8 Summer Hair care tips
This hot weather is amazing for those who love feeling the warmth of the sun on their faces and the mood-boosting effects of long, hot summer days. However, just as the sun can damage your skin, your hair is also at risk of being harmed when temperatures soar. Here are our top summer hair care tips about how to avoid heat damage in the sun. Your hair needs this!
How to Avoid Sun Hair Damage
The sun’s heat and the effect of UV rays can damage the outer cuticle of the hair, leaving it frizzy, flat and at risk of damage. Aside from this, when the sun is out we are more likely to go for a dip in an attempt to cool off. Whether that’s in the sea, lake or a pool, this can all lead to damaging the hair’s delicate structure and leave your hair dry and in need of repair. Frizzy hair is dry, unmanageable and prone to breakage and this, coupled with sweat and added moisture, can all lead to your hair looking substantially lacklustre.
Use our summer hair guide to help keep your tresses in tip top condition and minimise the risk of damage when you’re out enjoying this beautiful weather…
1. Cover Up
The best way to avoid sun damage on the hair is to cover it up. Whether you wear a hat, cap or scarf, covering the hair is the easiest way to ensure your hair is protected from the direct heat of the sun. If your hair is curly or naturally prone to frizz, consider a silky scarf or turban-style headwrap to protect the delicate structure of the hair.
Cover up your hair in summer with a hat
2. Apply UV Protection
Prolonged sun exposure degrades the protein structure of hair, often resulting in low elasticity, breakage, split ends and lack of shine. Just as we should regularly apply sun cream to our skin, applying a UV hair protection product to your hair before you go out in the sun can minimise any damage and keep your hair feeling protected and moisturised. If your hair is thin/fine choose a lightweight UV spray to keep it bouncy. For thicker hair choose a rich moisture-boosting UV cream or oil.
3. Keep up the regular trims
Hair which is in need of a trim is more prone to breakage in the sun because the flyaway ends will be more likely to split. Keeping up your regular hair care routine with a decent trim is a fail safe way of protecting the hair from more breakage when exposed to high temperatures.
4. deep moisturising treatments
Using a deep moisturising treatment such as Olaplex can give your hair a protective moisture boost in hot weather. Olaplex is a hair care treatment system which actually re-builds broken bonds in the hair, returning your hair to the lustrous, full and healthy hair you were born with. When using Olaplex, all thermal, mechanical and chemical damage is reversed and broken ends are fixed.
5. Hydrate from within
If your body is dehydrated then your hair will follow suit. Keeping hydrated in hot temperatures is vital for a healthy body, and this will also transfer to your hair’s health. Drink lots of water and cooling fluids in summer to provide hydration to your hair strands and keep them in tip top condition.
6. protect the colour
When the sun is out your skin colour may darken, but hair colour is likely to fade. Using a top quality hair colouring system (such as Neale and Wolf which we use here in the salon) will protect the hair and make it less likely to break. Avoid shop-bought colours (always, not just in the heat) to ensure that your hair colour remains shiny and radiant all summer long.
7. avoid using heated hair tools
The temptation to use heated hair tools such as straightners may seem like a good choice when your hair is frizzy and in need of some love, but this will only mask the problem and ultimately, add to the problem. Using heated hair tools when the temperatures are soaring outside will only serve to increase hair damage and make your hair even frizzier. Instead consider lathering on a rich moisturising treatment and letting your hair dry naturally, or get it professionally blow-dryed in a salon.
8. post-swim Hair care
If you’ve been for a cooling dunk in the sea then your hair will be prone to damage because of the drying effect of the salt water. Likewise, chemicals like chlorine in pools can damage the hair and make it brittle. Use salon-quality shampoos and conditioners to remove all salt and chlorine after a swim and your hair will thank you for it.
Now you know how to protect your hair, go out and enjoy this blissful sunshine because we all know it probably won’t last forever! Take proper care of your hair and it will return the favour by remaining strong, shiny and healthy all summer long.
Make an appointment for your next trim/deep conditioning treatment by clicking the button below, we can’t wait to welcome you 🙂
