Summer Hair Care Tips
Consider some of these basic tips for preventing unnecessary damage and having great summer hair:
1. Give your tresses a summer shampoo break
Shampoo less often to allow tresses to absorb natural oils. Or switch to more gentle cleansing methods which won’t dry out sun exposed strands. Opt for Conditioner Only (CO) or Diluted Shampoo (DS) washes.
Hair needs to be treated more gently during the summer. Consider switching to a more moisturizing and overall gentle shampoo formulas. When possible, finish with a cool to cold rinse to seal the hair cuticle and impart natural shimmer.
2. Back off heated hair styling tools
If you normally use hot styling tools (blow dryers, hot irons, rollers), give your hair a rest during summer months. Air dry whenever possible or opt for easy chic styles.
Braid damp tresses waves which create natural waves as the hair air dries. Play with half up/half down styles or braids.
If you’re attached to your blow dryer and can’t give it up, use a leave- in conditioner designed to protect your hair against dryer heat. When you do blow dry, dry on high heat.
Why? It’s actually much better to dry with high heat because you expose your hair to heat for a shorter period of time than you would if you used medium heat.
3. Schedule deep conditioning treatments
Hair regularly exposed to the sun needs regular deep conditioning treatments and moisture replenishment.
For extra conditioning treatment apply deep conditioner to tresses (damp or dry) then wrap in plastic wrap or a shower cap. Allow conditioner to soak into damaged hair sections for an extended period or overnight for extra repair and re-moisturizing benefits.
Keep in mind some hair care products designed to add shine, may only add shimmer, but not necessarily add moisture. Be sure to read all ingredients on the hair product labels to understand what benefits the product is designed to provide to your strands.
4. Use protection
Hanging out in the sun without protection for your hair and scalp is the worst thing you can do. Use leave in hair products with SPF protection when you know you will be at the beach if you’re unwilling to wear a hat or a cover-up.
If you don’t have specific leave-in or protective sun care products for your hair and scalp slather a regular SPF product on your tresses. Make sure to concentrate the product onto your scalp as well. Although not a perfect solution, it will help save your tresses from major sun damage.
5. Be religious about trims
Be religious about your trims. Since summer sun can rob moisture from your tresses, make sure you have your ends trimmed every 4-6 weeks during the summer months. When your ends are fizzy, its a sure sign that they are either damaged, split or both.
Hair can get sunburned just like the scalp. The only way to deal with severely burnt hair is by trimming the damaged sections off. Prevention is the safest plan. Frizzy hair is often the result of too much sun time.
