How to look after your hair on holiday
Whether it feels like it or not, summer is fast approaching, and if you’re anything like us, you’ll be counting down the days until your one week away to somewhere sunnier than the UK. Your hair might be the last thing on your mind while you’re away, but exposing your hair to a different climate and environment can easily damage it, even for a short period of time. With that in mind, here are the top damage-causers for hair on holiday, and how to protect your hair against them…
1. The sun
Ah, that beautiful, bright beam of warmth, that we so rarely get to appreciate in the UK. Hopefully, sun will be in abundance on your holiday abroad. But exposure to the sun can actually have a negative effect on your hair, leaving it dry and frizzy, and it’s even worse if you’ve had your hair dyed- the sun can turn it some pretty unnatural shades.
To combat against the effect of the sun, you can buy UV defence hair masks and sprays for fairly cheap. Spritzing or slathering your hair with the stuff in the morning should be as much of a part of your routine as applying sun cream. Products such as these should filter harmful rays from the sun while deeply nourishing the strands.
2. The sea
We all know of the clumpy, dry, knotty mess that our hair becomes after a dip in the sea. We’re not sure who exactly coined the term “beach waves” because there’s nothing bouncy or wavy going on with our hair when the sea is involved. Overexposure to salt water can actually wreak havock on your hair, causing it to lose moisture and become dehydrated, hence the dry-even-when-wet sensation.
To help protect your hair from salt water (because we wouldn’t try to stop you from swimming in the sea, if that’s your thing), wash it beforehand with a good pre-swim shampoo, and finish with a leave-in conditioner. To give your hair a treat after a week of sea-swimming, apply a hair mask with honey, which will restore moisture and shine.
3. Humidity
Nobody particularly enjoys humidity anyway, so the knowledge that humidity can also damage hair isn’t exactly surprising. In particularly humid climate, your hair will absorb the moisture in the air, causing it to swell. Depending on your hair type, humidity may cause twisting or bending, which can take the curl out of fine hair strands, or alternately cause frizzy effects.
The solution to keeping your hair semi- calm in a humid climate is to condition it regularly. Conditioned hair prevent unwanted excess water vapour absorption and generally keep your hair in a far more cooperative condition. For extra protection, apply an anti-frizz product before leaving your base in the morning.
4. Swimming pools
It’s not exactly a secret that the chlorine in swimming pools can do some pretty nasty damage to your hair. Short exposure to chlorine can make your hair feel dry and “snappy”, whereas repeated exposure (for instance, every day for a week) can cause over drying and increased porosity, which can result in breakage and split ends.
To prevent chlorine damage, saturate your hair with clean tap water before you enter a pool, which will make it less likely to absorb as much of the chlorinated water in the pool. When you leave the pool, make sure to give your hair a good rinse and a wash with shampoo designed to treat chlorine-damaged hair. Condition your hair well after shampooing, to replace the moisture and protein the chlorine has stripped from your hair.