We've all been there - summer comes to a close and both you and your hair are dehydrated, in need of some major love and care. Aside from drinking lots of water to stay hydrated, and skipping or minimizing the heat styling, here are some easy tips to maintain your hair health all season long.
Did you know that the UV rays from the sun can impact hair health and lighten your colour? To preserve your colour investment, try any or all of the following:
Wear a stylish scarf or sunhat for days out on a boat, at the beach, lounging at the lake or the cottage, or playing with kids at the park for hours. This will protect both your hair and scalp from harm.
Use a styling product with UV protection built in. We love the protective care from harmful UV that Innersense's Hair Love Prep Spray, Serenity Smoothing Cream, and I Create Shine provide. Ask us at your next visit or reply to this email if you want more information on what option would be best for your hair.
Book one of our Tone & Treat services part way through the summer. This includes a gentle gloss to refresh your colour and a treatment to strengthen and deeply nourish your hair. This service takes 90 minutes or less and is a great way to prevent that "baked in the sun" look. You can learn more about this and our other Pocket Sized services by clicking here.
Do you have a pool or know someone who does? We know you'll be spending tons of time in it this summer, especially during those heat waves. Here's how to enjoy it without worrying about the impact of chlorine interacting with the minerals in the water:
Before you go in the pool, thoroughly saturate the hair with "clean" water. Use the sink, the garden hose, your shower, whatever works for you. Our hair can only absorb so much water, so this limits the amount of pool water it will be able to absorb.
Tie your hair up to help keep it saturated with the clean water from above. You can also add a bit of conditioner but full disclosure, pool filters don't love conditioner the way your hair does.
When you're done swimming for the day, at minimum fully rinse but preferable shampoo your hair. Avoid allowing pool water to dry in your hair. That's how you start to get that "swimmer's" build up. If you're just getting back in the next day, skip the styling products and just get some conditioner in your hair to nourish it.
Use a chelating shampoo like our Malibu C Swimmers Wellness every few weeks on your entire household. This, along with the tips above, will help to prevent that overly shiny, hard to detangle, sometimes green-hued pool hair. You can learn more about this product here.
Fun Fact: The green-hued, tangled pool hair comes not specifically from chlorine but from the interaction between pool chemicals and the iron and copper that are naturally present in our water.
Our Top 5 Beach Bag Essentials:
A little bottle of conditioner - Great to apply to your dry hair before tying it up as the heat from the sun will actually help it to penetrate further, as well as protecting. PRO TIp: If you're stopping for dinner on the way home from the beach and need to revive your hair, wet and apply conditioner. Detangle and don't rinse it out. The conditioner will have enough of a styling effect to get you through the evening.
Sunscreen - Obviously for your skin but we often forget our scalp is skin too. Apply sunscreen to your part line and hair line to help prevent a burnt head. We love the Tizo Mineral Sun Defense because it's free of harmful sunscreen chemicals, is ultra lightweight, and is available in a lightly tinted option so you can skip any foundation all summer long. We don't carry this product but it's readily available online or at Pure+Simple Spa in Waterloo if you want to support a small business.
Stainless steel water bottle(s) - We generally don't hydrate enough during long days in the sun and are left feeling lethargic (because heat stroke and dehydration are sneaky like that). A few ice cubes in the stainless steel bottle will help to keep your beverages cold for a surprisingly long time. Skip the cocktails here and stick to still or sparkling waters, adding some berries or water flavouring if needed.
Coily hair tie or scrunchie - The coiled hair tie is perfect for going in the water as it will stay securely in your hair all day. The scrunchie is great for if you don't want to do the conditioner trick above but still need to do something about the beach hair. Twist the front and pull the rest of it back into a low bun or high ponytail.
A good book or audio book - We're all basically bookworms and love nothing better than lounging on the beach and reading. A little shade is required especially if you're an ebook reader or habitually fall asleep while reading in the sun. Earbuds and podcasts work well here too. There's something about this that is just good for the soul.