Kinks in Hair

Hair with kinks
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Q: Before I started dying my hair, I had medium thick hair. When I blowdried my hair and would lay on it, it would still be perfectly straight, no kinks. I then started dying my hair, and it got a bit dry because I wasn't aware of how to take care of it well.
 
Now it seems to be thinner, it breaks a bit even though I use shampoo/conditioners that help restore damaged hair. And now when I blowdry my hair, I'm left with kinks in it after I lay on it and now have to resort to flat iron it as well. My hair is also black, and I can't get it to my natural color without ruining it again. I've tried everything I could think of, what else can I do to get all that back?
 
A: Chemical services for the hair (even color services) can alter the texture of the hair. They can also change the way the hair responds to otherwise everyday treatment. The hair can become more or less responsive to styling, more susceptible to damage, and less resilient all around.
 
The key to restoring your hair to its "natural" state is going to be a matter of caring for it properly. If you want to return to your natural color, I recommend you switch from permanent hair color to demi-permanent color. The demi-permanent color will last you from 8-12 shampoos and depending on how often you shampoo, may only need to be reapplied as often as you would normally have performed a color retouch with permanent color.
 
The reason for this is to allow you to grow out the permanently colored hair, without having the glaring difference of the colored versus non-colored hair.
 
You also want to make sure that you are conditioning the hair properly. Hair should be shampooed only when it becomes dirty. However, it needs to be conditioned daily. In fact, using a rinse-through conditioner is generally sufficient to remove the daily accumulation of dirt and oils for most people, unless they are employed doing heavy physical labor or in contaminating environments (restaurants around fryers, in dusty worksites, etc.).
 
Following these steps should give you healthy hair that depending on your hair's length will grow out to your natural color sooner than you think.
 
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See also:
 
Hair coloring
 
Hair care tips and advice
 
Hair coloring, hair texture and hair density
 
Is daily washing bad for your hair?