I got hair like shredded wheat

[BlastedPimples]

I've tried overnight oils, intensive conditioners, leave in - the lot.

I'd love silky, smooth hair. My hair is also very fine so don't want to weigh it down. I get highlights every six weeks.

Any great ideas?

Young Again by Kevin Murphy, in the purple bottle

My hair can look frazzled if I don’t blow dry it. Most people can’t just wash and go and then have silky smooth hair (obvs there are some lucky folk!). I would try blow drying more regularly using heat protector spray.

My hair was getting very straw like after highlights and I only have them every 12-16 weeks. I bought this Pureology conditioner that you use once and week and my hair is so much better, softer and less flyaway.

https://hwsbeauty.co.uk/products/pureology-hydrate-superfood-deep-treatment-mask-200ml?variant=41243542454446&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAABQj-jqx9TsyVdwOrE9yZGoXrr1ZC&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyL24BhCtARIsALo0fSB5zvaLXYkCuXxFXrDUccexjK2qZ8cbBb2m6mj2ltbYDZ2v-3_IQa0aAs7MEALw_wcB

Google Suneeta London. Their hair oil is incredible and so cheap for what it does.

Try one of the L'Oréal professional masks .

I'm 52 and menopausal / peri. Saw my hairdresser recently - had her 20 years and really trust her as I've asked for things before and she's said no it's not what you need and just expensive ... so last time I saw her I said I now have frizzy / straw like hair and I can't do anything with it. She said

1. Wash and dry with hairdryer as it frizzes when I leave it, which doesn't go unless I wash again .
2. Keratin treatment - she said to have it before any highlights as it can strip the colour, so keratin treatment, use the shampoo too to hopefully make it last longer, then have highlights a while after

Good luck!

My hair is thin and prone to breaking and during covid I started to go in so heavy on leave in treatments, coconut oil, rosemary oil, castor oil, leaving conditioner overnight etc.
My hair improved SO MUCH. Over three years of absolutely hammering all these treatments as and when I could, I noticed how much it grew, how much thicker it was and in such better condition.
Then about a year ago I started to find my hair was going really dry. I asked my silky haired friends what they did with their hair (I’d say “I do coconut oil overnight, leave my conditioner in for hours, yet my hair seems so dry!) and their response would be “nothing. I just wash and condition.” They also said they only washed once or twice a week, which shocked me, as I washed every two days.
So I ditched all my oils and treatments and went to washing twice a week. And I cannot believe how much my hair has transformed. It is so much silkier now! This time last year it was as dry as a bone. I spoke to my hairdresser about it too and she agreed that I was overdoing all the treatments etc, washing it too much, and the best thing to do was wash once a week.

So that’s where I’m at. All the treatments/oils served me well for a couple of years and helped my hair grow, and get thicker, but now I don’t need them and I just wash my hair twice a week and use none of the fancy oils and treatments and my hair is looking and feeling so much better!

Do you air dry it or use a hairdryer and straighteners? I've started to use silver shampoo when my roots are growing and it really tones down the yellow/dark contrast - point being I can last longer before having it coloured.

Speak to your hairdresser. I have blonde colour every 6 weeks, but they don't use bleach anymore as it was too damaging

I love being blonde.

My natural colour makes me look so washed out.

So I will try some of the suggestions. And I will change hairdresser.

Thank you.

May or may not help, but what transformed the condition of my peri straw hair was stopping with the hairdryer, leaving it combed, sprayed with heat protection, and wrapped in a turban for at least half an hour, then drying it with a Revlon rotating styler thing - I can't remember its name and it's not on the styler itself. Dry in sections and keep the styler moving.
Totally changed my hair.

I don't mean to be rude OP but this type of blonde colouring is very dated. Maybe discuss having some lowlights keep an odd foil in around the front with a couple of highlights.

More like this?

Oh @abracadabra1980 that's lovely. I thought that's what my hair would look like. It never does.

My hair was perfect at 44. Even at 50. 52 and it started to change beyond all recognition.

I had mirror shine silky hair until I became menopausal, I had to change my user name 😫

Amla oil is really cheap and revives straw hair back to silk. It is, however, very messy and the smell is atrocious!

Quai hair gloss is pricey but annoyingly effective.

That’s interesting. I got on well with olaplex for years then all of a sudden it made my hair look like a grease rag.

You need to get moisture into it. Things that worked for me when my hair was brittle was leave in conditioner and lots of it. Deep moisturising masks. Oils didn’t work. It’s the water your hair needs.

Your hair will never be in good condition with highlights every 6 weeks. Some hair types can handle it but majority can’t. You need to sit with a hair mask a couple of evenings a week for 3 hours-ish to restore some softness. As others have said, ask for a different technique to hide regrowth. You may love the blonder look but the condition of your hair won’t be doing you any favours.

If your hair is fine and being bleached so regularly I wouldn't use a protein product. In my experience Olaplex ruined my hair and it looks very straw like after use

I also had to battle to tone down the blonde as getting highlights 6-8 weeks does not help. I have balayage now and I'm shocked at how much I love it and how classy it looks compared to blonde blonde blonde

Are you fighting a natural wave/curl alongside the colour?

i understand. This is clearly not bleached - probably foils have been used therefore in great condition. Also she’s fairly young, so no post menopausal or ageing frizz to deal with. I can get mine like this using GHD straighteners, but again they aren’t great for your hair’s overall condition!

What is your natural hair colour op? I used to be the sort of colour in the pic abracadabra posted that you like. i’m now a kind of mousey colour - light brown / very dark blonde. From what I can see if your skin, you have similar colouring to me and possibly similar age. I find the colour you have now to be quite ageing.

The current blonde hair trend seems to be predominantly darker hues atm. A decent hairdresser will be able to fix the over bleach colour on your hair. Just some ideas of colours. https://www.southernliving.com/fashion-beauty/hairstyles/best-fall-hair-colors-for-blondes

I have my hair tinted rather than bleached these days. It doesn’t have that crisp bleached colour, more honey tones. But I like my hair quite long and it’s fine as well. Bleaching just dries it too much. You can’t lift hair colour with tint over bleach btw but you can use it to dye hair darker.