An Expert Guide to Hair Repair

Split ends, excessive tangling, brittle texture, or persistent frizz can all be signs you need to check in with the health of your hair. Damage can occur for various reasons, including environmental factors, stress, and hormonal changes. But often, it’s the regular habits we take for granted—brushing, over washing, heat styling, and chemical treatments—that can really take a toll on our tresses.

To better understand how to spot damaged hair and the effective steps to nurse it back to health, we sought the expertise of Maria Sotiriou, a seasoned stylist and co-founder of Silke London.

Identify the Damage

“Unhealthy hair is either one or both of these things, dehydrated or lacking in protein,” explains Sotiriou, who believes identifying hair damage is the first step in correcting it. “Dehydrated hair is when the hair is lacking in moisture. It tends to feel dry, brittle, and has little movement or flexibility when styled. When the hair is dehydrated or dry it is prone to breakage, which can lead to the unwanted snapping and snagging of your lengths.”

She continues, “Protein loss, or otherwise described as broken bonds, is identified by the hair being limp and a loss of elasticity. We talk a lot about elasticity when it comes to bleaching and colouring, but any hair type or texture can suffer from loss of elasticity. It’s most noticeable in wavy or curly hair as the texture won’t spring back into shape as it should when there’s a lack of protein.”

Pick the Right Products

According to Sotiriou, during the repairing process, it’s important to enrich your hair routine with hydrating and protein-replenishing products. “If you can, I would always opt for salon-quality, professional hair products. They’re more expensive but the ingredients and formulations are better, making them more effective and useful in your routine.”

Despite the advantages of professional hair care products, Sotiriou also advocates for the inclusion of natural and single ingredients. “I love to incorporate a natural oil treatment into my haircare routine pre-hair wash. I use avocado, argan, or coconut oil to fortify the hair and encourage flexibility, instantly decreasing the risk of breakage and helping tackle problems such as dryness and lack of elasticity.”

Keep Cuts Consistent

“Another way to maintain healthy hair is to have a trim every 8-10 weeks,” explains Sotiriou. “If those dead ends are not trimmed, you run the risk of split ends continuing to split up the hair shaft. Therefore, when you finally do visit a hairdresser, you may have to cut off much more than you originally intended to.”

Sleep On Silk

Sotiriou also recommends sleeping on a silk pillow or using a silk wrap at bedtime. “Sleeping on our hair is the ultimate way of damaging and breaking it. It can never be as healthy as you would like if it repeatedly comes into contact with an abrasive pillow each night.” According to Sotiriou, sleeping on a silk pillow or wearing a silk hair wrap provides a natural environment for the hair to rehabilitate and grow. “Silk, an ancient natural fabric, is known to facilitate hair hydration and act as a physical barrier between your hair and your pillowcase!”

Avoid Product Overload

As for what to avoid when repairing your hair, Sotiriou advises adopting a ‘less is more’ attitude when it comes to hair treatments and styling products. “It’s important to actually limit the use of styling products when healing your hair. Limiting yourself to a good, lightweight heat protector and oil serum to add to the very ends of the hair if they feel particularly dry, is really all you need. The reason for this is to maintain your hair’s flexibility until the recovery is finished; heavy products weighing down your hair aren’t helpful in a healing stage!”

Turn Down the Heat

In addition to avoiding product overload, Sotiriou recommends reducing heat styling. “Reducing heat styling is crucial to achieving healthy hair and healing damage, but it’s also the hardest part of the routine to redesign and reroute. If you’re battling frizz and flyaways caused by damage your first instinct is to reach for a hot iron, but it’s going to do your hair the world of good if you can resist the temptation.” She suggests introducing heat-free styling products to your styling routines, such as Silke London’s very own Heatless Curler Kit, which enables you to achieve salon-quality bouncy, blow-dry curls with zero effort, heat, or technical skill.

Continue scrolling to discover Sotiriou’s favourite products for supporting hair repair…

Rahua Hydration Shampoo

Designed for the driest strands, this maximum moisture shampoo features Rahua’s unique plant-powered complex, made up of rare Amazonian oils and natural protein-bonding sugars, to deeply hydrate and deliver stronger, healthier, and glossier hair. Passion fruit and mango are included to hydrate the scalp and leave behind a subtle tropical scent.

Kevin Murphy Repair-Me.Rinse

Kevin Murphy’s repairing conditioner is crafted to rejuvenate and nourish damaged, dry, and dull hair. Formulated with a potent combination of shea butter and aloe vera extracts, it gently softens strands and rehydrates them, enhancing shine, manageability, and strength.

Redken Thermal Spray

This lightweight Redken Hair Styling Thermal Spray Heat Protector shields hair from heat up to 450ºF/232°C while adding shine and reducing frizz. Its clean formula ensures no stiffness or stickiness and features an innovative heat restyling technology that enables you to apply it once and restyle the hair repeatedly.

Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair!

Briogeo’s Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask revives dry, brittle, and over-processed hair, restoring hydration and vibrancy. This nourishing treatment, infused with the unique Nova Complex, blends essential nutrients from B-vitamins, rosehip and argan oils, algae, and biotin to repair and revitalise damaged hair, leaving it shiny and healthy-looking

Rahua Legendary Amazon Oil

Infused with lightweight plant and flower oils rich in vitamins and antioxidants, Rahua’s Legendary Amazon Hair Oil nourishes, repairs, and revitalises all hair types. Rahua, sacha inchi, and morete oils from the Amazon penetrate deeply to strengthen hair, tame flyaways, and smooth split ends. This quick-absorbing formula is ideal for daily use, delivering a silky texture without greasiness.

Hair By Sam McKnight Modern Hairspray Styling Mist

This versatile, fine-textured spray provides lasting hold without crispiness. It can be used before heat styling, at the roots for volume, on mid-lengths for texture, or on a finished look for added security. The formula—which features the most gorgeous botanical scent—delivers a high-shine finish and professional-grade quality, enabling quick, salon-level styling at home.

Kevin Murphy Leave.In Repair

Kevin Murphy’s Leave.In Repair is a nourishing leave-in treatment infused with hydrolysed keratin, green pea protein, jojoba seed oil, bamboo leaf extract, and papain to strengthen, replenish, and reduce breakage. It helps restore all hair types to perfect health, all while offering heat defence up to 200°F/93°C.

Silke London Heatless Curler