Summer Hair Care

SUMMERS HERE! Well.. almost. But it definitely feels like it.
We're adamant about protecting our skin, and slather on the sunscreen (we do, right ladies!?). So what do you do to protect your hair? Give it a rest from all the heat tools and products? Most of us, when we decide to give our hair a break, think that's all it takes to start repairing the hair. Actually, that state of mind can do way more harm than good. The serums and hairsprays, and all other products we gunk up our hair with during the year do dry out our locks and cause build-up.. but they can also protect our hair! Many hair products have some spf factor in it, protecting our hair from one of it's worst enemies.. the sun. Also, we tend to be more mindful of our hair-care regimen during the year, clarifying and deep-conditioning. Our summer low-maintenance hairstyles allow us to fall behind on our keep-up.. who honestly wants to sit inside, sweating profusely, a shower cap and warm, damp towel plastered to her head?! So this is how, at the end of August, many of us find ourselves with a head full of dehydrated, damaged, frizzy hair.

Fortunately, giving your hair a break (which does work miracles!), is easy to do right as long as you keep a few things in mind. Even if you don't decide to go the au natural route, keep my 3 basic (but necessary) rules in mind this summer:

Protect Your Hair From The Sun (and wind.. and salt water.. and humidity...)
Direct exposure from the sun is extremely damaging to the hair. Imagine blasting your hair with the highest heat setting on your blow dryer for about 5 hours.. that's the equivalent of what you're doing when you're at the beach with nothing protecting that hair! There are so many easy things to do to protect your hair, that will save you tons of stress later.
One of the most obvious is busting out the hats. This is the quickest fix. Next, I highly suggest investing in a product specifically designed to protect hair from the sun. Whether it be a leave-in conditioner, serum, whatever. Trust me, there are hundreds out there, and they're especially easier to find during summer. Use it any time you'll be out for anything other than a quick trip. When I'm going somewhere I'll be swimming, I find the easiest thing to do is whip up a mixture of water, sunscreen, and a little bit of leave-in conditioner. If I'm laying out for a while before I swim, I keep my hair under a hat. But as soon as I'm out of the water, I douse my hair in the mixture. This works wonders.. not only is my hair protected from the sun, but I don't have to deal with the post-swim uni-dreadlock. After you comb it through (bring a wide tooth comb with you any time you go swimming), it gives hair a gorgeous wet, sleek, perfume ad look.
Also, a great quick tip I want to add.. one I remember reading somewhere. To protect your hair from chlorine and salt water, wet your hair with some some water, whether it be from a bottle or water fountain, before getting into the pool or ocean. This prevents either elements from penetrating your hair to a point where it can damage it.

Condition Like Crazy!
Summer is when we should be the most concerned about conditioning our hair.. not when we should be all laissez-faire about it. As a rule of thumb, avoid products with alcohol in them. These will dry your hair our way further than the elements already will naturally. It would be beneficial to cut down the number of times a week you shampoo. Your scalp will produce more oils in the hot months, and your natural oils are the best conditioner for the hair. In any case, make sure you without fail deep condition once a week. If you have anything other than oily hair, you could bump it up to two or three times a week. You can deep condition with anything. A store-bought deep conditioner (let me know if you need help picking one out for your hair type, I've tried them all), olive oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, bananas.. chances are you know what works best for you. One awesome thing about the sun is that it's like a natural heat-cap! Oil treatments are useless on the hair without some kind of heat to allow the oil to penetrate, so douse your hair in any kind of oil, sit out in the sun, and enjoy your hot oil treatment!

Trim Your Hair Regularly
Split, ragged ends are extremely common at the end of summer. If you're taking good care of your hair with the aforementioned rules, they shouldn't be that bad. But inevitably, they're going to be there, so get rid of them before they get too high up. Don't think of summer as your break from trims, or you're going to need to cut off a lot of length at the end of the season.

My 3 rules seem pretty obvious, but it's surprising how many people throw any hair-care sense out the window during the summer months. Just like it's so much easier to gain weight than it is to lose it (ugh), it's way easier to rack up hair damage than it is to undo it. So do yourself a favor and keep that hair healthy this summer!

