Midsummer Hair Repair: 3 Steps to Shiny, Sexy Hair

 

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By Jet Rhys

jet-smJet Rhys is a stylist, a colorist, a salon owner and an educator. She has been featured in AllureHarper’s Bazaar, W Magazine and SELF. Her motto is “Look, study and attack.”

 

It’s midsummer … or as some of my clients call it: “Help me!!”

After weeks of high humidity, scorching sun, dips in chlorinated pools or saltwater, hair has gone haywire. It’s fried and dull and refuses to hold any style.

It’s time to take back control. Here are a few strategies to help you get your hair shiny, bouncy and behaving!

1. Identify the damage

Run your fingers through your hair. Do your ends feel crunchy? If so, it’s time for a cut. It’s the only way to get rid of that damage. But you can take baby steps. Ask your stylist to trim just half an inch, and schedule another shaping for five to six weeks from now to dust off more of those splits.

2. Shampoo and condition your hair like a pro.

You actually want to apply shampoo to your scalp — where dirt and oil accumulates — not to your hair. Your hair will get enough of a cleansing when you rinse out the shampoo and the suds run down your strands.

Use a moisturizing conditioner after you shampoo. Every time your shampoo. This time you want to target the ends of your hair. Rub a quarter-size amount of conditioner between your palms and rake it through your hair, from an inch or so away from your roots all the way to the ends.

3.  Treat with a deep-conditioning mask once a week.

A mask is like a multivitamin for your thirsty, parched hair, providing the “nutrition” it craves. For down-to-the-cuticle penetration, I like to apply a mask to damp hair, then cover it with a damp, hot towel and wait 10 minutes before rinsing off.