There are bad hair days, and then there are bad hair lives.

Hair Repair

Twenty-five-year-old Mia Miakovsk of Shelburne Falls, MA, had it all . . . from the eyebrows down: High cheekbones, flawless skin; as a child, her bouncy blonde curls were the envy of all her playmates.

"I went through a phase where I would constantly wear air wraps," says Miakovsk.

"I missed those days," says Miakovsk. Her hair was so unhealthy, she says, it was affecting every aspect of her daily existence.

There are bad hair days, and then there are bad hair lives. Miakovsk was living the latter. Those snappy commercials of smiling people taking showers then walking in the sun as their hair shimmers? They were as enjoyable . . . cleaning out a hair-clogged drain.

Many have struggled helplessly against dry, damaged hair, believing that some new shampoo really will massage every hair follicle. Too often, however, the damaged hair stays, well, damaged and gets hidden away under bandanas or caps. Miakovsk, for one, had basically resigned herself to living out the rest of her days looking like Yasser Arafat.

"I went through a phase where I would constantly wear hair wraps," she says. "People assumed I was Rastafarian or had cancer. I couldn't get my curl to solidify. My hair was frizzy, and flat on top." Her hair-care regimen wasn't particularly extreme: She didn't blow dry it; she didnt dye it. She simply washed it with shampoo and conditioner. According to Lisa Ouidad, owner of the award-winning Ouidad, a salon that specializes in curly hair, that's where Miakovsk made her first mistake.

Many shampoos contain laurel sulfate, the ingredient responsible for giving shampoo that thick lather and squeaky clean feeling. However, says, Ouidad, it's also responsible for stripping hair of its nutrients.

"It's just too harsh," she says. "The hair industry didn't realize it over the years. They thought that these were the components that made shampoo. After a while they realized that they don't need to use laurel sulfate to that percentage."

Eventually, Miakovsk stopped using her old shampoo and began using DevaCurl's No-Poo, a lather-free cleanser. In between washes, she uses Devachan's Mist-er Right, a cleansing tonic spray, or Bumble & Bumble's aerosol powder, which makes oily hair feel clean without ever getting it wet.

"I noticed a total difference when I stopped using sudsing shampoos," Miakovsk says. Today, her hair is not only frizz-free but has a silky finish. She could take the Breck girl with her hands tied.

"People are staring at me more than ever," she says. "It could be my hair, because it looks so good. Or, it could be my confidence - I feel beautiful."

Posted on June 26, 2006