Summer is here in Framingham and with it all the pleasures of the season: Sand, sun, beach, and pool. It’s also the season to exercise caution, however; otherwise you will end up with a gift from summer that nobody wants: Dull, dry, even faded hair.
Don’t let it happen to you. Here are the five major culprits of bad summer hair, as well as five ways to keep them at bay so your hair stays healthy, strong and lustrous.
1) Watch out for chlorine. While we don’t want to deprive you of a nice cool-down this summer, please watch out when swimming in chlorinated water. Chlorine and other pool chemicals dry out hair. What’s more they can give blonde hair a greenish tinge and shorten the life of a Keratin treatment.
Solution: Use a swimming cap and/or put in a light leave-in conditioner before swimming to protect the hair cuticle. Whenever you swim without a cap, rinse your hair before entering the water to help seal the cuticle. Rinse again immediately after leaving the water to help rinse away harmful chemicals. If you can’t do any of the above, you can always try shampoos and conditioners specially formulated to treat swimmer’s hair. However, prevention is always your best defense.
2) Protect from the Sun: We all know that the sun can do serious damage to the skin, causing burns, brown spots, wrinkles and even skin cancer. But constant sun exposure can ALSO damage and dry your hair, causing frizziness, split ends and dullness. What’s more, if you color your hair, unprotected sun exposure can and will cause premature fading.
Solutions: Wear a hat or use a leave-on conditioner/styling agent with sun protection built right in. Deep condition every week for added protection. Finally, just say NO to sun-activated lightening potions, including those old favorites lemon juice and peroxide. If you want beautiful high lights, come in to MacMed and we’ll give you the best, safely.
Bonus tip: Don’t forget to protect your part with sunscreen. Run a q-tip dipped in high spf sunscreen up and down your part line to prevent burning. Or, if you want a non-greasy option try a Colorscience powder sunscreen, available at MacMed.
3) Beware of salt: Salt has many wonderful and healing properties for the skin, hence the popularity of Dead sea salt scrubs and other sea salt products. However, any stylist knows that salt is deadly for your hair. Too much salt exposure can lead to dull, dry and hard-to-style tresses.
Solution: Wash and condition hair regularly before swimming. Again, use a leave-in conditioner or other protective styling product at the beach. Consider a spray-on version that you can throw in your beach bag ; apply as often as you would apply sunscreen. Wash and condition your hair as soon as you get home.
4) Care for damaged hair: Even with good summer care, you’ll find your hair is likely to get a little more damaged and dry in summer, and that your color is fading a bit faster or getting brassy.
Solution: Be even more religious about hair care maintenance. Regular trims can help keep the split ends and breakage problems from escalating. Keeping a regular color maintenance schedule will keep your color from fading. MacMed is open all summer and we love to see you regularly, so please come in!
5) Still have dull dry hair? At the end of the summer, or even by the middle of it, the effects of chlorine, sun and salt, in combination with all of the products you have been using to protect against them, may demand some serious measures.
Solution: Get a salon-grade clarifying treatment to remove residual pool chemicals as well as build-up from hair care product. Follow up with a deep conditioning treatment. If it could, your hair would thank you. And we at MacMed can and will thank you for your visit.
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