The Salt + The Sunseeker; The Affects On Your Hair Health

As a professional hairstylist in a California beach town for the past thirty-five years everyone wants that fun summer beach textured hair. They flock to the beaches every summer for a swim in the ocean for some natural sun and sea salt in hopes of achieving this but the question I get asked the most, is this safe for the health of your hair? Pro-stylist, Sarah Jane of Kind Sol Haircare will break down the highly harmful disservice and possibly even injury to your hair and scalp with spending excessive time in the sun and saltwater. She shares some of the best trade secrets that will shield your hair and scalps vital health while showcasing some beach styling techniques to protect your hair.

The ocean water provides a number of benefits to your physical and mental well-being. For your hair, the activity can be a double-edged sword, because the effect of seawater depends on your hair type, texture, and the current condition of your strands. Your hair is comprised of keratinous protein with cross links that hold that protein making up the shape which is effectively your hair. Sea water, aside from actual water contains minerals, gases, and salt such as Sodium, Chloride, Calcium, Sulphate, and Magnesium. Your hair and scalp can benefit from the added minerals; the enhanced body and texture that the ocean water can produce. More seriously, on the flip side the injury from the sun and salt can lead to the deterioration of your hair and scalps overall health.

Spending time in the sun and saltwater can cause the hair follicles to swell and become more porous, leading to dry, dehydrated, and brittle unruly frizz and making your hair difficult to untangle. When this is present breakage can start to occur when trying to untangle. The precautions the salt and sunseeker should take to prevent these types of damages from happening. Dry and Dehydrated When your hair becomes dry and dehydrated the hair structure has begun to weaken because of the lack of moisture in the hair. When your hair follicle is in this compromised state is when the breakage will most likely occur if not cared for properly. Scalp Irritation is a major possibility if you're one of the thousands of people that suffer from dry and itchy scalp. The salt in ocean water will strip away all your natural oils from your scalp and will cause irritation, even dandruff in some cases. Hair Color Loss can occur when exposed to the UV rays. Sun Burned Scalp is a very dangerous and harmful condition that happens when your scalp is not protected from the UV rays. It can happen along your part, hairline, thinning areas, or entire scalp. A sever scalp sunburn can cause blisters, swelling of the scalp or hairline. If your experience severe sunburn on your scalp and feeling severe pain, large blisters, or infection, see a physician.

The suns photochemical impairment of the hair includes degradation and loss of proteins as well as loss of hair pigment. UVB radiation is responsible for the protein loss and UVA radiation is responsible for the hair color changes. Absorbtion of radiation in photosensitive amino acids of the hair and their photochemical degradation is producing free radicals. They have adverse impact on the hair proteins, especially Keratin. Melanin can particularly immobilize free radicals and block their entrance in the Keratin matrix. It also absorbs and filters adverse UV radiations. Therefore, melanin is important for direct and indirect protection of the hair proteins. Protecting the cuticle is very important for keeping the shaft integrity. You can achieve this by avoiding noxious impacts or by the implementation of hair care products with UV filters. Nowadays major studies and research has been conducted in order to create hair care products that prevent hair damage.

Now we know the harmful damaging effects the sun and salt can have on your hair and scalp. Let us share some of the top ways to prevent your hair from being severely damaged from the salt and the harmful sun's rays. We'll highlight how to repair if your hair and scalp has already been compromised and finally share some styling tips that are a great way to use products that will protect your hair while enjoying some fun in the sun.

Prior to going out in the sun or surf dampen your hair with water, either put a deep moisturizing mask treatment on or spray a liberal amount of UV protection spray on your hair and scalp. You can style this into your hair in braids or just let naturally dry into your hair. By using this method of protection will keep your hair from becoming porous and becoming acceptable to the damage. Apply a UV Leave-in Protective Spray and blow-dry style into your hair, take with you in case you need to re-apply. We highly recommend the Kind Sol Haircare Solar Guard Protective Spray as it is an Inhibitor that repels the harmful UV rays. Finally, wearing a protective hat before going out in the sun can minimize the dangers of the sun's exposure to your face, hair, and scalp. Post sun and surf care looks like using a gentle detox shampoo right after exposure to the sun and salt, this will remove any environmental pollutant and free radicals from your hair. We suggest the gentle Ocean Rush Detox Shampoo from Kind Sol that leaves the soft manageable. Follow up with a deep conditioning treatment that will reset your hair moisture, strength, and hydration.

Perhaps your is already damaged from the elements of the sun and surf and don't know how to repair the damage. We see this a lot working behind the chair in a beach town and are going to give you some options on how to improve your hairs overall health. First, we highly recommend detoxifying your hair follicles from any free radicals that may be lurking inside the cuticle of your hair. Next, apply a natural deep conditioning moisture treatment that will infuse deep into the cortex of your hair follicle to begin to repair the proteins and amino acids that were damaged from the sun and salt. Apply, a leave-in UV protective spray that will give you added condition and protection. Finally, we recommend air dry styling with using a natural nutrient rich styling cream that will condition while styling. Products that we recommend ~ Kind Sol Haircare All the products that we are recommending have been tested on our salon guests that are emersed in the sun, surf, and sport driven lifestyle that showed improved conditioning results. 1] Ocean Rush Detox Shampoo 2] Solstice Repair Treatment 3] Solstice Repair Shampoo 4] Solar Guard Protective Leave-in Spray 5] Sunset Styling Cream together as a system, followed in that order will greatly improve the overall health of your hair and scalp

We have taken a deep dive into what the true dangers of over exposure to the sun and salt water can possibly have on your hair and scalp, we learned what precautions and procedures to take to prevent this type of severs damage, and finally we showcased how to restore dehydrated and damaged hair with a list of our fan favorite product's that improved our behind the chair client's. You are now powered with all the information for enjoying your time out in the sun and saltwater. Be safe.