How to choose the best shampoo for damaged hair

How To Choose The Right Shampoo For Your Damaged Hair

You might think your choice of shampoo doesn’t really matter when it comes to the condition of your hair. After all, shampoo simply cleanses the hair, while treatments, deep conditioning masks, oils and serums are what really ensure your hair remains as hydrated and healthy as possible. Right?

Well, actually, no. Using the right shampoo for your hair type, texture and condition is one of the most important parts of any haircare routine. The right shampoo not only works to cleanse strands, cutting through dirt, grease and general day-to-day build up, but it also helps keep your scalp in the best condition, too. Scalp health is so important if you’re trying to improve the health of your hair – it’s where new hair grows from, after all. If your scalp isn’t healthy, new strands aren’t able to thrive.

Picking the right shampoo is even more vital if your hair is damaged. Damaged hair is more fragile, meaning it’s more prone to breakage, fraying and splitting, but it’ll also be much weaker and harder to manage. By incorporating a shampoo that’s packed with good-for-hair ingredients means that you can nourish locks at every stage of your wash routine. But the real question is this: how exactly do you choose the right shampoo for damaged hair?

What is damaged hair?

First, let's go back to basics and establish what damaged hair is, and what causes it. Hair that is dull, frayed, hard to manage, and won’t hold a style or its natural texture can be considered damaged. The majority of damage happens to hair as a result of heat tools or having chemical processing such as dyeing, bleaching and highlighting. Exposure to extreme weather conditions and being heavy handed with a brush or comb can contribute to damage, too. Essentially, the smallest of things can cause preventable damage, so it’s important to remember that hair strands are incredibly fragile and not caring for them properly will really show.

How to fix damaged hair

There are a few ways you can fix damaged hair, from having regular cuts or trims to using heat protector spray before any sort of styling (Nexxus’s Prep & Protect Leave-In Spray is up there with the best). Incorporating regular deep conditioning treatments, wearing hair in its natural state more often and using targeted treatments are also all good ways of treating damage, but one of the easiest ways is to find a specialist shampoo that’s formulated towards your specific type of damage.

How to choose the right shampoo for damaged hair

This is perhaps the most difficult part because it requires knowledge of what your hair is lacking and what it might need in order to repair and restore itself. Is there a lack of moisture that’s making your hair dry, dehydrated and prone to snapping or breaking? Or is there not enough protein, which is causing split ends, rough texture and next to no shine? Maybe you’ve gone too heavy on the bleach and chemical treatments and your hair has zero volume, looks limp and finds it impossible to hold a style. So take a look at your hair, or try the Nexxus interactive hair analysis quiz. You’ll answer a few questions about your hair concerns and habits as well as what goals you have for your hair – based on your answers, Nexxus experts will recommend a customized hair care regimen perfect for you. Then read on for the best shampoos to improve the overall look and feel of damaged locks...

The best anti-hair breakage shampoo

Reinjecting moisture into hair is one of the best things you can do for hair that snaps, splits or breaks off easily. It’s zapped of hydration and lacking in the essential nutrients that make it long and strong. Nexxus’s Therappe Ultimate Moisture Shampoo is the product for you – it’s a silicone-free formula that contains a protein-rich complex to rehydrate each and every strand from root to tip, leaving hair nourished and moisturized.

The best shampoo for frizzy hair

The root cause of frizzy, unmanageable hair occurs when there’s damage to the outer cuticle protein layer, which happens to be one of the most essential parts of the hair. So by using a shampoo formulated to control frizz and weightlessly smooth hair is key – Nexxus’s Ultralight Smooth Weightless Frizz Protection Shampoo gently cleanses (without sulfates) to strengthen hair and fill in both holes and cracks in the cuticle to restore smoothness. It also works to block out humidity, which is a common culprit of unwanted frizz in damaged hair.

The best shampoo to repair damaged hair

Very damaged hair – caused by anything from coloring and chemical treatments to overdoing it on heat styling – should look to protein-rich shampoos that restore and heal each individual strand from the inside out. Nexxus Keraphix Damage Healing Shampoo ticks the protein box, and alongside its cleansing properties the formula is able to penetrate deep inside the hair fiber to begin the process of healing all of that visible damage. It’s infused with keratin protein and black rice for clinically proven healthy-looking hair from the very first use.