The Return to Healthy, Shiny Hair after Hormone Imbalance

"Your one beauty!"

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Post-burnout and hormone healing, having established a super consistent and solid morning skincare routine, evening skincare routine, and everything shower routine, the next logical step was to tackle my hair problems.

I’ve always had a huge amount of healthy hair that is not without its flaws, but in general, styled really well and grew at a healthy rate. In the midst of burnout and my hormones going absolutely bonkers, one of the first things that I noticed about my body going haywire was actually my hair. It wasn’t growing. It was breaking off. It was falling out. It was dull. It was damaged. It was just… not pretty anymore. Before I knew that hormones were to blame for this change, I was incredibly confused. I was doing nothing different at all. It felt like one day I just looked in the mirror and saw what looked like a bad Party City wig on top of my head. I did not identify with that head of hair. It was not mine. I felt so ugly. My hair, normally my crown jewel, was hideous. It was like that scene in Little Women where Jo has to cut off her hair and sell it for money, and Amy says to her “Jo! How could you? Your one beauty!” My hair was also my “one beauty.” It was always the one thing I could count on to make me look put together, even if I had a face full of acne or bad Dream Matte Mousse makeup.

Here’s photo evidence of my hair and the terrible state it was in, just a year ago:

In the photo on the left, taken in June of 2023, I was freshly out of the burnout phase and just three months into healing my unbalanced hormones. At the top of my head, hairs are broken and sticking straight up and out. On the ends, there’s weird breakage in chunks. And in general, it just looks fried and dull. In the photo on the right, taken just a few days ago in September of 2024, my hair is full, shiny, bouncy, and healthy again. That photo was taken a few days before a hair appointment, and my stylist (who is amazing and has been with me along this hair restoration journey!) told me that we can start making appointments every 12 weeks now, instead of every 8 weeks, because my ends were in much better shape and don’t need to be trimmed as often. When she washed and conditioned my hair in the bowl, she let me know that it used to be such a knotted mess that was a beast to detangle before styling, and now it was smooth and barely had a tangle in sight. She cheered with me when we saw evidence of new growth a few months ago and was super encouraging throughout the Party City wig era. Recently, I was at a work retreat and one of my colleagues came up to me on a break and said, “Lauren, your hair is so healthy!” and I basically screamed “Oh my gosh, THANK YOU!!” in her face. She laughed at my huge reaction and I told her how big of a journey I’d been on to restore its health, and she totally understood; she was on one herself. Though it may sound insane, hearing my hair stylist or a colleague or a friend say my hair looks beautiful or healthy makes me incredibly emotional. It represents more than just my “one beauty” and hormone health. It symbolizes the concerted effort to take care of myself again after not doing so, for so long.

If you’d like to embark on your own hair restoration journey, here are all the things that I did to go from broken and dull to bouncy and full:

1. I ditched the high-heat products.
I literally threw my curling irons and straighteners away. I will never use them again. The very last heat tool that I used could curl or straighten and I remember hearing a distinct *sizzle* every time I used it. (I’m literally cringing as I write that!) It was wayyyy too high-heat for my damaged hair and just damaged it further.
Now, after a shower, I let my hair air dry, clipped up in a claw clip, for about two hours, and then blow dry it until it's fully dry. Because I have a huge head of hair, blowing dry from sopping wet takes about thirty minutes, and that’s a lot of heat. Waiting until it’s about 75% dry means that I use the hair dryer for about 5-8 minutes, max.
I use heatless curls to style my hair and it works great! On wash nights, after I blow dry my mostly-dry hair, I wrap my hair into heatless curls and sleep on it all night. When I wake up and take my hair down, I resemble Shirley Temple until I run my fingers through my curls, and then, after a teeny drop of hair oil and a spritz of hair spray, my hair looks fantastic.
Going heatless was the first step that brought some positive change to my locks.

2. I make sure to nourish my hair from the inside out.
Healthy hair, skin, and nails start with nutrition, and I make sure to prioritize protein at mealtime, supplement with hydrolyzed collagen peptides, and take a multi-vitamin that specifically supports hair health.

3. I follow a healthy hair routine with clean and effective products.
While on my healing journey, I researched and tested different products until I figured out which ones worked the best for my hair type (very damaged, dry, low porosity, 2B hair type).

Here’s my full routine:

Pre-Shower, One Time per Week:

• Brush hair gently and thoroughly from root to tip.

• Massage the scalp for 2-3 minutes.
  I like to use the HEETA Scalp Massager from Amazon for this step.

