Do you believe damaged hair can truly be repaired?

[Caramel Jewel]

Is is a marketing ploy to get consumers to purchase more products or do these things really revert the hair back to a healthy state... If someone relaxes their hair, there isn't a product on the market that would turn it back natural again so how could a product repair damaged hair....

 

[Kay.Dee]

I don't think so.
I don't get it when I see products that claim to mend split ends, or anything that claims to fix mechanical damage/rough handling. How is that biologically possible? I think they may possibly make the problem less noticeable and easier to deal with.

 

[msa]

I don't think damaged hair can truly be repaired, but I do think it can be patched up. No product can regrow the cuticle layers or un-break broken bonds, but it can fill in the holes and make it less likely for the damage to cause breakage or get worse.

 

[Your Cheeziness]

I read on some chemist's blog that hair can be repaired in about 2 years. I wish I could remember where I saw that. Idk, if that's true I don't even think I could stand to look at damaged hair for 2 years before it gets right. I'd just cut it off and grow it back right.

 

[charmtreese]

I do not believe that hair that is damaged can be repaired. Damaged hair can be treated and maintained to appear healthy and to withstand further damaged, but not repaired. Severely damaged hair, hair that is split, frayed and/or hopelessly breaking can not be repaired. However you can grow your severely damaged hair out and trim little by little. This is the route I took. My hair was damaged pretty much from root to end. I tried to save the strands but in the end the damage was just too bad.

 

[ajacks]

I think that some damage can repaired. This is not based on any scientific proof, just my opinion..lol

 

[mahogany_horizons]

I don't think damaged hair can truly be repaired, but I do think it can be patched up. No product can regrow the cuticle layers or un-break broken bonds, but it can fill in the holes and make it less likely for the damage to cause breakage or get worse.

I CONCUR WITH THIS AS WELL.

 

[Neith]

I picked "Oh hell to the no"

Don't get me wrong. If you have damaged hair, you can GREATLY improve how it looks/feels/behaves. You can even have damaged hair that SEEMS healthier than someone without any damage.

Protein treatments, moisturizers and other goodies do nourish the hair, but on damaged hair they don't actually repair it.

There is nothing on this planet that can make your cuticle like new. There is nothing that can put the right type of protein back into your hair in the same configuration as it was before the damage.

You can make it much better by keeping it strong and hydrated, but the damage has been done. Again, this is not to say that mildly damaged hair can't be "healthy".

I'm just saying that the physical damage is not gone.

 

[sareca]

I tried for years and years to save my damaged hair. I used every "split end mending product" on the market. They basically temporarily glue damaged ends back together. The "repair" isn't permanent and the resulting hair was frizzy, lacked luster, was rough to the touch, and tangled like no tomorrow. It also kept getting thinner and thinner as my hair got longer. In the end, I decided keeping length that looked like that wasn't worth it and chopped it.

It's like breaking a nail then using one of the nail mending polishes to keep it from completely falling off... it's fragile, it looks bad, and it's gonna fall off eventually.

 

[pisceschica]

Is is a marketing ploy to get consumers to purchase more products or do these things really revert the hair back to a healthy state... If someone relaxes their hair, there isn't a product on the market that would turn it back natural again so how could a product repair damaged hair....

No I do not believe any of that. If your hair or ends are severely damaged the only real way to get rid of the problem is to cut them off and start over fresh.

And no if someone relaxes their hair it is a permanent change that cannot be reversed, its permanent.

 

[CenteredGirl]

Many folks confuse dry dry hair with damaged hair. Dry hair can be
Resuscitated whereas the cuticle on damaged hair is officially BUSTED.

 

[carib_n_curly]

you can help it to a certain degree but if your hair is really damaged it won't be as healthy as it could be BUT you can help it look better.

i guess some products can stop the damage from letting your hair fall apart. most of the products are temporay fixers but it will never get rid of the damage.

i know i will have to cut off my splits there is no product that will glue it back to together but temporarly patches it up

 

[sqzbly1908]

I don't think damaged hair can truly be repaired, but I do think it can be patched up. No product can regrow the cuticle layers or un-break broken bonds, but it can fill in the holes and make it less likely for the damage to cause breakage or get worse.

I have to concur with MSA - you cannot bring the dead back to life. However, there are products out there that will seal and provide the "appearance" (temporary fix)of mended hair but until it is cut off it will remain damaged hair.

