How I Got My Over-Processed, Damaged Hair Back to Its Healthy Roots

I am a natural brunette, but I've been through my share of boxed dyes and foils between high school, college, and my early 20s. The first of my hair mistake downfalls was box dying my hair "Egyptian Plum," which made me look like a human eggplant.

Although the ends and baby hairs were as fried as burnt mozzarella sticks thanks to the coloring, straightening, and curling wands, I proceeded to do another dumb thing. I let the professional stylists do their work and went for an ombré effect, which looked beautiful, but under no circumstances did I want that girl cutting my damaged ends off. Long hair was everything in high school and college, even if that meant the ends looked terrible.

As my hair began to fade and become lighter, another beyond brilliant idea came to me. Let's go blond! Processing your hair SO many times causes so much damage, patchiness, dullness, and split ends that you cannot even imagine. It was bad. Blondes definitely don't have more fun. Bleached hair? Another fantastic decision from yours truly. On top of the damage already done, I was going out in the sun a lot since it was Summer. My hair got even more damaged, and I felt like my hair was done for. I needed help, immediately.

It was then that I made the decision to stop processing my hair. I dyed it back to my normal brown color and chopped it all off to a bob. I looked like a little boy and cried for a week, but it was worth it. My hair finally felt free again. I actually started using products to help my hair grow and certain shampoos and creams as well to make sure my hair would never get in that state again.

The first thing I did was get an all-natural oil for my ends and heat protectant for when I did use my wand or straightener. The second thing I did was switch to sulfate-free, color-safe shampoos and conditioners. Over the months, these changes in how I treated my hair greatly improved the growth and texture, and its healthier than it's ever been. A weekly conditioning hair mask has also helped my hair tremendously in promoting softer, silkier hair.