How to keep your hair healthy during the summer

SUMMER VACAY will soon be here – and whether you escape to warmer climes for a few days a year, or live in a tropical paradise all year round, here’s how to avoid damaging your hair extensions on sunny days.

Most of us love the beach, sun and sea, but it’s important to be aware of the damage they can do, both to your own hair and to your hair extensions.

Avoid contact with chlorine

I think we all have that one friend whose hair turns green after a dip in the pool or Jacuzzi. Why does this happen? Because most pools have chlorine in the water and this will damage your hair extensions and your own hair. The chlorine reacts with the hair, causing discoloration and turning it orange/pink or even greenish. We all have a natural lubricant called sebum in our hair, but the chlorine removes this essential component, and as a result your hair gets very dry. We don’t recommend that anyone swim underwater while wearing our hair extensions. The same goes for those of you with blonde hair.

Saltwater will make your hair dry

If you have ever swum in salty seawater, you may have noticed that your hair became tangled and very dry. The salt in the ocean causes dehydration, which is the extensions’ worst enemy, potentially causing discoloration. Saltwater even strips away the natural sebum in your own real hair, so it’s not good for that either. And because hair extensions do not produce or receive sebum from the scalp, they can become even more dry.

The adverse effects of sun exposure

We should protect our hair from the sun, just as we protect our skin with sun cream. UV rays will cause your hair to become frizzy and dry, and the color will fade out faster.

Maybe you don’t want to wear a hat every day, but it’s a good idea to do it more often than normal on sunny days so you don’t overexpose your hair to these harmful rays.

Different water types

Another factor that can cause your colour to fade or turn orange/pink in tone is water that has a higher level of alkaline/mineral content.

Depending on where you are in the world, you can experience a higher level of alkaline in the water than your hair is used to, and this can cause the color to fade or turn orange/pink.

Unfortunately, this may mean you’ll need to have your hair colored or extensions toned or neutralised with specific shampoos to counteract the discoloration.

So, what can we do to protect our hair from all these harmful factors?

How to avoid your hair ending up in the bin

If you don’t want to throw your extensions into the bin after your summer vacation, you should definitely use products that nourish the hair. These will help keep your hair from turning dry and brittle.

Use oil or serum after every time you wash your hair. Here at Endless Hair we don’t have our own range of oil products (yet), but I can definitely recommend Lanza’s Healing Silk Serum. It’s impossible to use too much and end up with overly oily hair. This product is a life-saver, both for your real hair and for your extensions.

UV PROTECTION

A UV spray can help protect against the sun. It’s also a good idea keep a hat to hand, in case you can’t find your spray. The chemicals in the water you swim in, such as chlorine, salt and alkaline, can react with the sunlight, causing discoloration in chemically colored hair. Your colored hair and your extensions are likely to react similarly, because 90% of all extensions are chemically colored. So if you go on vacay in the sun, you will probably notice when you are back that your hair won’t be the same shade as it was before. To avoid this, tie your hair up and wear a hat most of the time.

Most important:

BRUSHING

If you were lazy about brushing your own hair before you got extensions, you need to change that now. Use a Boar Bristle Brush every day, at least once in the morning and once at night. And never, ever sleep with wet hair. If you do, you will damage both your hair and your extensions, and probably have very tangled hair in the morning. So always blow-dry your hair and use oil/serum.

And don’t forget:

HEAT PROTECTION

If you use heated tools often, or if you know that on vacay you’ll style your hair more often, you definitely need a heat-protection spray. It will protect your hair from getting brittle and changing color. If your heated tools go over 180°C, make sure you stay below that to keep your hair safe. Since we don’t offer our own protection spray (yet), I recommend ghd’s Heat Protect Spray, which you can buy online.

So to all beautiful ladies out there, with extensions or without: be careful with your hair and protect it as much as you do with your skin.

Xx Ellinor