8 TRIED-AND-TRUE TRICKS FOR GREAT SUMMER HAIR
The countdown til summer has started. You’ve got your warm-weather prep list all figured out: Killer new swimsuit—check. Vaka plans—check. Beach weekend hangouts—check. SPF stock-up—check. Fedora-as-beach-hat replacement—check. Flats that will make your heels jealous—check. Bring on Memorial Day weekend!
Except—not. At least not til you figure out your summer hair plan. Because heat + humidity + salt (air or water) + chlorine + sun = drier hair can get drier and oily hair more oily; curly hair can go insane and straight hair can fuzz out; colored hair can fade or turn a weird shade and natural strands can look fried.
But friends, we’ve got you covered on this one. We asked our Truhair team of hair obsessives for their best ways to keep their locks healthy, sexy, pretty, wavy, straight, whatever all summer long so we could do a group share. And they came through. Here, your summer hair plan in 8 easy tips.
- Make sure your hair’s wet before you dip!
Memorize this before you dive in: Hair absorbs less of the damaging stuff from salt or chlorinated water if it’s already wet. So be sure to rinse your locks before you take a swim, and to keep your color—natural or enhanced—from fading, always use a protectant gel with SPF.
- And use a hair mask after that swim!
Combating the breakage that comes from pool-party chlorine and hours in the sun with a good overnight hair mask every couple of weeks. There’s love here at Truhair for the masques by Nexxus. The Humectress Moisture Masque is a fave but all three Nexxus masque products will bring your mane back to life. Find them here.
- Get your hair off your neck!
You may want to do it in hopes a summer breeze will come by to cool you down. And that’s fine. But it’s actually a really good idea because sweat can dry out your hair strands and damage color. Blame it on the combo of salt and water. Try playing with different updo styles that are as casual as the season—messy bun, sleek bun, braided bun, even space buns will do the trick—and keep them in place with a swipe of our Big Lift Volume Stick!
- Use a headband for workouts!
Actually this one isn’t specific to summer. But since most of us are out and about exercising in the sun more come summer and therefore more likely to get a good sweat on, it’s a handy time to remember that sweat-absorbing headbands are a great way to pull that sweat away from your locks. Our Volcanic Volume can come in handy as a dry shampoo in this sitch.
- Don’t pull wet hair up tight in a ponytail!
Your strands are at their most fragile when wet, so pulling them back super-tight and then gripping them with a holder is a sure way to cause breakage. If you must tie it up, make a loose pony or bun and hold with clips or just tuck under your hat. And when you do pull it back, mix up where you put the tie to avoid stressing the same area repeatedly.
- Do a deep conditioner—at the beach!
Apply conditioner before you head out and let your hair absorb it all day. If your locks are fine and/or thinning, look for products with panthenol and biotin. For dry hair, find products that include ingredients like coconut oil, shea butter, Moroccan argan oil, and Vitamin E. For oily, go with bergamot, tea tree oil, aloe vera and eucalyptus.
- Wear a hat!
We’re fans of fedoras (yes, still!), big straw boaters, floppy hippie styles, bucket shapes and baseball caps (especially if they’re for the teams we like!). Putting that physical barrier between your hair and the sun is the best way to keep it from drying out and fading, especially if you’re out on the water (but not, you know, ending up in the water).
- SPF! SPF! SPF!
Like we said in #3, always use a protectant gel with SPF.