Have a safe and happy summer :)

Hair Repair Galore

It's so easy to find thousands of makeup reviews online. What drives me crazy is trying to find hair product reviews! Seriously, it is impossible for me to decide whether the general consensus is positive or negative about a product. Everyone's hair type is different. It's not like skin, where you fall into common categories. Hair varies so much from person to person, and we each need our own personalized regime to get our locks to do what we want them to. Some of us are low maintenance. Personally, I love being able to create different styles and therefore I'm always searching for products that can help me out there.
Recently, my focus has been more on repairing and growing out my hair. I've been from platinum blonde to black 3 times in 2 years. Miraculously, my hair hasn't melted off or become a cotton candy nest my head. I thank the hair gods because I think it's genetic...my hair has always been pretty resilient. Anyways...

WORDS OF DEEP CONDITIONER WISDOM: The truth about 90% of negative deep conditioner reviews you will find online is the people writing them did not buy the mask specifically for their hair type. Not all treatments are created equal. There are protein treatments, deep conditioners with protein, and deep conditioners with minimal protein. People make the mistake of getting a moisturizing treatment, then wonder why they still have breakage. Some get a protein containing mask and are disgusted by how brittle and rough their hair becomes when what it needs is moisture.

IF YOUR HAIR IS PROCESSED AND BRITTLE: If you dye or chemically treat your hair and use heat tools, you will need a deep conditioner with protein in it. My favorite is Redken's Extreme Rescue Force ($17). Either the squeeze tube, or the seperate packets for more concentrated hair SOS. Whenever using anything with protein in your hair, it is important to follow up with something moisturizing to balance things out. So make sure you condition afterwards, even if it's just your regular conditioner.

IF YOUR HAIR IS OVERPROCESSED: If you dye or chemically straighten your hair and use heat tools, doing both frequently, and you've found yourself with brittle, breakage-prone strands, you're gunna need something that packs more punch. Before I recommend anything, I want to say something. I know you've heard and dont want to hear this again, but I'm going to say it anyway: The Only Way To Get Rid Of Damaged Hair Is To Cut It Off. That being said, this is what I suggest for extremely damaged hair: monthly hardcore protein treatments (Aphogee 2 Step Protein Treatment Packet [$2.99], Redken Extreme Cat Protein Treatment [$16]), weekly protein conditioners (Joico K-PAK Deep-Penetrating Reconstructor [$25], Giovanni Protein Hair Infusion [$8], 2 beaten eggs mixed with some honey and olive oil), and importantly, a mask specifically for deep moisturizing. My favorite is Redken Heavy Cream ($17), or Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Mask ($7).

IF YOUR HAIR IS DRY: If your biggest problem is dry, crunchy hair, your current hair mask could actually be contributing to the problem. Stay away from deep conditioners that promise to "reconstruct" or "rebuild" your hair. If course, if you actually need this, refer to the above rec's for hair repairing AND moisturizing. But if your hair is not too processed, and dryness is the main issue, look for deep conditioners that are made to restore moisture without any kind of "rebuilding". My favorite moisturzing masks are the aforementioned ones, Redken Heavy Cream ($17), or Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Mask ($7). I love home remedy's for dry hair more than anything. I spent years trying to get the measurements of the hair mask recipes I'd find perfect, but in the end what's worked better than ANY recipe is just eyeballin' it and creating a concoction of all the moisturizing ingredients I have around (things that one would put in a hair mask, of course. I wish vaseline could cure dry hair). My favorite moisturizing hair mask is a bowl of olive oil, mashed avacado, honey, mayo, maybe coconut oil if I have it around. I'll definitely create a post of my favorite homemade hair masks. They really do work.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Processed hair needs protein treatments, overprocessed needs super protein treatments, dry hair needs to stay away from the protein. And all 3 need moisturizing.

I could go on and on, and trust me I will. But being as this is a post dedicated to deep conditioners, I'll cut myself off here.