"Your hair is unhealthy," the hairdresser told me as she ran her fingers through my shoulder length auburn hair.

I frowned. Years of brushing, teasing, coloring, rolling...years of hot curlers, brush rollers, curling irons, blow dryers, barrettes...years of abuse had finally come to this.  Unhealthy hair.

"What can we do about it?" I asked.

"You can take this," she replied, handing me a hair repair kit from a nearby shelf.  "It's a three-step program. Do this daily and in two weeks the difference will amaze you."

Two weeks.  From my past work in behavioral health management I knew that it takes two weeks to form a habit...or change one.  Two weeks to healthy hair. I looked from the kit to my hair to the hairdresser and back to the kit. "Okay," I said.  "I'll take it."

The kit consisted of shampoo, conditioner, and a final leave-in conditioner. The following morning I washed out the dirt from the day before, applied the conditioner, then-having towel dried-applied the leave-in conditioner to the damaged and dry ends of my hair.  Every day I repeated the process, choosing not to tell anyone what I was doing, just to see if they would really notice. Within 10 days, friends began to comment.  "Did you get your hair cut?" "Wow!  Your hair looks great! What a difference!" "What did you do to your hair?" And then the final, "I don't mean to sound harsh, but your hair looks healthier than I've ever seen it!"

By the end of the two weeks, I was sold on the product. A new routine had been set. Every morning I would wash, condition, and re-condition the ends of my hair. The results would be life with healthy, shiny, manageable hair.