 

[MrJohnsonsRib]

Damaged hair can't be repaired only temporarily patched til you cut it.

 

[spinspinshuga]

I wish it could! But like others have stated, I believe you can only temporarily improve the appearance or make some minor improvements, rather than an actual repair.

 

[Misseyl]

Nope, the only thing you can do with damage hair is cut it because if you don't, eventually it will break off and leave you with splits or uneven ends.

 

[Nonie]

I concur with Msa.

Damaged hair RIP:

Hair of a newborn that is perfectly healthy, cuticle smooth, scales flat/closed:

Normal hair that has minimal cuticle tear from combing but scales still intact:

Good hair practices such as conditioning and coating this hair to prevent friction damage, as well as handling it with TLC can keep it looking healthy and prevent it from getting to the stage of the first pics.

Pics borrowed from http://www.pg.com/science/haircare/hair_twh_79.htm

 

[PinkSkates]

Yes ,...it can be repaired with a sharpened pair of hair-cutting shears.

 

[glamazon386]

It depends on how bad the damage is. I do believe that at some point hair had been damaged beyond repair. Then the hair needs to be cut off and you need to start over.

 

[Lanea87]

I think maybe some damage like a lil heat or something can be fixed a lil. But like split and fried hair, I say NO.

 

[achangedlife]

Last week I started using Optimum Salon Repair line, my hair is the strongest and softest it's been since one stylist overprocessed my hair in may, and another underprocessed the left side in september. I lost quite a bit of hair from both relaxers and had to cut some off. Most of my hair is still thin and fragile, particularly the ends. Sometimes I could hear the ends snapping when I do a wet set. I did my own relaxer last time and did a better job then both stylist but I was still having a difficult time with some of the underprocessed areas.

Since using this line, my ends don't snap anymore, and my underprocessed areas no longer feel dry and brittle. When my hair is wet it is still obvious to see how thin it is compared to the new hair and it will never go back to it's pre-relaxed state but I'm confident that it will stay on my head till I decide to cut it off.

 

[that_1_grrrl]

I so don't know. I get really confused as to what people mean by damaged hair. Is it hair that has sustain a lot of stress from heat and chemical processing without the proper nutrients or is it hair that isn't healthy?

I would have said my hair was damaged before I came to LHCF because I never moisturized it, but I think my hair has been repaired. At the same time, I can't see what my cuticle actually looks like. It could be all broken and crappy looking.

So, I'm going to stick with I do not know. I think it may have to do with kind of damage and how much damage.

It also depends on the definition of repaired.

 

[Whimsy]

You can definitely repair damaged hair. Split ends, no. But heat damage, dryness, inelasticity... that can be fixed with proper care.

 

[SEMO]

I think damaged hair can be made to mimic healthy hair in external looks, but it can't truly be made into healthy hair.

 

[Patricia]

Living proof. Just cut the damage hair off and keep it moving

 

[Maksi]

You can definitely repair damaged hair. Split ends, no. But heat damage, dryness, inelasticity... that can be fixed with proper care.

This rings true to me. Think about a broken leg. Can the doctor fix it? Yes! Will it be the same as before it was broken? Probably not, but it will be repaired. It does depend on the degree of damage.
See definition from Websters:
Repair: "To restore to good or useable condition; to rectify or make up for"

 

[Priss Pot]

I think it depends on the extent of the damage.

I've seen some damaged hair that was rough looking and very stringy, and IMO no amount of protein or moisture can repair that stuff. It's best to just hack off the damaged parts and maintain the healthy part that you do have remaining. Don't waste all of your hair products on damaged/wrecked length that won't benefit.

 

[mscocoface]

Damaged is dead and stinkin gone, let it go and move on.

 

[CAPlush]

I think it can be managed but it is a lot of work. If it is truly damaged meaning it is overprocessed or heat damaged, I think it would be damaged forever.

 

[Nonie]

I don't think heat damage falls under "damage that can be fixed". And I don't think loss of elasticity or dryness can be termed "damage". This is what heat damage looks like:

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]
The hair has literally been fried by heat, and then burst open
[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]A heat-damaged hair seen under the microscope[/FONT]

http://www.pg.com/science/haircare/hair_twh_75.htm

Trying to use the analogy of a broken leg is like trying to put a cast on every strand and hoping the cells would behave as they do in wound healing and fix the hair. Not sure that would ever happen.

Another way to look at it is to singe a hair or any protein with heat and see the change you get. Not sure how you can reverse that.