Man, my hair was straight up dead. Like straw dipped in bleach and fried under a hot sun. All ’cause I went a little crazy dyeing it platinum last summer. Big mistake. Ended up with this dry, tangled mess that broke when I just looked at it funny. Felt like total garbage every time I brushed it. Needed serious rescue, like, yesterday.
First thing I did? Panic. Grabbed every bottle in my bathroom labeled “repair” or “moisture.” Slathered it on, hoping for magic. Didn’t work. My hair just sat there, crunchy and sad, kinda like eating a dry cracker. Felt even worse.
Throwing Money Down the Drain (Phase 1)
Decided I needed heavy firepower. Bought one of those super intense deep conditioner packs they sell in fancy packets. You know the ones. Cost like five bucks for a single use. Followed the directions religiously:
Step 1: Shampoo like usual. (Already felt stripped and squeaky).
Step 2: Slap the thick goop onto my wet hair. Smelled nice, I guess?
Step 3: Wait 10 minutes. Wandered around feeling stupid with a plastic cap on.
Step 4: Rinse like crazy.
Result? Hair felt… slightly less like straw for maybe half a day? Then right back to crunchy central. Utter disappointment. That five bucks? Poof. Gone. Just like my hopes.
Actually Paying Attention (Phase 2)
Realized I wasn’t understanding the problem. Fried hair isn’t thirsty, it’s like a desert. Needed more than a quick drink, needed an ocean. So I changed my entire routine.
Stopped washing every single day. Seriously tough for someone obsessed with “clean hair,” but forced myself. Went down to twice, maybe three times a week. Way less shampooing meant way less stripping.
Ditched my regular shampoo. Found the absolute blandest, gentlest stuff I could. No sulfates, no nothing exciting. Just boring, cleaning-only shampoo. It felt weirdly inefficient, like it wasn’t “working,” but my hair stopped screaming afterward.
Became Best Friends With Conditioner. And not just the rinse-out kind.
- Leave-ins are LIFE. After squeezing out most of the water post-shower, I’d slather on a giant blob of creamy leave-in conditioner. Focused it smack dab on the ends and the worst middle parts. Didn’t rinse. Just let it soak in.
- Deep Treatments Became Weekly Church. Found a different, thicker conditioner tub (cheaper than the packets, thank goodness). Every Sunday night, same drill: Wash with the gentle stuff. Towel dry gently. Slop on an embarrassing amount of this thick conditioner. Seriously, half the tub per use? Maybe. Wrap it up in an old t-shirt (towels are too rough!). Ate dinner, watched a show – chilled for at least 30 minutes. Then rinsed in lukewarm water.
The Stuff That Finally Made a Difference
It wasn’t one magic potion. It was the boring routine plus consistency plus two cheap helpers:
- Argan Oil (Drugstore Kind). Tiny, tiny drop! Rub it between my palms until they look shiny, not soaked. Then gently smooth it only onto the very ends of my damp hair after the leave-in step. Stopped the ends from splitting like crazy.
- Wide-Tooth Comb ONLY. Banished my hairbrush. Didn’t touch my hair when it was wet. Let the leave-in conditioner and oil do their thing. Only combed it when it was dry, or very carefully while the conditioner was in during my long treatment. Started from the bottom, inch by painful inch.
Where I’m At Now
Listen, it took months. Like, more than two. It wasn’t overnight. There were days I wanted to shave it all off. But slowly, piece by piece, things changed.
The constant crunchiness faded first. Then the tangles got slightly less vicious. Then, about six weeks in, I actually felt something like softness at the roots moving down.
Now? It’s not pre-bleach perfect virgin hair. Never will be. But it feels like hair again! It moves. It has some shine. It doesn’t look like tumbleweed blowing in the wind. Brushing is still cautious, washing is still boring and infrequent, and I religiously do my long conditioning session every week.
Fixed my fried hair by basically babying it 24/7 with the blandest, gentlest stuff possible and being insanely patient. Zero magic tricks. Just stubbornness and conditioner mountains. It worked.
