Problem No. 1: Sun Scorching
Without hesitation, Phillip Wilson, once voted the best hairstylist in 100 years and president of the Angles & Collections Salon and Day Spa, tells WebMD that the sun is the biggest enemy of hair during the summer.
Wilson, who often journeys to the Sundance and Cannes film festivals to tend to his movie star clients, says not only in Hollywood do 85% of women have color-treated hair. “That’s the figure nationwide,” he says. “Sun dries hair out. If it’s already processed, it’s already depleted and can become dry straw.”
To combat this, Wilson says, “the coolest thing on the market” is leave-in conditioners. “If not overly used,” he adds, “they start the styling for you, adding volume at the roots.”
David Bank, MD, director of the Center for Dermatology, Cosmetic, and Laser Surgery, in Mount Kisco, N.Y., also recommends a pretreatment with an SPF spray made for hair. “We see some skin cancers of the scalp and these not only protect hair, but guard against those,” he says, adding that SPF sprays are a light mist. What level of SPF? “Whatever you can get your hands on — 15, 30,” Bank says.
Hats can also protect hair from the sun, but there is a trade-off — hat head.
Problem No. 2: Green Hair
If a swimming pool is not properly balanced, metals such as copper in the water can leach onto hair. You know that nice green patina of a copper picture frame? It looks less fetching on the head.
Again, treated hair, especially the blond shades, tinges the most. “Chlorine is a nightmare!” exclaims Wilson. He recommends pretreating your hair with a pH balancer to try to get it to a pH of 3.5, which is acidic. “This almost creates a barrier [to greening substances in the water]. It’s like a mist.”
Bank is not sure that a spray might not wash out. “It might not solve the problem.”
He recommends rinsing hair thoroughly before going into either a chlorinated pool or the ocean. If the fresh water has saturated the hair, the salt or chemically treated water may not be able to get under the protective scales on the hair shaft as readily. Read more
Read also: Winter-Proof Your Skin
