Fried hair: Condition it or Cut it off?

> Help! I have overprocessed my shoulder length hair by> coloring it with home hair coloring kits for the past> year. The ends are fried and the rest of it is dry,> brittle and frizzy. Every time I wash it I lose whole> handfulls hair. I have used Nexxus Humectrus in the> past and I'm wondering if it could repair my hair now.> My other alternative is to cut it into a chin-length> bob and start over. My question is this: Can damaged> hair really be repaired by a product or is it better> to just cut it off?It's hard to say without seeing your hair but damage can be rectified by conditioning. I had environmental damage caused by well water and the sun. Tho, I did cut a large amount of length off.. the rest of my hair was still very dry and needed something to nourish it. From this site and the Long Hair Site's email list, I learned about Aveda. It made a huge difference in my hair. I did many conditioning treatments with Aveda's Curessence leaving it on my hair for up to 4 hours at a time. I also used hot towels to heat activate the conditioning treatments. I did this for a couple of times a week for about a couple of months in a row and my hair is in wonderful shape now. I do not get split ends. But with naturally dry hair, I have to watch for things that will dry out my hair further. Now, I use Nature's Gate products and use Aveda about twice a month. This week I did one of my long conditioning treatments with Curessence. I put on a shower cap over my hair and left it on for as long as possible.. Usually about 4 hours into it.. I get really tired of having a plastic cap on my head. You can leave it on for most of a day if you can handle it. Results have varied with Aveda with different types of hair but I always get 100% satisfaction with it myself. good luck.. Cher~

Some types of "damage" can be repaired and some cannot. If your hair is just dry and frizzy you can probably fix it with intensive conditioning. On the other hand, breakage (when the hair strand is broken or split in the middle of the strand) cannot be fixed and split ends cannot be fixed. You can smooth them together which will make them look a little better, by smoothing the cuticle with silicone products, but once the hair is broken or split it cannot be mended and in order to get rid of it, it must be removed, ie cut. You are going to need to take a close look at your hair strands and assess exactly what type of damage you have. It is possible that just getting 2 inches of ends cut off and then conditioning the rest like mad will be enough. A possible program: Olive oil before every shampoo. Shampoo with a good moisturizing shampoo like KMS NEFA shampoo for chemically treated hair. Follow with a deep moisturizing conditioner, every time you shampoo. After gently towel drying, apply a good leave in conditioner like Phytotherathrie Phyto 9. Lay off the blow drying and heat styling and treat your hair very gently. This whole process is going to require a pretty extensive time commitment. I think the reason many people just have it cut off and start over is that it is just easier. I agree with Cher and Ally, you have to start using good salon products, no grocery store stuff. Also, you need to figure out what you have been doing to get yourself into this situation and stop. If you are bleaching your hair too much and getting too much overlap, you may need to go with a color closer to your natural shade, or have your color done at a salon where they can control the application. I firmly believe that anyone going more than two shades lighter than their natural color should have it done by a colorist.