It's Fall, make my hair beautiful!

As fall approaches, it's time to think about getting our hair back into shape.  Time to get rid of the damage you did at the pool and in the sun.

Remember from an earlier post, that it takes 3-4 months for you to lose your hair during the "resting" phase.  Which means, up until Christmas time, your hair is still getting rid of damaged hair, and that STILL may not be the hair that is ready to fall out.

As soon as summer and chlorine are out of your daily activities, it's best to start trying to fix the damage that has been done.

A big suggestion that I have seen in a few different places has been to switch your regular shampoo with clarifying shampoo for about a month.  It will take that long to break down and get rid of the chlorine build-up that occurred over the summer.  Generally it's a good idea to use clarifying shampoo at least once a month if you use alot of products in your hair, just to strip it down and give your hair a chance to breathe.

While using the clarifying shampoo, you want to take the opportunity to do deep conditioning.  For the last few months, all the moisture has been eeked out of your hair through the disinfectants of chlorine, through chlorinated hair sitting out in the sun and baking all day, etc.  Find a good product, and the suggestion is to go the salon route to get your hands on something that really does deep conditioning instead of the minor work that most over the counter "deep conditioners" do.  You should use this with the clarifying shampoo for a week or two, until you can feel the moisture coming back in your hair.

Alot of websites will extole the virtues of "getting a new hair color for the fall."  While some people do change up the color of their hair depending on season, doing so now is not an ideal time.  If your hair is damaged from the summer, don't damage it further by color treating it!

One suggestion that I believe is a good one is to get a hair cut.  It's not to say go out and get a radical hair cut for the fall season.  Most times you'd like your hair longer in the fall and winter anyway to help keep you warm.  But going in and getting an inch or two cut off, the chance to get rid of the ends that are the most damaged will help your hair in the long-run.  You may need to trim more depending on split ends and damage, but you and your stylist can come up with an idea that will work.  The main objective is to get the dying, damaged hair off your head, so it doesn't keep sucking moisture out of your hair and damaging and breaking the rest of your hair.

And as I said, all of this will not "magically" give you beautiful hair.  You're only losing 10% of your hair during the next 3-4 months, and it may not be the most damaged of hair.  But using clarifying shampoo at least once a month and deep conditioning at least once a month will help your hair repair itself until the damaged hair falls out.

BUT the suggestion is to go heavy on the clarifying and deep conditioning for about a month to give your hair a sporting chance.  I'd throw the haircut half-way through the month, to give your new ends a chance to soak up that moisture-y goodness for a few weeks.

Why does my hair look terrible in the summer?

The quick and dirty answer is chlorine from pools.

I spent the summer at alot of pools this year.  One pool was great, but the other pools turned my hair into dry, sticky, itchy messes.

Chlorine is basically a disinfectant.  The busier the pool, the more exposed it is, the more chemicals they put in it to keep it clean and pretty so we'll go swimming in it.  But disinfectants are used to break down and remove dirt, oil, and bacteria.   Our hair has dirt and naturally is oily to protect it from damage.  See the problem?

In addition to the chlorine problems with hair, sometimes it's our hair itself that is predisposed to be damaged by chlorine. Color Treated Hair, Chemically Treated Hair, Dry Hair, Thin or Fine Hair, and Previously Damaged Hair are more susceptible to hair damage from chlorine.

According to Kendra Aahus, at About.com, there are a few suggestions to help protect your hair from chlorine damage.

1. "Saturate Your Hair with Water. Before you enter the pool, rinse your hair with clean tap water to saturate your hair. Have you ever noticed that a sponge will only absorb so much water, and once it's full the water just runs off? Your hair is similar to a sponge. If you saturate your hair with clean tap water, your hair will be less likely to absorb as much of the chlorinated water in the pool."

2.  " Shampoo. Shampooing your hair immediately after chlorine exposure is the best way to remove the bulk of the chlorine and stop the damage it may be causing to your hair. A clarifying shampoo treatment is another way to keep chlorine build-up at bay."

I found last summer the only thing that made my hair not turn into straw was immediately washing it.  For me, it wasn't just the straw factor, but my hair would itch so bad, I couldn't stand it.

I'll definitely be trying #1 next summer!