Quick answer: to treat dry, damaged hair, wash gently in lukewarm water, use a repairing shampoo and conditioner, add a weekly mask, strengthen weak hair with a keratin-style treatment, and protect it from heat. Insight's award-winning Damaged Hair range (Restructurizing Shampoo, Conditioner and Mask) covers everyday repair, and the Rebuild range is for hair that's snapping and needs extra strength. Split ends can't be repaired, only trimmed.
Dry, damaged hair feels rough, looks dull and tends to tangle, frizz and snap. The cause is almost always a raised or broken cuticle, the protective outer layer of the hair, which lets moisture escape. The way back is to restore hydration, strengthen the fibre and protect it from further damage. Here is how.
What causes dry, damaged hair?
- Heat styling without protection.
- Chemical processing such as bleach, colour, perms and relaxers.
- Over-washing or harsh, stripping shampoos.
- Environmental stress from sun, wind, hard water and chlorine.
Most damaged hair is a mix of these, so a good routine tackles both moisture and strength.
Step 1: Wash gently
Choose a gentle, repairing shampoo and wash with lukewarm rather than hot water. Avoid scrubbing the lengths and let the lather rinse through them instead. Restructurizing Shampoo, free from SLS and SLES, cleanses while helping to strengthen brittle hair; it won Best Professional Shampoo at the HAIR Awards 2018.
Step 2: Condition every wash, deep condition weekly
Follow every wash with a conditioner such as Restructurizing Hair Conditioner. Once a week, a hair mask replaces lost moisture and softens rough cuticles: try the Restructurizing Hair Mask for damaged hair or the Nourishing Hair Mask for hair that's mainly dry. Apply to damp, towel-dried hair, concentrate on the mid-lengths and ends, and leave it on for the full recommended time.
Step 3: Strengthen the fibre
If hair is snapping or feels weak, hydration alone is not enough; it needs strengthening care too. Insight's Rebuild range combines plant-based phytokeratin, which mimics the hair's natural keratin, with brown and red algae and organic avocado and pracaxi oils to reinforce weakened areas, improve elasticity and help prevent breakage.
Rebuild has been put to the test. In a cyclic fatigue test on bleached hair, strands treated with the Replenishing Shampoo, Replenishing Conditioner and Replenishing Thermal Care Serum withstood more breakage cycles than untreated hair. In a thermal test after repeated straightening at 230°C, treated hair also showed a higher protein denaturation temperature than untreated hair, a sign of a stronger internal structure. For very damaged hair, ask your salon about the professional Rebuild reconstruction treatment, developed with instrumental testing in cooperation with the University of Bologna.
Step 4: Protect from here on
Always use a heat protectant before styling, turn the temperature down, and trim split ends regularly. Once a strand splits it cannot be repaired, only removed. Our guide to split ends explains how to stop new ones forming.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best shampoo for dry, damaged hair?
A gentle, repairing shampoo that doesn't strip the hair. Insight's Restructurizing Shampoo won Best Professional Shampoo at the HAIR Awards 2018. If your hair is mainly dry rather than damaged, try Nourishing Shampoo from the Dry Hair range.
Can damaged hair be repaired?
Strengthening and moisturising care makes damaged hair stronger, softer and less likely to break, and it keeps improving as the damaged lengths grow out. Split ends are the exception: they can only be trimmed off.
How long does it take to repair damaged hair?
Most people feel softer, smoother hair after a few washes with the right routine. Hair that's been heavily bleached or heat-styled takes longer, and regular trims remove the most damaged ends as healthier hair grows through.
Is dry hair the same as damaged hair?
Not quite. Dry hair lacks moisture; damaged hair has a weakened structure and tends to snap. They often go together, which is why a good routine adds moisture and strength.
Shop Insight's vegan Damaged Hair range, the Rebuild range for extra strength, or Dry Hair for moisture. See the damaged spray working its magic here.
About the author
Charlotte Read has spent six years in the hair industry with Insight Professional and holds a First Class BSc in Business Management and Marketing. She writes with reference to real salons across social media and the wider Insight community, and draws on the Insight office team, who between them bring over 100 years of combined experience on salon floors.
Where technical expertise is needed, Charlotte consults Lorraine Matic, Head of Insight UK Education, who brings over 38 years of global experience in colour, technique and hair science.