Summer Haircare Q&A

While the wonderful rays of Father Sun may warm your bones, it will also do a deep fry on unprotected hair. Even worse, search and destroy pool chemicals and ocean salt can vaporize all those wonderful natural oils you've spent all year balancing and building in your soft, undamaged mane.

Sun and surf damage can manifest as faded hair color, fragile, brittle or dry hair and yucky split ends. Be proactive and protect your hair from UVA & UVB rays that can leave you with a head full of straw that can take months to reverse. Simply spritz on SPF 90 Rene Furterer Solaire Protective Summer Fluid before you venture into the sun, and you're good to go! Unless you plan on a major buzz cut at summer's end, resist the urge to "do naked hair" or dive into pools with your locks flowing freely and follow the following Safe Summer Hair Rules.

Start the summer season with a salon trip to remove split ends and handle hair repairs. If your hair normally dries out in the summer, consider a preventive deep conditioning treatment like Alto Bella Olive Oil Intensive Treatment to ward off summer frizzies.

Not exactly, Lemon juice by itself will not lighten the hair. Lemon juice AND the ultraviolet rays of the sun will lighten your hair. (similar to a product called "Sun-In" ) The drawback here is dryness and if your is dark to begin with, it will turn orangutan orange! This job is better done by a professional. We also would like to suggest a 'weave'. The weave (unlike the allover color) will not show such an extreme outgrowth line (dark roots). If you are already a dark blonde or very light brown you can probably use the lemon juice and sun method. Be sure to buy a really good conditioner like Rene Furterer Solaire Repairing After Sun Mask for after. Also the lemon, sun method needs about 5 hours in the sun. (not good for the skin so wear sun block!)

Green hair makes it's appearance every summer. With more and more spas and Jacuzzi's becoming popular, it is starting to be a year round event. The green color is most noticeable in blonde hair although it can coat and damage any hair type.. Most people assume it is from the chlorine used to purify the water in pools and spas. Chlorine itself is colorless, but greenish compounds form in the pool/spa environment and are readily absorbed by porous hair strands.

To remove it from the hair you will need to use products that are made for this purpose. A chelating / clarifying shampoo like Philip B Peppermint and Avocado Clarifying Shampoo works wonders- and should be used immediately after swimming. Phytoplage After Sun Rehydrating Shampoo is also formulated to remove chlorine, sand and salt for ultimate clean hair. It can also be used as a body wash, so toss it in your beach bag for an easy all-in-one solution!

In unusually difficult cases, where the hair is extremely porous (such as bleached hair) your hairdresser may need to apply a color stripper chemical treatment. To prevent it's reoccurrence, you have to keep your hair out of the pool! If that isn't possible then you can minimize the hair's porosity by wetting the hair thoroughly before entering the pool. A good conditioner before swimming may help too.