10 Hair Care Tips for Summer

Protecting your tresses against oppressive heat and sun exposure takes a certain level of care. Some common problems associated with the summer season include dryness, excess oil, split ends, faded colour, and chlorine damage. Follow our top 10 hair care tips to make sure your healthy locks survive the approaching summer days unscathed.

1. Protect Hair From the Sun

Harsh UV rays can "sunburn" your hair in a similar way to your skin. How? The sun practically sears the cuticles that surround and protect your strands, leaving them stripped of the natural oils needed to lock in moisture. In turn, hair becomes dry and prone to absorbing moisture from the environment, and you know what happens then: frizz. Discover our SU range, formulated with healing, hydrating, and nourishing Italian-grown citrus specifically toreduce the effects of UV damage on hair.

2. Avoid Excessive Heat

Too much heat from styling tool overexposure causes the water inside your strands to evaporate while altering the hair's keratin makeup, which can lead to reduced resilience and elasticity. So, cut back on the hot tools this time of year; instead, style hair while wet to keep it healthy and your routine as minimal as possible. Besides, who wants to sweat under a hairdryer in the heat of summer? When you do use styling tools, always apply a thermal protector like our MELU spray, rich in amino acids, to shield hair from the heat.

3. Wash Less Frequently

Keeping hair hydrated in the summer is enough of a struggle with the harsh climate working against you, you certainly don't need the additional dryness caused by overwashing. Frequent shampooing strips the hair and scalp of their natural oils (ironically causing the scalp to produce excess oil to compensate). The resulting dryness can lead to dandruff, breakage, and annoying tangles. It's important to choose highly moisturising shampoos like our MOMO formulation. Co-washing — washing hair with conditioner instead of shampoo — is another great solution. Replace your usual cleanser with our award-winning MOMO Conditioner; or, if you have wavy/curly hair, give a try to the LOVE Curl Cream. Last but not least, you can use the More Inside Invisible Dry Shampoo to extend the time between wash days.

4. Keep Yourself Hydrated

Keeping hair hydrated starts on the inside, so keep yourself quenched with the recommended six to eight glasses of water a day. You should drink even more than that when you're out in the sun on a hot day. Drinking water energises both the hair and body, waking up your strands and promoting growth. Dehydrated hair, on the contrary, looks dull, frizzy, and brittle.

5. Don't Skip a Trim

Kick off the summer season with a fresh trim, a healthy hair habit you should honor every six to eight weeks year-round. Cleaning up dead ends keeps all the damage and breakage on your ends from spreading further up the hair shaft, plus it can help reduce frizz and improve the texture of your hair, promoting a fuller, healthier look. You'll likely want a more lightweight style for summer anyway, no?

6. Protect Your Colour

What do chlorine, salt water, and sunshine have in common? Besides being joy-inducing symbols of summer, they can all sadly wreak havoc on hair colour. Nothing will dull a hair dye faster than UV radiation. Keep your colour vibrant all summer long by always covering it up with a hat or scarf in the sun and treating it with products formulated for coloured hair. Our MINU range, amino acid and colour-protecting phlyphenol-rich thanks to caper blossom extract, is just the thing. Wash with the MINU Shampoo, then treat with the corresponding MINU colour-protecting treatment mask, rinsing after 10 to 15 minutes.

 7. Deep-Conditioning Treatment

Another way to prevent hair from drying out and becoming frizzy in the summer is by deep conditioning. Unlike daily conditioners — which detangle and smooth over the hair cuticle, moisturising only the surface of your strands — deep conditioners are formulated to repair hair from the inside out. You should be using a deep conditioner like our Renewing Conditioning Treatment, for all hair types, two to four times a month. Or - if your hair feels really brittle - opt for Nourishing Vegetarian Miracle Conditioner.

 8. Pull Your Hair Back

Summer is not the time to showcase your long locks with extravagant blowouts and trailing tresses — unless you don't mind the feeling of sweaty hair on the back of your neck. Instead, pull the hair back away from your face in loose, breezy updos that allow the scalp to breathe while keeping the hair off your skin (which prevents it from clogging your pores). Try beachy braids on a casual day, or an accessorised ponytail for something more polished.

9. Use a Hair Serum

Boost your hair's defense against environmental factors with a hair serum, which coats the hair shaft and acts as a protective agent against extreme heat, sun, and pollution. For coloured hair, our MINU Hair Serum is formulated to protect and brighten colour despite summer's attempt to dull it.

10. Book a Salon Treatment

Even when you're trying to be diligent about sun protection and drinking water, and you're doing your best to keep hair trimmed and hydrated with regular deep conditioning treatments, summer activities like swimming and sunbathing can still take a toll on your hair. Book a treatment with your Davines hairdresser before your strands endure too much damage from the season.