Hair: Soft and Shiny even at the sea

We rest during the holidays, but our hair gets stressed: the sun and seawater can ruin the hair, making it frizzy and dull. So how to protect hair naturally during the summer months? Let’s see it together.

Prepare your hair in the sun.

Summer is perhaps the worst season for our hair: the sun’s rays and the sea’s saltwater dry up the hair and make it dry, frizzy, and dull. External aggressions can ruin the hair, causing it to lose brightness, color, and softness. Hair becomes more brittle, breaks more easily, and split ends can form.

To avoid this, you need to take care of your hair before you even get sun exposure. If you are about to leave, do not undergo treatments that can stress the hair: dyes, bleaches, permanents, excessive use of hair straighteners, and hair dryers weaken the hair and tend to dry it out.

If you don’t want to have brittle, frizzy, and dull hair even before closing your suitcases, avoid dyeing your hair, or if you can’t do without it, choose natural dyes such as henna in addition to coloring, nourish the hair.

Please take advantage of the natural heat of the summer season to use the hairdryer as little as possible and brush your hair only when it is dry, using a brush with soft bristles or a wide-toothed wooden comb. In this way, you will avoid having damaged hair before leaving and limit the damage caused by sun and sea salt.

How to protect hair on the beach

Once you leave, you can protect your hair from the direct sun by wearing a hat or a light scarf so you will avoid direct sunlight. Then apply a protective oil, especially on the tips: the oils create a barrier on the hair that defends it from external aggressions, such as sun and salt.

You can buy an eco-bio sun oil for hair in herbalists and shops that sell natural products: some brands also formulate products suitable for the swimming pool, not only for the sea.

Distribute the oil with your hands or with the help of a comb: apply over the entire hair, dry or damp hair, or according to the instructions on the package. Renew the application if you spend several hours on the beach.

If you prefer, you can use pure vegetable oils in the same way. However, coconut oil is the number-one ally when it comes to oil to protect hair from the sun. It has the advantage of being one of the cheapest and most resistant to rancidity vegetable oils and being easily available.

Other vegetable oils are also indicated to protect the hair from seawater and the sun, such as argan oil and wheat germ oil, to be applied in the same way.

After the bath, take a shower with fresh water to rinse the hair and remove the salt, which weakens and dries up the hair; if necessary, apply the oil again after showering.

Moisturize and nourish the hair after sun exposure

Before shampooing, and in any case at least a couple of times a week, make a moisturizing compress on the hair to prevent dryness and keep it shiny and soft. There are many ready-made eco-bio masks on the market, but you can also make effective treatments at home using a few ingredients.

Aloe gel is an excellent natural moisturizing ingredient for hair. It can be applied to the hair before shampooing: massage the gel with hair with your hands, especially on the lengths and leave on for fifteen minutes, then proceed with the shampoo.

You can also use flaxseed gel: in the morning, put a spoonful of flaxseed in a glass of water. In the evening, on returning from the beach, you will have a gel ready to be applied to your hair and left on for fifteen minutes.

To moisturize the mask based on aloe gel or flaxseed gel, alternate a more full-bodied one based on Shea butter and coconut oil: mix these two ingredients in equal parts and distribute the compress on damp hair.

Leave on for at least thirty minutes before shampooing. Remember to choose a mild, eco-bio-neutral shampoo that does not attack the hair.

In addition to these indications, to have hydrated, soft, and shiny hair, remember to drink at least two liters of water a day and to eat different portions of fruit and vegetables during the day: two good habits that will be good for the whole body, not only to the hair.