With summer now in full swing most of us will be exposed to the sun, salt water, or chlorine. While it is almost impossible to avoid these three elements during the summer months, it is important to understand the effects they can have on your hair and what steps you can take to prevent and repair the damage so you can enjoy your summer and not miss out on any of the fun!
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Sun
We all know about the damaging effects the sun can have on our skin, but sun exposure can also damage our hair resulting in dry, brittle hair with split ends. Some tips to prevent damage to you hair from the sun include, spraying on a leave in conditioner that protects from UVA/UVB rays such as Aveda Sun Care Protective Hair Veil, wearing a hat, or avoid being in the sun between 10AM and 3PM, which is when the sun is the strongest. If you decide not to wear a hat, make sure to put sunscreen in the part of your hair to prevent it from getting sunburned.
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Salt
Like chlorine, salt water leaves the hair dry and brittle as a result of drying out the hair, but salt does this in a different way. Salt actually leeches water out of the hair. So wetting it first isn’t necessarily going to help here. We recommend that you apply a leave in conditioner before you leave for a day at the beach and then follow-up with a protein enriched treatment to restore the moisture to your hair after shampooing out the salt at the end of the day.
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Chlorine
While chlorine is necessary to keep pools clean, it can result in damage to our hair, skin, and eyes. Chlorine can dry the hair out and cause cracks in the shaft of the hair that can leave it feeling dull and brittle. There are a few ways to combat chlorine. The first option is to wear a bathing cap, but most of us are probably not going to do this unless we are swimming laps in the pool. The other option would be to completely saturate the hair with fresh water so there will be little to no room left for chlorinated water. Easy, right? Well if you forget to do this or want to be extra cautious, be generous with the amount of shampoo you use and spend some time sudsing up after the pool. Use a generous amount of water to rinse. There are also some shampoos out there that remove chlorine such as UltraSwim and always follow-up with a protein rich conditioner.
Posted by Diana Gallerani, NP
