The Natural Solution for Dry, Damaged Hair

Are you a flat-iron lovin', chemical-laden shampoo usin' girl who can't resist a new color or highlights, even though your hair will suffer?

If you're like me, you want to be able to style and color your hair without having to suffer the severe damage that often follows. The good news is, there is hope for our damaged strands. And it smells oh, so good!

This gal swapped the chemical free shampoos and their satisfying, foamy sulfates for natural versions. I swore off re-highlighting my hair, even while my roots continued to look worse by the day.

I even put down the flat iron for some time and still take time off from it.

All this sacrifice and I'm sorry to say it, but I failed.

After months of these sacrifices, my hair wasn't much better.

The dry, crispy-ness was still there. The split ends? Almost as bad as before. And God have mercy, do my grown-out, lackluster highlights look like garbage!

My hair is in bad shape, folks. 

I just want to touch up my drab strands with some highlights, for Pete's sake! But I'm terrified that the super short hairs on the top of my head (short from the breakage and damage they went through in the past) are going to be even shorter and more damaged!

I was about to get desperate when a sliver of hope appeared at my door... Or should I say in my inbox. 
 

It was an opportunity to try a very special restorative hair mask and see if it wouldn't give my hair the healing it needs. 

So I quickly began using this new intensive hair mask by Shielo and let me just say, this stuff goes far beyond your drugstore "restorative" hair care products. I'm impressed with the ingredients -- like shea butter and avocado and olive oil. It's safe to proclaim that my hair is already on its way to better health!

Fate?

I'd say so.

That brings me to this post. I've found a piece of hair heaven and it's only fair that I share. First, let me tell you what this bottle of hair heaven's all about...

Shielo's Intensive Hair Mask uses organic ingredients that, as the bottle says, repairs, hydrates, and restructures damaged hair. Like mine! 

 ..."restores elasticity, freshness and suppleness to dry, chemically treated or damaged hair. The mask instantly repairs to make hair look fresh, moisturized and free flowing. It is a concentrated formula of organic ingredients, complex peptides and highly moisturizing agents that make hair manageable and beautiful."

Note-worthy Features:

• Sheilo is a cruelty-free company who's product labels boast the "Beauty Without Cruelty" logo and a "made with certified organic ingredients" stamp to boot.

• Paraben free and contains peptides and natural plant proteins.

• Great for all damage, distressed, and color-treated hair (just what I've needed.)

• Perfect as a pre-dye treatment. This can be used a couple days before a dye/bleach treatment since it moisturizes and nourishes hair and seems like it may help prepare it for the harsh damage that will ensue. 

•  Safe for bleached and dyed hair. The lemon peel extract helps keep your bleached strands bright and prevents brassiness and color darkening that typically occurs over time.

• Super easy to use. Just apply to damp hair, leave on for 3-5 minutes and rinse! I love the ease of use because it means I'll actually get to use it. It doesn't get any easier than this since I can apply it before I shower, then rinse it off as I wash. I like to apply it at the beginning of my shower, then rinse at the end that way it has as much time to absorb into my strands as possible. For normal hair, Shielo recommends using the mask once weekly and twice per week for extremely damaged hair.

•  Washes out easily and no residue is left behind. (Have you ever used an oily hair mask only to find it darn near impossible to wash out of your hair? Not fun.)

• It smells di-vine! Seriously. If you're into nice-smelling hair care, then you're in for heaven in the smell department alone with this stuff. Forget its hair super-powers, I wanted to slather this stuff on as a body lotion. I really, really came *this* close to doing that. Since it arrived on my birthday (awesome, huh?) and I was already getting ready to leave (the S/O took me out to this awesome pancake joint), I had to make myself set the bottle down before I ended up with intensely restored skin. I couldn't resist, though, so I squeezed a tiny drop onto my fingers, rubbed it in a bit, then swiped it over the already-highlighted, highly damaged pieces of hair right before I went bat-crap and pulled out my flat-iron!

I know, I broke the no-heat rule, but hey. It was my b-day and I wanted sleek hair. Plus, it gave me an excuse to use a little of this hair mask. You'd do the same thing, so don't judge!

 Results

Before:

My embarrassingly damaged hair before using the hair mask -- washed and air-dried and completely un-styled and free of any products. It's very frizzy-looking and the split and damaged ends are very noticeable. At the time of this photo, I couldn't run my fingers through my hair without it breaking and pulling out. I had to carefully comb it and then tame and style it.

I almost considered not sharing a picture of my hair "before" since I don't allow most people to see my frizz-ball in its natural state, but... the insane difference between the before and after using the hair mask was simply too great to hide. So I shall let you see this embarrassing ball of crazy on my head just for amazement sake:

 

After:

I've attempted to snap a quick photo of my just-treated, washed, and freshly pony-tailed hair. This was no easy task as I had trouble getting all of my hair into the pictures and they turned out awkward, but I hope they get my point across.

