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Momma Told Me: A hair on the head, or two in the brush.
I've always had obnoxiously thick hair. The kind of full, voluminous, flowing tresses you find more of a nuisance in drying and slow styling; until one day you don't have them anymore. I take immaculate care of my hair, I really do. I spend a lot of money on sulfate free cleansers, masks, and oils to counteract even the minimal hair drying I do. And when I colored my hair it was with the most mild, semi-permanent, ammonia and peroxide free, hues I could find. Then, one afternoon I asked my bestie to help out with a routine we'd done a dozen times- I wanted to strip the gunked up color to start fresh. Unfortunately, what ended up on my head was not what I'd so painstakingly selected to go on my precious locks. By the time my scalp began burning, and I raced to the shower to rinse, my hair was falling out in clumps.
Chemically damaged hair is not the same as naturally thinning hair. I need to make that clear. There are a lot of factors that come into play when discussing hair health. As a modern woman, styling and at home coloring is one of the biggest offenders to your hairs health from root to tip. Naturally, bleaching is the worst, but using a curling iron, straightener, hair dryer, or even highlights all put strain on the core of each hair strand. Anything that deals with heat usually melts the strand's core to help get it to 'behave' and hold a specific style, and any boxed colorant contains chemicals (even the semi permanent ones.) I was blessed with a beautiful, full, thick head of hair, and seeing anything less then my glorious main brought tears to my eyes. I knew it would be a long road back.
I've tried a bunch of wonder treatments, serums, and systems. What I've learned is there is no quick fix for damaged or thinning hair. Unless you're about to have them graft some onto your head, of course, and even that takes time. The first part of coping with thinning hair is understanding why it's thinning and which stage of hair loss you are in. Many people are simply born with medium to thin hair and desire a fuller look for styling, or are experiencing the beginning stages of thinning due to health, environment, age, or stress factors. these people can often benefit from a density building system like Redken Cerafill Defy. Others, who have noticed a growing part, thinning hairline, or receding hairline, may need treatment for advanced thinning hair, like the Cerafill Retailiate system.
Did you know that the normal growth cycle of healthy strand of hair can last from 2 to 6 years? Many of us think of hair as lifeless strands growing out of our scalp. The truth is, healthy hair grows about 1/2" per month, and in optimal cases up to 36" of hair can be assumed active and 'living.' When hair begins thinning or is damaged it is considered dormant, and it's active growing phase is stalled or entirely inactive leaving your strands weak to breakage, splitting, and dull texture. The picture above indicates a 'good' hair day 1 month back, prior to starting the Cerafill Defy system. We'll ignore the fact I was too terrified to even touch up the semi permanent cover-up color (and my color is splotchy.) It makes me cringe to see my beautiful hair so clearly damaged and crying out for help.
When I first began a two week treatment regimen of Redken #Cerafill Defy Shampoo, Conditioner, and Scalp Treatment I had no expectations. I certainly had no vision of waking up with a full head of hair Rapunzel style; and that's not what the system promises. So we were off to a good start. What
Cerafill Defy did promise to do was improve the look and feel of existing hair, while adding texture and shine to emulate health. Defy considers itself a thickening system which helps fortify your current hair follicles for less breakage and to fight the appearance of thinning. It does not promise to make your hair grow, and it was very clearly about this; which I appreciated as a consumer.
After my first use I felt a little crazy thinking my hair looked and felt fuller. In the shower I had experienced a tingling (almost menthol) sensation when shampooing. I'll admit this terrified me at first. I experienced an ordinary (since being damaged) amount of hair loss when rinsing, and again when brushing. I breathed deep as I waited for my strands to partially air dry before picking up the blow dryer. Once dry, I gathered my hair at the nape of my neck and did a thickness test, it felt noticeably thicker when gathered. Visually, my hair looked less thin when it naturally fell to each side.
For two weeks I washed my hair every other day, using the Cerafill Defy system exclusively, and toning daily with the Energizing Scalp Treatment (which also had a faint tingling sensation.) For me the most dramatic result was the hair I was losing in the shower by the second week had nearly cut in half. Today, I see no more hair loss when rinsing than I did before my 'accident.' Even brushing seems to put less strain on my strands and my hair seems to full fuller. Do I have gorgeous 80's hair? No, my hair didn't burst into a chia pet overnight, but the results are certainly undeniable. My road to hair recovery won't be easy, but I've decided that Cerafill will definitely be a part of it! To find out more about hair thinning and loss, or receive a salon consultation near you check out the Redken
salon finder today.
Have you ever had issues with hair loss or thinning? What caused them? How did you treat it?
What Daughter Says: Understanding hair loss is the most important key to treating it.
