Sun, sea, sand: how to protect your hair in summer
Our hair is often more fragile this season than the rest of the year. Our tips for protecting them from the sun and keeping them vigorous and shiny all summer long.
Just like the skin, the hair has better be well protected in summer. Sun first. Its rays associated with the wind weaken the keratin and dry out the hair fiber. UV oxidizes melanin which lightens hair.
Salt and sand don’t help. Their crystalline structure can cause mechanical abrasion of the hair and lift the scales. A bit like the water and chlorine in the swimming pool which have the effect of breaking down the scales of the hair. Results ? “The hair is duller, rough and dry to the touch, difficult to comb. The scales being damaged, the hair is more porous and the split ends appear,” explains Céciel Levêque, Timotei hair scientific expert. The most to be pitied are certainly colored hair. Without protection, “UV degrades the pigments and the hair becomes drier and more porous, it retains the color even less well”.
The right things to do to protect your hair
As we don’t want to look like a scarecrow, we adopt these few beauty gestures:
- We wear a hat the time of exposure to the sun to protect the keratin and melanin of the fiber, subjected to severe strain in the summer.
- We avoid getting your hair wet when swimming in sea water and swimming pools, because damp hair is more fragile. Not easy when you are at the sea, you might say … So we lift them up or tie them up to have as little contact with the water as possible.
- We dry our wet hair by dabbing them gently with a towel so as not to damage them.
To protect your long hair: protect the ends which tend to dry out by hiding them in a button or by making simple braids. We forget the too tight bars and rubber bands, which easily break the fiber.
Shampoo, conditioner, mask, the winning trio
In terms of care, each type of hair has its beauty ritual.
- The beauty asset of curly hair for the summer begins with a nourishing mask with shea butter for example.
- Colored hair will use special spray hair mists for colored hair during sun exposure to spray every two or three baths, from roots to ends. This will protect the pigments from UV rays.
- Shoulder-length and long hair can also protect their hair from the sun by braiding it and coating it with palm oil.
Whatever the type of hair, there is still an unstoppable thing: “Before swimming or sun exposure, it is advisable to use a hair conditioner mask. The mask, ultra rich in care agents , will make it possible to close the scales well and cover the fiber to provide the hair with the care and protection necessary to face future attacks “, advises our expert.
And after swimming? Residues of salt, sand or chlorine are removed by using a mild shampoo, conditioner and mask afterwards. This combination helps to nourish, repair and maintain the shine of our hair.
