Hair Care Regimen for Swimmers

Since the summer is here and I've been getting tons of emails asking me about swimming and hair care I figured I should give you guys a sample hair care regimen for swimmers. Here is something you might not know about me, I was a swimmer as a child for my town, in high school and I did a short stint as a diver in college. The one thing that always boggled my mind about swimming was not my hair, instead it was why the swim season is in the winter! I digress, anyway, back to hair care and swimming.

Whether your hair is relaxed or natural the most important thing about swimming and taking care of your hair is you must get the chlorine or salt water out of your hair. All this jazz about pre-rinsing or putting conditioner on your hair before you swim is fine if that's what you want to do, but the bottom line is that your hair will get wet and chlorine will get in there so make sure you get it out! With that being said, you do not need to shampoo it out. A nice co-wash or plain old water rinse will get it out, I just prefer (by 100x) to co-wash.

What I use to co-wash: VO5 Moisture Milk Conditioner

During the summer when I'm swimming a lot, I do not change up the number of times I wash my hair with shampoo. I stick to washing my hair once a week with shampoo. Usually, I try to use a shampoo without SLS or I just use my Shikakai Shampoo Bar. My rule is that I do not shampoo my hair more than once a week, even if I'm not swimming and it's just hot and I feel like my scalp needs refreshing before the 1 week mark, I just co-wash.

Since I tend to live in the pool when it's hot, I like to step up my conditioning regimen. Instead of deep conditioning just once a week, I try my hardest to deep condition twice a week. Plus, whenever I swim if I co-wash I treat that as my shampoo, meaning I use a separate conditioner after I co-wash. My choice is almost always an "instant" conditioner, instead of a deep treatment type of conditioner. I only use a deep treatment conditioner twice a week.

Styling is the biggest issue I face. For the most part I just put a little extra conditioner on my ends and then put my hair into a low bun, especially if I know I'll be swimming the very next day. If not, I might do something relatively easy that requires no heat like two strand twists. I stay away from heat styling because there really is no point for me, why bother with that when we all know too much heat causes damage? The easiest thing to do is air dry, if you have issues with air drying click that link and read my tips for air drying.

Do you have more tips? Leave them in the comments section.

Tips for Air Drying

Now that the weather is finally nice, I can start air drying my hair more often. I personally, love to air dry during the summer months because it's easy and gives my hair a break from heat. I've been getting a lot of emails requesting tips on how to air dry their hair so here we go.

Air Drying Dilemma: Do I have to use a product? If so, which one?

The biggest mistake when trying to wash, condition, and then just try to air dry. You need to apply some type of leave-in conditioner whether it's a spray or a cream or an oil, do not try to air dry your hair 'naked'. In fact, sometimes I use all three first a spray to help detangle if any tangles are left after rinsing out the conditioner. Then I use a little bit of a cream moisturizer mainly to the ends and finally I seal that with the oil and proceed to air dry.

Air Drying Dilemma: Air dry up or out and loose?

This is really up to you and how you want your hair to look and what you are going to be doing while you air dry. You can do some two strand twists, bantu knots, one big bun, or just leave it alone. This is really based on preference, but one thing I always do is apply some type of gel to my edges (all the way around my head, not just the front) and then tie a scarf on like a headband to hold it down. Unfortunately, I don't have those edges that just lay like fine little baby hairs so I have to control that.

Air Drying Dilemma: I air dried, now what?

After air drying my hair is so big and full that I love creating cool looking low buns or down 'dos. I twist it, make little braids, and just try different things when creating a unique looking 'do. Please note, if your hair feels dry moisturize it! Don't worry that you've already used products, dry hair is never a good look.

Summer Hair Favorite: Leonor Greyl's Palm Oil

The summer can be one of the roughest times on hair, but with the help of some of my favorite summer hair care favorites I am able to keep my hair in good shape throughout these blistering summer months. Leonor Greyl's Palm Oil is a product that I was introduced to last year and I quickly made it a staple in my pool bag.

“Healthy and glamourous hair using natural products” has been Leonor Greyl's motto since its creation in 1968 and we couldn't agree more.

This pioneering Brand was the first ever to use the healing properties of palm oil and has been using them to protect hair since 1970 and although Leonor Greyl already used organic quality Palm Oil, faced with numerous controversies surrounding the intensive cultivation of palm trees and their damaging effects on the environment, now each bottle gets stamped with “100% organic palm oil”. It is therefore an organic quality palm oil that the Brand currently favours, harvested in a region in Colombia where its production poses no threat to the environment.

Read the review here!

Summer Hair Care Regimen

I'm so excited that summer is right around the corner. My pool opens this weekend and while the water is probably too cold to take a dip, I'll be there! I love the warmth of the sun on my SPF protected skin and once it gets warmer, I love the feel of water. Anyway, the summer can be the most brutal on my hair because I love to swim and usually I take a dip almost daily.

Usually during the summer I rely on co-washing and wearing buns. I step up my deep conditioning by doing an overnight deep conditioning treatment twice a week. But this summer, I plan on deep conditioning overnight three times a week and saturating my hair with oil overnight once to twice a week. Thankfully, since I'm a nurse in L&D I can wear a scrub cap while I work and it's totally acceptable and common. Since my entire head is covered no one will be the wiser as to what's actually going on under there. My Plan: apply a treatment (whether it's an oil treatment or a deep conditioning treatment), cover with a plastic cap, and then cover with my scrub cap!

