MORE: Why The Heck Is My Hair Falling Out? But you don’t have to just soldier through days of constant splitting ends and bone-dry hair—there are steps you can take to decrease the damage to your hair.1. Go easy on coloring Keep hair dye jobs as minimal as possible, sticking to shades that don’t require bleach or opting for partial highlights instead of going light all over. The intense chemical processes it takes to brighten brown hair to, say, platinum blonde, makes it more porous and subject to breakage, says Rogers. (Check out the best hair colors for women over 40.)2. Style smarter Use styling products that contain silicone or dimethicone, which coat your strands and protect the hair shaft in addition to making hair look fuller and thicker. Before you heat style, prep hair with a heat shielding spray like Alterna Bamboo Smooth Anti-Breakage Thermal Protectant Spray ($25; ulta.com), which contains strengthening organic bamboo extract and reparative organic kendi oil. Rogers suggests getting heat styling tools with temperature gauges and keeping them at the lowest possible temperature settings. When blowing hair dry, keep the nozzle at least 6 inches away from strands, and also on the lowest heat setting.3. Stack your diet To strengthen hair from the inside out, Rogers recommends women consume the required 40 to 46 grams of protein each day (you shouldn’t need to supplement to hit this number) since hair strands are composed of mostly protein, along with adequate iron intake (about 18 mg daily for women under 50 and 8 mg for women over 50). (Need ideas? Try these 6 easy protein-packed recipes.) MORE: 7 Things Your Skin Is Trying To Tell You