• Apply rosemary oil to the scalp and massage for 1-3 minutes.
  My favorite is Mielle Rosemary Mint Scalp and Hair Strengthening Oil.

• Apply a deep conditioning hair mask to lengths and ends.
  My current fave is the L’Oreal Everpure Elastic Fiber Masque.

• Clip oiled-and-masked hair up into a claw clip and let it sit for at least 30 minutes while you go about your business.

During the Shower, Every Other Day:

• Shampoo scalp with a Clarifying Shampoo and rinse.
  My go-to clarifying shampoo is the L’Oreal Everpure Clarify Shampoo.

• Shampoo with a Bonding Shampoo and rinse.
  For this step, the L’Oreal Everpure Bond Repair Shampoo is awesome.

• Condition with a Bonding Conditioner and let sit.
  I use the L’Oreal Everpure Bond Repair Conditioner for this step, too.

• Deep condition lengths and ends with a Hair Mask, clip up with a claw clip and let sit for at least 10 minutes while going through the full everything-shower routine, and then rinse.
  My holy grail of deep conditioning hair masks is the Shisheido Fino Premium Touch Hair Mask. It’s soooo good.

Post-Shower, After Full Cleansing and Conditioning Routine:

• Apply leave-in hair serum to lengths and ends.
  My favorite serum for this step is the HUSSELL Bali Secret Hair Treatment Serum. The product is actually labeled as “Hair Vitamins” and is shipped in what looks like a little vitamin bottle, with little “pills” in it. The “pills” are little pods of serum that you crack open and apply to your hair (you definitely do NOT eat them!). It’s the perfect amount of serum and I swear it makes my hair shine better than any other product! I work the serum into my lengths and ends and let it sit while I go through my post-shower body care routine, which takes 3-5 minutes.

• Gently brush hair with a Wet Brush, starting at the ends and working up to the root, to avoid damaging the hair while it’s in its most fragile state. At this point, my hair is so conditioned that the brush just glides through and rarely has a tangle.

• Clip hair up into a claw clip and let air dry for a couple of hours.

• Blow dry hair.

• Apply Fortifying Treatment Serum to dry lengths and ends.
  I use the Oribe Hair Alchemy Fortifying Treatment Serum. A teeny dollop goes a long way, so this product lasts forever.

• Wrap hair in heatless curls and go to bed!

After Waking:

• Remove heatless curls headband and run fingers through curls to help shape.

• Spray hairspray to keep curls throughout the day.

• Apply a minuscule amount of hair oil to palms of hands and then apply to ends, to break up any stiffness from the hair spray and bring a little shine.

4. I cleanse more frequently.
I used to wash my hair every three days, and when I did wash, I only used one super-moisturizing shampoo. Now, I wash my hair every other day, and always double-cleanse, as I do with my skincare routine. The clarifying shampoo + bonding shampoo combo has proven to be super effective. With all of the hydrating products I use, the clarifying shampoo is a must to wash away any product build-up on my scalp.

5. I avoid hairstyles that cause breakage.
I switched my go-to updo from super high and tight ponytails pulled up with rubber-band-type hair ties to loose buns and half-up-half-down styles with satin scrunchies, claw clips, and French pins. At night, I never sleep with my hair down - I only sleep with my hair in heatless curls or pulled up in a loose bun with a satin scrunchie. I also sleep on a satin pillowcase to help avoid tangles and damage, as well.

6. I embrace my natural hair color.
I decided to ease up on so many blonde highlights and embrace more of my natural hair color. I still get a few highlights around my face to give me a brighter look, but I’m much more “bronde” than I was in the throes of my burnout phase. In the midst of burnout, I discovered a very pronounced gray streak, from root to tip, stemming from the mid-part of my scalp, under my top layer. Literally, I looked like the Bride of Frankenstein, like I’d been frightened to my core. It was unbelievable - it was like a chunky highlight! I freaked out and immediately made my hair stylist put in more super blonde highlights to blend any gray hairs that would decide to emerge. I’m happy to report that that gray streak was the only one that sprouted, and since it’s buried deep in my lion’s mane, I can easily conceal it. Giving my hair a break from so much bleach definitely helped it heal.

If you ever find yourself looking in the mirror at your bad Party City wig hair wondering “How did this happen?” just know that you can reverse the damage and have beautiful hair again. I encourage you to set out on your own hair health journey and find what works for you to bring back “your one beauty.”

To your health,
- L