DOs and DON’Ts for terrific summer hair

Let’s face it – while you can easily tuck away winter hair and get away with the excuse that you’re keeping it neat and dry from drizzle, there’s no such luck in summer. Your most gorgeous locks are often expected to be on full display in this season of sunshine, which comes with its own hair perils in the form of potential sun damage and damage from other lifestyle factors such as hopping in and out of chlorinated pools or the ocean. Following these summer hair care tips will keep your tresses in top shine all season long.

Change your conditioner and shampoo to hydrating, moisturising formulas

Summer lifestyles often mean intensely warm or humid days that cause build-up in your hair much quicker than happens in winter. It also may mean showering more often to feel fresh and clean, or dipping in and out of the pool. The net effect often means that you’re also washing your hair more frequently, potentially stripping the hair shaft of locked-in hydration and nutrients – unless you change to a shampoo that replaces this hydration and nourishes the shaft with a gentle, sulphate-free formula.

Argan-oil infused products enriched with Vitamins A and E are a good start, and should be added to your list of best hair products for summer. Supplement your hair care routine with a coin-sized amount of oil which you rub through your locks. In the same way that these nutrients help you defy skin aging by fighting free radicals, they similarly have an anti-oxidant effect when it comes to protecting your hair, helping reverse the damage that leads to it looking lifeless, limp and aged as a result of oxidation.

As for your conditioner, make sure that above all it has similar moisture-infusing effects to your shampoo, and is gentle enough for very frequent use.

Mask up!

No, your hair won’t set out to catch a communicable disease in summer – but it may look as if it’s just caught fire if you leave it unprotected and frazzled from summer’s moisture-sapping heat and other environmental stressors. 

A good hair mask at least twice a month is a must as part of your summer hair routine. Your hydrating conditioner is a good start, but it’s not enough to battle the effects of harsh sun rays, moisture-sucking sea salt and cuticle-invading chlorine. Think of your nourishing hair mask as a conditioner on turbo-power.

Protect your strands from heat

Make an extra-special effort to use an advanced heat protectant if you’re using a hair straightener, curling wand or blow-drying your hair during the height of summer.

Wearing a hat on the hottest days of summer will ensure a first basic and practical level of protection from the harshest potential sun damage. Tying up your hair into a top-knot, ponytail or braid will also work protective wonders compared to letting it all literally hang loose in the sun. 

Wet your hair before getting into the pool

Protect hair from chlorine and salt water by drenching your hair in cool water, which will then go a long way towards saturating your hair, leaving it with less wiggle room to absorb more chlorine- or salt-rich water. Another great idea is to use a strengthening, hydrating leave-in conditioner before you go swimming to act as a barrier to harsh water penetration of the hair shaft, while deeply nourishing it at the same time.

Shimmering, healthy summer hair begins with establishing a simple but effective summer hair routine. The top summer hair care tip can be summed up as rehydrate, rehydrate, rehydrate! 

Lock moisture back into your hair with hydrating shampoos, conditioners and masks as soon as it leaves your hair, which, in summer, happens to be often. This rule of thumb will go a long way to banishing ‘burnt’, stressed and lifeless locks and replacing it with sensational summer strands.