Summer Hair Care Tip by Natasha Sunshine

With Summer just around the corner, Natasha Sunshine, Owner of Byu-ti Hair Therapy, A Pureology Salon gives quick and easy haircare tips that will keep hair looking fabulous and leave more time to do the things you want to do, like get to the beach!

1. Use a leave-in conditioner every time you wash and follow with a spray that has UV protection like Pureology EssentialRepair ColourMax to keep sun damage to a minimum and your colour looking fresh all summer long.

2. Don't skimp on your upkeep. Reserve your summer salon visits in advance to keep your hair colour vibrant and your ends free of damage.

3. Air dry as much as possible. For girls with curls or waves, use a cocktail of Pureology EssentialRepair InstantRepair and your favorite styler (I love Pureology ColourStylist Nourishing Nectar sculpting gel!). Then twist your curls away from the face and let dry naturally. Once dry, scrunch for soft but defined waves.

HOT TIP: Slick hair into a clean ponytail or ballerina bun with Pureology EssentialRepair ColourMax before heading to the beach for extra sun protection.

7 Tips to Save your Hair From the Summer

Chlorine damage and sun over exposure are two culprits for wrecking havoc on hair, according to Joey Noufal, owner of Noufal HairColor Studio and the newly launched franchise operation.

"With warmer weather more people are beginning to enjoy outdoor activities," Joey says. "Caution though as sun exposure lightens hair and lounging poolside leaves hair with chlorine build up."

However, help is available to cure summer damaged hair. It is not too early to help treat hair and even incorporate some prevention methods to rescue summer damaged hair.

Tips by Joey to rescue sun damaged hair include:

Use a Shampoo/Conditioner with SPF: To help protect hair from sun elements, choose a shampoo/conditioner such as Goldwell's Definition that contains an SPF. As women are outside more during summer months, it is important to protect hair since the sun lightens hair even more if your hair is color treated.

Take a Cold Shower: As summer months might lead to more showers due to increased activity, beware as showering can damage hair as there is chlorine even in household water. When taking a traditional shower, hot chlorine is being activated and this has a higher intensity level than cold chlorine. A cold, slightly warm shower is best to further protect hair.

Conditioner to the Rescue: A deep moisturizing conditioner can help restore hair's natural healthy elements and protect color treatments. Conditioners, such as Redken's Smooth Down, is great for curly hair in summer months to help control the frizz. Leave-in conditioners are effective where you spray on about 10-12 squirts and massage through hair.

Don't Forget the Scalp: Be sure to apply an SPF treatment such as Redken's UV Rescue for scalp and hair. This is especially great for those with very short hair as scalp areas might be more exposed.

Balance Your Color: To help keep hair color in proper condition without damage, having a color balancing treatment applied every six to 12 weeks is recommended. If hair is a lighter color, the color treatment will fade out faster. With Goldwell coloring, the color is pulled through the ends, not just the roots. Since no ammonia is involved or color processing, this technique does not damage hair.

Controlling Humidity: In summer months, it is recommended that a woman dry her hair 100 percent of the way through as this will help combat humidity. Other techniques to help manage humid conditions include using a flat iron, as it helps control ends in humidity, and using straightening serums or linear creams to help straighten hair.

Cold Not Hot: When a woman has color-treated hair, she needs to be cautious of hot Jacuzzis. For women who are bleach blond or have heavily highlighted hair, it is advised to not get into a hot Jacuzzi for any length of time as their ends can turn green even in just two minutes. If a woman decides to enjoy the Jacuzzi, be sure the hair is up and out of the water. It is best to swim in a cold swimming pool when worried about retaining color.

Summer Hair Tips from Missy Ewart

Spring is finally upon us and that means an additional set of problems for any hair type – winter’s harsh leftovers, wind, humidity and heat. Missy Ewart, Miami’s most sought after hairstylist and co-owner of South Beach’s swankiest salon Primp Salon & Hair Extension Boutique shares her tips on how she gets her celeb clientele’s locks prepped and ready for Spring.

Tackling brittle, dry hair as a result of winter’s harsh months:

- As the weather starts to warm up and the humidity in the air increases, it’s time to change your conditioning habits. I recommend using a deep conditioning treatment to restore moisture back into your strands. Moroccan Oil has a great deep conditioning treatment.


Preparing frizzy hair for oncoming humidity:

- At Primp we use keratin treatments like Keratin Complex to eliminate frizz. Infusing your hair with protein keratin eliminates unwanted frizz and smoothes the cuticle so the hair lays flat. Specifically, at the beach I would recommend a smoothing serum such as Catwalk’s Sleek Mystique by TIGI.

Managing the sun’s effects:

- While the sun’s natural lightening doesn’t cause significant damage to your hair, over exposure to the sun’s rays can cause dryness and unwanted lightening to colored and highlighted hair. To keep these effects to a minimum try UV protecting products. If your hair has already lightening, I suggest using a toner to change the color of the hair shaft and shine to your ‘do. Wear a hat or bandana at the beach to prevent the sun’s rays from reaching your hair.

Eliminating winter impurities and dullness:

- Brutal winter conditions like cold and wind strip the cuticle, making it rough and susceptible to dryness, dullness and static. I recommend using a non-sulfate shampoo or a clarifying treatment. Apply a light serum to your strands before you blow dry to help your tresses shine in the spring sunlight.