It’s summer all year long in Malaysia, but you can’t stop us from feeling the summer vibes! Those sparkling clear blue sea and shimmering pool in your favourite resorts is SO tempting in this hot and humid weather.
However, some of the most frequently asked questions by our customers in our salon around this season are - “Can I swim after colouring/perming/relaxing my hair?” and “How do I protect my hair from chlorine/sea water?”.
We totally feel you and our stylists would like to offer some tips for you on how to care for your hair in protection from the sun, sea and chlorinated water, especially for those with chemically-treated hair.
1. Wait at least 48 hours before letting your hair touch sea or chlorinated water.
Or if possible, wait at least for whole week’s time before swimming in the sea or pool. Both salt water and chlorinated water are terribly drying and damaging for your hair. Top that up with the harmful UV rays from the Sun, the colour molecules from your hair will break apart and turn it into this extremely noticeable brassy color.
If you have coloured hair and it faded immensely from the damage, fear not!
We have you covered with these color shampoos.
2. Pre-soak your hair with fresh water before jumping in!
If you dip in with dry hair, it will only enhance the absorption of chlorine and salt water. That will make your hair even drier and tangled than ever! So, we recommend all to wash your hair thoroughly with clean water first.
Don’t forget to follow-up your swim with a rinse of fresh water too before shampooing afterwards. Never let your hair dry with chlorine or salt water as it will only further damage your hair!
3. Oil it up!
To prevent your hair from soaking up too much of the chlorine and salt water, we recommend applying hair conditioner, hair oil or a simple coconut oil evenly on your tresses to protect it from all the dehydrating factors in the sea or pools.
Remember to oil it after wetting your hair as that helps with the oil-absorption easier.
Here is our recommended hair oil for the summer!
4. Make use of those leftover sunscreen
While you don't have to specifically put sunscreen on your hair, you use those leftovers on your palms on your scalp, as well as your hair ends. This is to fend off the damaging UVA & UVB rays and offers some protection for your scalp, which most of us often neglect!
If your scalp is irritated by the chlorinated or sea water, we recommend this scalp-soothing product for you.
5. Keep your tresses in place with a bun
Surely you'll look better in photos with your hair down but this will only make them more easily tangled when swimming! We really recommend you to tie your freshly oiled hair up in a bun before you swim. If you want something more fashionable, a tight French braid is great to keep your hair in place too.
But of course, a swimming cap will be the most ideal way to protect your hair.
6. Post-swim deep moisturizing hair care
This might sound a little weird but, we recommend you to use conditioner all over your hair FIRST to help with the untangling. You can also use a Tangle Teezer in the bathroom for greater help.
Then follow up with a round of shampooing and lastly, a deeply moisturizing hair mask to replenish the moisture in your hair strands. We truly believe that hair mask is essential for an after-swim hair care!
Here are our favourite hair treatments and masks!
7. Blow-dry without heat
Right now, your hair extremely vulnerable so we recommend you to gently squeeze out the excess water from your hair after wash and comb through with a wide-tooth comb. Apply plenty of hair oil or serum before lightly blow-dry without any heat at all. Who needs the heat in this weather anyway, right?
Even better, use a non-damaging hair dryer such as Dyson's to for a quick and smooth drying experience.