Permanently Colored Hair
If you hair is permanently colored hair, you should consider why you are coloring your hair. Is it for coverage purposes? Is it to lighten it? If you want to brighten your hair, you need not use permanent color (unless your hair is almost black). A demi/semi color will brighten your hair more than anything else while maintaining good condition. Be sure when using permanent color that you only apply color to the re-growth area, taking care not to over lap on already colored hair, which could cause damage.
Highlighted Hair
With highlighted hair, because some of your hair is lighter/brighter than the rest of the hair, what you have is uneven porosity. This means that you have at least two different condition levels in your hair, and depending on how many as well as how light your highlights are, your hair may be quite dry. With highlighting, a good tip is to ask your hairstylist to use color, not bleach, to lighten your hair. Color can actually lighten virgin hair (natural/no artificial color) up to four shades and your hair will always feel great. It's also better if you wish to wave or re-color over the top at a later date.
Chemically Straightened Hair
One of the more important things to remember when straightening your hair is to only straighten the re-growth hair (new hair), making absolutely sure that you never apply any straightener to the roots of your hair. Chemical hair straightening can be one of the harshest things that you can do to your hair so it's a good idea to let a professional hairstylist do it for you. There are some very good products available now, so you just need to enquire about them.
Permanently Waved Hair
One of the more important factors relating to perming is whether there are other chemical processes already in your hair. Special care needs to be taken when perming hair that is already permed, colored/straightened or bleached. If you are not sure, prior to your next perm, you should ask your hairstylist to do a strand test on a piece of your hair. Good condition is really vital for a good perm/wave result. Ask your hairstylist about acid waving. The process is almost the same as conventional perming, but the only difference is that the chemical solution doesn't have ammonia in it, which is used to open up the hair cuticle. This type of perming relies on heat to open up the cuticle and has improved hair condition tremendously.
Bleached Hair
Was your hair bleached professionally? If so, I would imagine that every care is taken so your hair is safe and in good condition. If you're doing it yourself, be very careful because more hair has fallen out and broken off from home bleaching than from any other form of chemical misuse. Bleaching is a very difficult process that requires professional training and scientific understanding. Bleached hair usually needs to be toned later with neutral pigment types so our advice is to leave it to the experts.
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