfect for penetrating deep into the hair shaft, therefore, offering a great deep-conditioning effect when used to treat dry, damaged hair. Here’s how you can use coconut oil to moisturize your hair:
What you need
- A saucepan
- Coconut oil
- Tea tree oil
How to use coconut oil
- To start with you must heat the coconut oil in a pan to soften it.
- Add a couple of drops of tea tree oil and mix them together.
- Apply the mix to your scalp.
- Gently massage your scalp for 5-7 minutes.
- Leave the oil mix on your head for a minimum of one hour.
- To reap the maximum benefits from the coconut oil, wrap your head in a scarf and leave it on overnight.
- If you do not wish to use coconut oil, you can use the same steps to mask your hair with jojoba oil instead.
Apple cider vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is a natural remedy that not only offers antimicrobial properties, it also helps to balance the scalp’s pH which will help to restore your scalp’s natural oil production. This will in turn help to relieve the dryness of your scalp. Here are 5 easy steps to use apple cider vinegar:
What you need
- 2-3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Water
- Cotton balls
How to use an apple cider vinegar rinse
- Dilute the apple cider vinegar with water to create a rinse solution.
- Dip the cotton balls into the rinse and dab it onto your scalp.
- Using your fingertips, gently massage the rinse into your scalp.
- Leave the solution to work on your scalp for around 10 minutes.
- Finally, use cold water to thoroughly rinse all traces of apple cider vinegar from your scalp.
Also read: How Apple Cider Vinegar Help You Lose Weight
How to prevent dry, damaged hair
If you want to stop your hair from becoming dry and damaged in the future, we’ve got you covered. Here are our top five steps to prevent dry and damaged hair:
Get regular haircuts
A fresh cut will help to keep your hair healthy and prevent damage such as split ends.
Don’t wash your hair every day
Washing your hair daily strips your head of its natural oils, which can lead to dryness. Washing your hair less can help to protect it.
Wear a hat when outdoors
Protecting your hair from the weather – be it UV in the sun’s rays or the cold winds of winter – is a great way to prevent unwanted dryness and damage to your hair.
Turn down the temperature of your shower
Hot water can scald and damage your hair, so an easy way to protect and prevent damage is to have a cooler shower on the days you wash your hair.
Wrap your hair after washing.
If you usually use a blow dryer, try swapping this for a hair wrap to naturally dry your hair. This will help to prevent too much moisture from being removed from your hair and scalp.
Final Words
There you have it. With just a few simple steps and ideas, we’ve shown you how easy it can be to repair damaged hair and protect it from becoming dry and damaged in the future. So many natural remedies are available to help you with your dry, damaged hair – it’s just about choosing the one that works best for you.
Medical Disclaimer: All the content available on the website is just for informational purposes. It’s not a substitute for any Professional advice. Don’t take it personally. As a medical student, I’m just trying to use my information through my content, and please keep in mind it’s not written by a professional doctor. Use the data just for educational purposes.
I have a Bachelor’s degree in medicine and am presently working at a renowned hospital in California. I used my leisure time to share my expertise with others through my blog. In addition to my work in healthcare, I like reading fiction and enjoy writing posts a lot. I want to use my writing to help the health sector on my blog site. You’ll get exclusive informational content about health & Fitness.