Breakage is structural. Something has weakened the inside of the strand — usually lightening, repeated colour, or a flat iron used every morning for two years — and the hair no longer survives being brushed, tied up and dried.
That is a different problem from dryness and it needs a different treatment. Moisture makes weak hair feel nicer for a week. It does not make it stronger. Our menu lists FORTIFY for highly damaged hair for exactly this, which is why it sits apart from the Hydration Treatment.
FORTIFY is $50 and takes 45 minutes. It is often added onto a cut, because hair in this state usually needs length taken off as well, and it is worth booking before your next round of lightening rather than after it.
Breaking or shedding? They are not the same.
People book the wrong treatment because they read every hair on the bathroom floor as the same signal. You can tell them apart yourself in a minute.
Shedding is normal. Those are full-length hairs with a small pale bulb at one end, and everybody loses them daily. No salon treatment changes that number, and a sudden change in how much you shed is a question for your doctor rather than your stylist.
Breakage looks different. The pieces are short — two inches, five inches, never the full length — with no bulb, just a blunt or frayed end. Look for a halo of short pieces around the crown, or a line of snapping partway down where a straightener sits.
The other check is wet. Healthy hair stretches when wet and springs back. Badly over-processed hair stretches like elastic and stays stretched, or gives out. If that is your hair, FORTIFY is the one.
What actually happens in the chair.
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01
An honest assessment, wet and dry
Your artist tests the hair wet, because that is when weakness shows. If what you have is dryness, you are moved to the hydration treatment. Nobody benefits from selling you the wrong $50.
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02
Washed, and handled carefully
Damaged hair is at its most fragile soaking wet. It is washed gently and squeezed rather than rubbed, because hard towel work causes more of exactly the problem you came in about.
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03
Concentrated where the damage is
Applied through the mid-lengths and ends, which have been through every colour appointment you have ever had, then given its full processing time. The 45 minutes is not padding.
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04
Dried low, plus a straight answer
Finished on a gentler heat setting, and you get told two things: whether your ends need cutting, and whether your next colour appointment should be moved back.
What FORTIFY can and cannot do.
It strengthens what is still there, so hair stops snapping under normal brushing, feels less gummy wet, and holds together through drying and styling while you grow the damaged length out. Badly damaged hair does better with a short course than one visit, then you ease off once the breakage stops.
What it does not do matters more. It does not un-bleach hair. It does not put a broken strand back together. It cannot mend a split end — a split has to be cut off, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling.
Sometimes the honest answer is scissors. If the last four inches are gone, a treatment makes them feel better for a fortnight and the problem stays. Our artists will tell you that in the chair rather than take $50 for something that was never going to work.
Questions we get asked.
How much is the damaged hair treatment?
FORTIFY is $50 and runs a full 45 minutes from wash to finish. That is the treatment itself. If you are adding it to a cut or a colour, those are priced separately and you get the total before work starts.
Is my hair breaking, or is it just shedding?
Look at the pieces. Shed hairs are full length with a small pale bulb at one end, and everybody loses them every day. Broken pieces are short, have no bulb, and turn up on your shoulders and on dark clothing. Breakage is what FORTIFY is for.
Will FORTIFY repair my split ends?
No. A split end cannot be rejoined, by us or by anything sold in a bottle. It has to be cut off. What FORTIFY does is strengthen the length above the splits so you stop generating new ones as fast, which is why most people with real breakage book a cut at the same time.
My hair is bleached and snapping. Should I book this before or after my next highlights?
Before, and say it to your colourist too. Lightening asks a lot of hair that is already weak, so going in with the hair in better condition is the point. Coming for a strengthening treatment the week after you damaged it further is the wrong order, and your artist may tell you to delay the colour appointment.
Is this the same as the hydration treatment?
No, and they are not interchangeable. The Hydration Treatment puts moisture into hair that is dry but structurally sound. FORTIFY strengthens hair that is physically breaking. Booking hydration for hair that snaps is the most common mistake people make, which is why we list them separately.
Do you take walk-ins?
We do take walk-ins, but please call 431-844-5500 first to check availability before coming in. FORTIFY is a 45-minute booking with a specific artist, and if your ends also need cutting we will want to allow time for that too.
FORTIFY is done by Karan, Noor, RV and Zahara. You choose your artist when you book.
Every service and starting price is listed on the booking page. Nothing is "price on request", and your exact price is confirmed in the chair before work starts.
567 St Anne's Rd, Unit 2, Winnipeg — in St Vital, minutes from Southdale, Windsor Park, Island Lakes and St Boniface. 431-844-5500
Monday 10–7 · Tuesday to Saturday 10–8 · Sunday 10–6. See directions and hours.