The results (as if you can't tell for yourself)

Shiny! Smooth! Soft!

The cloud of fluffy frizz is tamed and presentable.
 

Underside of my hair. My split ends needed to be trimmed in these photos, but the overall feel and appearance greatly improved.

The dry, crispy-feeling ends are now silky and totally pet-able (just ask my significant other who forgets I'm not a cat.) 

Flat-ironed. The ends still need trimming, especially the bleached strands, but I've never had such shiny, soft, smooth textured hair as I do after using this mask.

 I can run my fingers through it without the sound of crackling followed by a cloud of broken hairs tumbling to the ground.

After using the intensive hair mask, my hair is 20 times more manageable. I also find it much easier to style. Yes, even with heat tools! I can't be good all the time, so I took this opportunity to see how well my hair could look after flat-ironed now that the mask has improved it. I cranked up my Theory and flew through the task quicker than I typically am able to. It went smoother since my hair wasn't a mess of dry, crispy frizz. It also looked nicer with its new shine and healthy appearance.

My hair smells di-vine! 

All in all, I call this a huge success.

  Note-Worthy Ingredients in the Shielo Hair Mask:

This restorative hair mask is chock full of useful ingredients. I'll mention a few of those note-worthy fellas below.

Safflower, Avocado, and Olive Fruit Oil: Safflower holds in moisture and improves overall health of hair while avocado oil nourishes, improves strength and shine, and olive fruit oil increases suppleness, shine, and protects from damage. 

Hexapeptide-11: A skin conditioning peptide.

White Tea Leaf Extract: Moisturizes and conditions. Antioxidant rich, protects from sun damage.

Shea Butter: Deeply moisturizing and conditioning, locks in moisture, and is commonly used to treat itchy, irritated scalp and dandruff. Since shea butter absorbs into the hair shaft, it can help provide some protection against heat damage.

Sunflower Seed Extract: A conditioner with an added bonus -- it has a cleansing effect.

Goldenseal Root Extract:  Rich in vitamins and minerals, Goldenseal Root Extract promotes healthy hair and can soothe away dandruff and other scalp inflammation.

Hydrolyzed Algae Extract: Algae acts as a clarifier that helps remove hair product build up, impurities, and excess oiliness. It nourishes, rejuvenates, softens, and improves hair's elasticity.

Burdock Root Extract: Burdock root is used by many herbalists to promote hair growth. Its Vitamin A content helps strengthen hair and improve overall health.

Mallow Flower Extract: Hydrates and re-moisturizes shaft of hair.

Full List of Ingredients:

Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Safflower Seed Oil, Cyclopentasiloxane,Cyclotetrasiloxane, Avocado Oil, Olive Fruit Oil, Hexapeptide-11, White Tea Leaf Extract, Sunflower Seed Extract, Citric Acid, Shea Butter, Lemon Fruit Extract, Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis Flower Extract, Horsetail Extract¹, Golden Seal Root Extract, Mallow Flower Extract¹, Hydrolyzed Algae Extract, Burdock Root Extract¹, Hydrolyzed Corn Protein, Apple Fruit Extract, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Lemon Peel Extract¹, Hydrolyzed Wheat Starch, Sugar Cane Extract, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein, Cactus Extract, Amodimethicone, Betaine, Butylene Glycol, C11-15 Pareth-7, C12-13 Pareth-23, C12-13 Pareth-3, Caprylyl Glycol, Cetrimonium Methosulfate, Cetrimonium Chloride, Cysteine, Dicetyldimonium Chloride, Dimethiconol, Divinyldimethicone/ Dimethicone Copolymer, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Hexylene Glycol, Laureth-9, Panthenol, PEG-45M, Polyquaternium-37, Polysorbate 60, PPG-1 Trideceth-6, PG Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, Quaternium-91, Sodium PCA, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Tetrasodium EDTA, Trideceth-12, Wheat Amino Acids, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Fragrance, Yellow 6 (CI 1598)², Red 40 (CI 16035)², Blue 1 (CI 42090)²

I hope you've found this useful. Share in the comments what you use for damaged hair. And if you're interested in this Shielo Hair Mask I'm using, you can find it here.

Disclaimer: I am not a specialist, expert, professional or doctor of any kind. Content on this blog is not intended to be taken as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment or advice of any sort. I'm simply sharing information about my own experiences and results from use of a product or activity in hopes of providing useful information to readers, not to be taken as a patient/medical adviser relationship. I am not responsible for what readers choose to do after viewing the content here. Furthermore, I do not hold an "exceptional" or other special relationship with any company mentioned on this site. I'm simply a consumer who worked with the company on a review that is in compliance with FTC's guidelines. That means, everything you read here is my own words, not anything of the company's. I was not provided with monetary compensation for my review. All information posted has been done so with complete honesty. No action should be taken based solely on the content of this publication ( I'm not responsible.) Readers who rely on the information in this blog to replace the advice of an appropriate health care provider assume all risks of such behavior.