Your hair frames your face, and although it may be hard to find the perfect style for you, it does not have to be difficult to protect your hair from damage. Any great style starts with healthy hair, and with these low effort strategies your hair can easily withstand summer, and year round, damage.
Sun Damage
85% of women color treat their hair. This means your hair is already depleted before it hits the sun, making it easier for it to dry out and for you to be stuck with a head of “straw”, or a hat head. The easiest fix available for this is a good leave in conditioner. Using it in modest amounts can kick start your style, and protect your hair from the elements. This includes not only the sun, but also wind, rain and general temperature fluctuations. Another great addition to your hair care routine is an SPF spray. More and more skin cancers are observed at the scalp; we treat our faces with sunscreen, but we generally don’t think of treating the skin on our scalp! That’s where the cancer is hitting now, so protect yourself with a good SPF spray to avoid the problem.
Green Hair
Especially blond people can start looking like Kermit the frog if they swim in a pool that is not properly balanced. The green hue is caused by metals that seep into the hair, such as copper. You can try spraying on a pH balancer to get your hair to a pH of 3.5, this can create a barrier against the metals in the water. However, it may wash out so a better strategy is to thoroughly rinse your hair before going into a pool. If you saturate your hair with fresh water, it is less likely that a large amount of damaging water will penetrate your hair when swimming.
Chemicals that Change Texture
Any chemical used on your hair to change its texture, whether straightening or curling techniques, will weaken the hair. Add that to a bit of sun (also in winter!) and you get extra damage. Again applying some leave in conditioner can protect you from the additional damage you get from sun exposure.
There is one thing you can, and should, avoid: 6% peroxide. People use it thinking that it will create natural highlights in the sun. Quite the contrary; not only does this treatment not give you highlights, instead it does make your hair cuticles open, making it even easier for the sun to fry your hair. At the end of the day you are left with some serious damage, which cannot really be rescued.