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Beauty · ☀️ Summer

Putting your hair back together after the sun

Three weeks of salt, chlorine and heat, undone at home for about a fiver.

Beauty · 20 min at home · 3 min read

Glossy mid-length hair falling over a shoulder in natural light

Sun lifts colour, salt strips moisture and chlorine does both at once. By late August most hair is a shade lighter and a lot drier than it started.

The fix is boring and it works: put moisture back before you put colour back.

The at-home routine

  1. One clarifying wash to strip out product and chlorine build-up. Once, not weekly.
  2. A protein-light deep conditioner on damp hair, mid-lengths and ends only, 20 minutes under a towel.
  3. A weekly oil on the ends only, on dry hair, the night before you wash.
  4. Drop the heat setting on everything by one notch for a fortnight.

What to look for

  • A clarifying shampoo — any chemist one is fine
  • A mask with fatty alcohols high in the ingredients list
  • A lightweight oil: argan or squalane rather than coconut on fine hair
  • A gloss or acidic rinse if the colour has gone brassy

Home or salon

Home for condition. Salon for tone — brassiness is a colour correction and a professional gloss costs far less than a full colour, usually 30 minutes in the chair.

My SZN editorial inspiration — our own seasonal idea, not a listing for a verified external event.

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