Dove Hair Repair Science: A Deep Dive To Achieve Healthy Locks

The cuticles of your hair are like roof tiles, they're flat and overlap when they are healthy. However, with time, heat styling, chemical treatments and other outside factors lift those tiles which in return expose the cortex underneath, where the hair's keratin protein structure resides. Naturally, once the cuticle lifts, protein leaches out with every wash. This leads to a rather common problem pretty much everyone faces which is rough feeling hair that looks dull and snaps easily. That's what Dove, and most dermatologists mean by "damaged hair."

When it comes to Indian hair, frequent blow-drying and straightening, salon keratin or smoothening treatments, and mineral-heavy hard water all speed up this cuticle damage.

A lot of conditioning ingredients work by coating the hair shaft. They smooth the cuticle temporarily and wash out. This does reduce friction and makes hair feel better immediately. But "repair," means replenishing protein and fibre structure inside the strand.

Dove Intense Repair Shampoo runs on Fibre Actives, which is known to "penetrate and rebuild damaged hair, restoring its health, shine, and vitality." It's meant for daily use, gentle enough to go into a normal wash routine and build its effect over time rather than promising a one-wash fix.

As step 2 of your wash routine, the Intense Repair Conditioner follows up with Keratin Actives, keratin being the actual structural protein your hair is made of, plus a Micro Moisture Serum that claims to "lock in hair's natural moisture content." According to Dove this is a "two-way care" which includes conditioning the surface while reinforcing the keratin underneath.

If you've ever squinted at the ingredient list wondering what any of it means; it would be helpful to know that cetearyl alcohol is a fatty alcohol that conditions hair (not the drying kind you find in some styling products); dimethicone and amodimethicone are silicones that smooth the cuticle and cut friction between strands; behentrimonium chloride and cetrimonium chloride are conditioning agents that help with detangling; while glycerin pulls moisture in from the air.

In hard-water cities this daily step matters more than people think. Mineral buildup makes hair rougher and less receptive to anything layered on top of it, so a properly conditioned base is what makes the weekly mask and the leave-in serum actually do their job.

The Dove 10 in 1 Deep Repair Treatment Hair Mask steps things up with 8% Bio-Protein Fusion, which Dove describes as "BIO-Proteins, which are similar to the proteins naturally present in your hair." It's designed to "penetrate to the innermost layers of hair" in five-minutes, the recommended use is once-a-week application, and Dove says it "effectively helps reverse years of damage from the 1st wash." What also gets this brownie points is that the mask is free from sulphates, parabens and dyes, and is PETA-certified cruelty-free.

BePicks: Dove 10 in 1 Deep Repair Treatment Hair Mask, 300ml, also on Nykaa and Amazon India. If your hair is salon-treated or heat-styled often, this is the one step I'd actually add to a standard shampoo-conditioner routine.

The other end of the routine is the Dove Peptide Bond Strength Bi-Phasic Oil+Serum, which is a leave-in product that separates into two layers (protein peptide serum and a nourishing oil) and gets shaken together before use. Peptides themselves are just short chains of amino acids, fragments of the same building blocks that make up keratin. It is known to be "a protein peptide serum that works at a structural level with a nourishing oil that smooths the hair surface," aimed to repair damaged hair including colour-treated, bleached or frequently heat-styled hair.

No shampoo, conditioner, mask or serum mends a split end. That hair is physically separated, and a trim is the only real fix. What repair products can do is slow down further damage and make the strands you've still got look and feel stronger, smoother and shinier with consistent use.

One thing worth knowing if you're in a humid city is that during monsoon, a properly sealed cuticle (daily conditioner plus a leave-in oil layer) cuts down how much damaged, porous hair swells and frizzes.

Another thing to always keep in mind especially for the Indian girls who love to experiment with DIY hair masks, if you're already using the Dove protein based repair range, treatments like egg, curd or yoghurt masks must be avoided since too much protein without enough moisture makes the hair stiff and brittle rather than strong.