How damaged is your hair?

Who among you find themselves subject to daily damage?” asked dermatologist Dr. Jean Marquez, addressing a bunch of beauty editors and writers at Blo Bar in Power Plant Mall during the launch of the brand’s latest product, Dove Daily Hair Vitamin. “Does emotional damage count?” asked someone from the group. “What about brain damage?” another joked. Dr. Jean was, of course, referring to self-inflicted hair damage — to a group of women who just might have pocket hairdryers, travel-size products and all sorts of hair contraptions in their disaster-preparedness kits. For a bunch of smartasses, we mishandle our manes a lot and we were maybe too guilty to admit it. “Who colors her hair regularly?” Dr. Jean asked, sending me a meaningful glance. An expert would be able to tell that my hair had just been colored a fresh shade of #666, a bluish red with fiery undertones, which as of press time, has settled to a raging copper. I raised my hand and so did 90 percent of the group.

According to Dr. Jean, the minute we step out of the shower, we inevitably start a daylong process of hair damage. “When you dry your hair vigorously, it causes friction in the hair and lead to the cuticles being scratched or removed, so the inner part of the hair is easily damaged once you step out of the house. Also, when you shampoo too often and do not use conditioners, it can dry the hair and lead to breakage. Sometimes even mere exposure to water damages the hair. Hair is very porous and absorbs water really fast — so the hair shaft swells and when you brush it or style it while wet, it breaks easily. Drying with a blower while hair is still damp can cause water to boil inside the shaft, which obviously is damaging,” she said. Boil! I dare not imagine how that scenario would look under a microscope, and I certainly wouldn’t want that situation going on while the hair is still planted in my scalp.

She added that even the kind of water you shower with can contribute to damage. “Most damaging is salt water. Water with too much minerals is also damaging. For example, most of my patients have dry skin and dry hair when they come home from the Middle East. Even the water in Baguio is different — minerals can deposit themselves in the hair and make it heavy. So a daily regimen of shampoo, conditioning is important.”

Unlike the skin, which has the ability to regenerate and heal overnight with the right products, hair doesn’t repair itself on its own. “What we recommend is to use conditioner and hair serums before you dry and style,” she adds. “Pat it dry with a towel. Make sure it’s a little dry before styling. Blow-dry away from the hair shaft and use the warm or cool setting while hair is still damp.”

At the event, Blo Bar stylists gave us the full Dove hair treatment, starting with a Dove Intense Repair Shampoo cleanse, followed by conditioning with Dove Intense Repair, and then Dove Daily Hair Vitamin to lock in nutrients and protect from the effects of heat styling. My supposedly ‘50s-inspired micro bangs got a blowout and temporarily assumed a china chop style. The true test of the product, however, was using it the following day, without the aid of a stylist and the temporary manageability that comes with a blowout, and it made my hair feel lighter and smoother even then.

Dove Daily Hair Vitamin is recommended as the last step before stepping out of the shower. While hair is still damp, squeeze out the product from its chubby gel capsule and apply evenly from the middle of the hair strands all the way to the tips. Thicker, longer hair requires one capsule, while shorter or thinner hair will benefit from half of that. This newest innovation from Dove locks in nourishment for healthier, damage-free hair. It is a concentrated fusion of nutrients such as vitamin E, which nourishes dry hair, botanical extract that repairs weak hair, and mineral oil that helps protect hair from damage.

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Dove Daily Hair Vitamin is available at Watson’s, Mercury Drug, Rustan’s Supermarket, Shopwise and Robinsons Supermarkets for P75 per pack of six.