Your damage control kit: essential products for rescuing stressed strands

All of us get stressed sometimes - and the same goes for our hair. From heat styling and chemical treatments to environmental pollutants, our delicate strands go through a lot and, if we’re not careful, that can lead to damage.

When stressed or damaged, hair lacks the classic signs of health - shine, body, bounce. It’s harder to manage and more prone to frizzing and breakage. Color isn’t as vivid. But it doesn’t have to stay that way.

Luckily there are plenty of hair repair products available to help you restore your strands to their natural beauty - such as Essential Haircare’s MELU/ range - as well as products and habits that will help protect it for the future. Here’s how to build your very own damage control kit.

Discover MELU/

The importance of gentle cleansing

The first step to recovery is a good cleanse to rid the hair of build up, dirt and pollutants. Choose a delicate, low-pH formulation that will clean without stripping fragile hair. You might also need a moisturising product that can hydrate damaged hair that has become dry and brittle.

Essential Haircare MELU/ shampoo is a dedicated anti-breakage shampoo formulated to fortify and reinforce the hair fiber and improve flexibility, leaving hair noticeably softer, smoother and shinier without weighing it down.

It’s Regenerative Organic Certified™ active ingredient¹ - black chickpea extract sourced from Mr. Gabriele Colla's farm, Parma, Italy- delivers two key benefits, with polysaccharides creating a protective film that helps prevent breakage, and antioxidants preserving strength and structure.

¹Sourced from Regenerative Organic Certified™ farms

Intensive repairing conditioners and hair masks

Once hair is clean, step up the intensity with a conditioner or hair mask. The main difference between the two is that while conditioners can be used after each shampoo, hair masks are designed to be used less frequently - usually weekly or bi-weekly.

Ingredients can include lipids or ceramides to fill gaps in the hair cuticle, and high concentration moisturisers such as jojoba oil or shea butter to restore the hair’s hydration.

Essential Haircare’s MELU/ conditioner has a fortifying formula that features black chickpea extract, a source of plant polysaccharides that help protect your hair from breakage. It nourishes the hair fiber, reducing friction and resistance that can lead to breakage, resulting in stronger, more resilient hair that stays soft, shiny and easier to manage.

What makes MELU/conditioner different from many anti-breakage conditioners is that it’s fast acting. Simply apply, leave it for 30 seconds and rinse - ideal for when you’re busy.

Leave-in treatments for damaged hair

As well as taking steps to repair damaged hair, it’s important to protect it against any further or future stress or damage. There are many different types of leave-in products designed to strengthen and protect.

Essential Haircare’s MELU/ spray is a lightweight leave-in product that offers effective shielding against both daily environmental aggressors such as urban pollution², and heat styling such as blow-drying, straightening or curling up to 230°C (446°F).

²In vitro test conducted on hair strands treated with MELU/ spray and exposed to a solution containing Nickel, Cadmium and Lead, compared to untreated hair. The three metals are representative of pollutants commonly found in polluted urban air.

Heat protectants

Heat protection should be an essential part of your hair care routine if you use heat styling tools such as blowdryers, straighteners or curling tongs. These products are designed to create a temporary, heat-resistant coating on the hair shaft that slows the transfer of extreme heat from the styling tool.

MELU/ spray is a product that does just that, as well as having a conditioning, antistatic action, leaving hair soft and shiny.

³Clinically tested on 20 volunteers

Hair serums for shine and seal

Dullness is a clear sign of stress or damage so using a hair serum is a great way to finish your hair repair regime by sealing the cuticle. This makes it smoother, which reflects light better and makes the hair visibly shinier.

Serums also add a further protective effect, reducing friction between strands so there’s less tangling, which in turn means less brushing. They also reduce moisture loss and stop the hair from absorbing moisture from the air, which could make the shaft swell and lead to frizzing.

Essential Haircare’s MELU/ serum is specifically formulated to improve the appearance of split ends by 32.5% after just one use³, helping to visibly smooth and seal them for a healthier-looking, more polished finish. It strengthens weakened tips and enhances shine, softness and manageability without weighing the hair down.

³Clinically tested on 20 volunteers

Good habits to protect hair and prevent damage

Products are only half the solution when it comes to tackling stressed hair - it’s also important to develop healthy habits that reduce, prevent or protect against further damage.

For example, only wash your hair as often as it needs it, don’t towel dry too vigorously and, when you brush your hair, brush as carefully as possible.

Choose styles that reduce any tension on your hair - avoid pulling it back into too tight a ponytail, for example - trim regularly to stop split ends travelling up the hair shaft, and sleep on silk or satin to minimise friction and breakage.

Finally, wherever possible, avoid excessive heat. Use lukewarm rather than scalding water when you wash your hair, air dry it at least partially before blowdrying, cover with a hat when you’re in the sun for long periods, and space out coloring and chemical treatments to give hair plenty of recovery time. Make sure to drink plenty of water too, to hydrate your hair and scalp from the inside.

With the right damage control kit in place - including high quality hair repair treatments, protection products, and lifestyle habits - you can have smooth, shiny hair all year round.

If you’d like tailored advice to suit your hair needs, visit your nearest Davines salon to speak to one of our experts!