Thanks to you, my wonderful readers, I received a lot of input on this topic 
In this short post, I’d like to answer a few questions that I think everyone who is thinking of straightening their hair should know beforehand. I’m by no means a hair expert or a hair stylist – I base everything I say on experience and a little bit of research.
So here’s my list (it might get updated every now and then, so please visit my blog often )
(This one’s for you, Sunaina 
)
1. If you have damaged hair, and you go for hair rebonding, will this damage your hair further?
Yes. Hair straightening, rebonding and relaxing use chemicals, so they damage our hair at varying levels. That’s why they always ask us if we’ve recently dyed our hair, before agreeing to apply anything on it. They will assess your hair first, and if it’s too damaged, they might decline your request for a rebond. In my experience, salons are very cautious. When you walk out of a salon, you become a walking advertisement. They will hesitate to do anything that would make them (and you) look bad.
2. If you’ve dyed your hair, how long should you wait before having your hair straightened, relaxed or rebonded?
3-6 months. This is not limited to dyed hair. It also applies to straightened, relaxed and rebonded hair.
3. My hair’s damaged. What can I do to fix it?
I’ve tried expensive shampoos, hot oils, those greasy extra strength cream conditioners… There are only 3 things I’ve really liked, and therefore would recommend trying.
The bad news is, some are products I can no longer find, probably because they’ve been discontinued, for some reason.
The first one is a conditioner: Pantene MOUSSE conditioner. This worked REALLY, REALLY GREAT. I dunno why I can’t find this anymore. I loved it, my hair got complimented all the time for its shine, volume and softness! I used to use this after dying my hair a few years back.
The second one is YSL Hair Mineral Mud packs. They used to be sold in sachets similar to facial mask sachets. I used that to nourish my hair back to life. The individual strands in my hair got thicker and waaay less brittle. I no longer see hair mineral mud packs anywhere, though. I used these after hair straightening and I used that in conjunction with…
The third product: Alberto VO5 Hot Oil. They come in small tubes, usually sold in packs of three. (These are still being sold, yay!) This hot oil is really easy to apply: you just have to put it in hot water to heat it up, then put it on towel-dried hair and scalp for only a minute, then you proceed to use shampoo and conditioner as usual. I used it once a week, every week for as long as my hair is still damaged. And if you want to maintain your hair, you can keep on using it.
As for the shampoo brand, I’m afraid I can’t say I dwell on shampoo much, because I have a sensitive scalp and get dandruff from all sorts of shampoos. The only one that my scalp can stand, is Head and Shoulders 
For the conditioner, I would say any conditioner will do, as long as a) your scalp and your shoulders don’t become too greasy b)it’s within your budget. We lose on average, about 100 hairs a day. Using conditioner can lessen that significantly, in my experience. I use Main n’ Tail conditioner; only apply a small amount, because if you use as much as let’s say, a Pantene conditioner, your hair may end up really greasy =.= Applying Main n’ Tail conditioner also feels different from using other conditioners, in such a way that it doesn’t FEEL soft while my hair is still wet. I only feel the difference when I’m out of the shower!
So, just to quickly recap: the products that are still in the market today (at least over here) and what I would recommend are 1) Alberto V05 hot oil 2) any shampoo of your choice 3)Main n’ Tail or any type of conditioner. I’ve been told recently, that I have a lot of hair, so I’m guessing my scalp’s overall health is good.
PS: a healthy scalp = healthy hair, but don’t rely on hair products only. My friend’s doctor said that the scalp’s overall health can also get affected by stress! (My friend suffered from dandruff; stress, lack of sleep and poor diet were the causes.)
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences, comments and suggestions. Keep ‘em coming! :)
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