USE A HAIR MASQUE, NO CONDITIONERS.
My hair was damamaged by a combination of a bad layer job and some highlights. The highlights damaged some shorter layers that were already damaged from me tryingto grow them out. I refused to cut them, when I went in for a style for a wedding to some random salon. A stylist told from Italy told me he never has his girl cut their dead ends he just has them use a hair masque to moisturize them enough to where its not noticible and then starts to trim when they are at a comfortable length.
So I did what he said, I use Neutogena Healthly Hair Masks and Ive been using it decicatedly for more than a year. My layers are almost three inches from the rest of my length.