Have A Good Hair Day

10 Best Products to Repair Damaged Hair and Prevent Breakage

by 4 February 2025Categories: Have A Good Hair Day 0 Comment

95% of clients in my chair have struggled with damaged hair or breakage in some form or another. Whether it’s from bleaching, heat styling, or just general wear and tear; this is definitely not an uncommon problem. Luckily, there are plenty of products out there specifically designed to restore your hair’s health and integrity. So in this post, I’ve narrowed it down to the 10 best products that not only help to repair damaged hair, but will also help prevent further breakage from happening!

Throughout this post I’m going to share with you the types of products that you should be using. I’ll also list my favorite recommendations, but keep in mind that the type of product is more important than the brand itself. There are many great brands out there, and just because I haven’t listed them here doesn’t mean that they aren’t good options!

The best types of products for repairing damaged hair

When it comes to choosing products for damaged hair, good rule of thumb is to alternate between products that are bonding, protein infusing, and moisturizing. Each of these will deliver different benefits to your hair, and they’re all essential for the health and strength of your hair.

To learn more about these types of products and deep conditioners, see my post here.

***Since I’m sharing the products that I love to use with you guys, this page includes affiliate links to these products. If you take action and purchase a product through clicking one of my links, I’ll make some commission money from it at no extra cost to you. This enables me to be able to continue giving you awesome hair tips, so thanks! ***

1. Repairing Shampoo & Conditioner

First on our list is a repairing shampoo and conditioner. Now if you’re a blonde, you may want to consider a purple toning repairing shampoo and conditioner to also neutralize any unwanted yellow tones in your hair. This is what I personally do.

But if you’re not a blonde or you’re looking for something to use on the days that you don’t use purple shampoo, you’ve got some other options.

As I mentioned, alternating between bonding, moisturizing, and protein products is going to provide you with the best results for healing damaged hair. This will ensure you’ve covered all your bases and are delivering all the nutrients that your hair needs.

Bonding:

Protein:

Moisturizing:

2. Bonding Treatment For Chemically Damaged Hair

Next up we’ve got bonding treatments. Now bonding treatments rebuild the broken disulfide bonds in the hair that are typically broken from chemical services, but they can be broken from other means like heat damage as well.

This type of product is meant to be performed before you shampoo and condition, as it’s a chemical treatment and needs to be washed out.

As a blonde, I actually like to first wash my hair with a repairing shampoo, perform the bonding treatment, and then follow it up with my purple shampoo and repairing conditioner.

3. Moisturizing Deep Conditioner For Hydration

Next we’ve got moisturizing deep conditioners. It’s important to note that traditional conditioners will not penetrate as deeply into the hair as deep conditioners will, so this can’t be replaced by a traditional conditioner.

That being said, most of the time when you use these, you can skip your regular conditioner and use this instead. But always check the instructions on the individual product to see what the manufacturer recommends.

If you’re a blonde, you can also get a purple toning moisture mask to assist at neutralizing the unwanted yellow in your hair at the same time you’re delivering moisture. This is what I personally do!

4. Protein Mask For Repairing Damaged Hair

Number 4 is a protein mask. These will help to rebuild and strengthen damaged hair, since hair is made up of the protein called keratin.

Now even though protein treatments are essential to healthy hair, you do need to be careful not to over-do it here. It is actually possible to cause a protein build-up on the hair that can itself cause breakage.

This is why using reputable brands is important and always following their recommendations for frequency of use. So while you can do an egg white protein treatment from home, this isn’t going to be as customized for your hairs needs as a formulated protein mask will.

The mask below that I recommend will not cause a protein build-up on the hair. Just be sure to follow the directions on the bottle!

5. Cream Based Leave-In Conditioner (Best for damaged hair)

Cream based products will help to smooth the outer layer of the hair, deliver moisture, and reduce frizz. When hair is damaged, the outer layer of the hair is often left open or even missing. And when the cuticle of the hair is open, moisture can easily slip out of the hair because there’s nothing holding it in.

So to reduce excess dryness, you’ll want to use something that will smooth the outer layer of the hair down so it can better retain moisture.

They work well when used before blow drying to protect the hair from heat as well as improve manageability.

6. Spray Based Leave-In Conditioner (Best for finer hair types)

When it comes to leave-in products for treating damaged hair, lightweight sprays are generally best for those that have fine and thinner hair. These hair types will become weighed down with too much oil or cream based products.

These will decrease drying time, protect from heat, and increase manageability.

7. Oil Based Leave-In Hair Serum (Best for curly & frizzy hair types)

Hair serums and oils are best at combating frizz that accompanies damaged hair. When the hair is frizzy, the cuticle is often left open allowing moisture to slip out causing excess dryness. These products work phenomenally for curly thicker hair types that won’t be weighed down as easily.

Now that being said, I use both serums and oils on my fine hair. You just need to be sure you’re not using too much product that you’re weighing it down.

8. Thermal Protectant Spray For Preventing Breakage

Now even if you use a leave-in conditioner that has a thermal protectant in it, you still need to use another one before you iron your hair. The leave-in conditioner will protect against heat from the blow dryer, but you need a more direct spray before using an iron.

I always say that blow drying the hair is much better for it than ironing because it’s indirect heat, while ironing is direct heat and from much hotter metal. So if you’re going to use an iron, you need to use a specific thermal protectant beforehand to prevent hair breakage.

You can use one that improves iron performance, increases shine, or provides hold for curls.

9. Dry Shampoo

When you have damaged hair, it’s in your best interest to wash it less frequently to minimize drying it out further. Each time we shampoo, we’re stripping the hair of it’s natural oils. Our hair needs these natural oils to stay properly hydrated.

So the longer you can go without washing your hair, the better it is for damaged hair. The options I’ve listed below are in order of weakest to strongest.

10. Dry Conditioner

DRY-CONDITIONER-MADE-TO-SMOOTH-DAMAGED-HAIR

Dry conditioner is in my opinion the most underrated hair product on the market. Especially when it comes to damaged hair!

It smooths the cuticle of your hair reducing frizz, minimizing that grungy feeling from dry shampoo, and softens coarse and dry hair textures.

Conclusion

If you’ve got damaged hair or breakage, you’ll want to add these products to your arsenal. Incorporating each one into your hair care routine will help you to heal your hair, replenish lost moisture, and increase shine and managablility.

  1. Repairing shampoo and conditioner
  2. Bonding treatment
  3. Moisturizing deep conditioner
  4. Protein mask
  5. Cream-based leave-in conditioner
  6. Spray-based leave-in conditioner
  7. Oil-based leave-in hair serum
  8. Thermal protectant
  9. Dry shampoo
  10. Dry conditioner

Have hair breakage but not sure what it’s from? See my post here.

Leave me any questions you have on what types of products to use for treating your damaged hair in the comments section, and be sure to subscribe if you want to make everyday a good hair day!

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Laura Collins
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From hairstylist and studio salon owner of 10+ years to haircare content creator. My goal is to use all of my experience and knowledge from years behind the chair to help you make everyday a good hair day!

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