Come Back From Vacation and Your Hair Feels Different?
You spend a week or two in the sun, swim more than usual and expose your hair to sea water, pool water and maybe completely different water from what you have at home.
Then you come back, wash your hair, use your usual products and something feels different.
Your hair might feel rougher or duller. Your texture isn't behaving the way it normally does. Your definition doesn't last as long, or products that usually work suddenly don't seem to perform the same way.
It’s easy to assume your hair just needs more moisture.
But there can be more going on.
Sun, sea and chlorine all affect the hair differently
Sun exposure can contribute to oxidative damage in the hair, affecting proteins and lipids that are important for the hair fibre's strength and condition.
Sea water can leave the hair feeling rougher and drier, especially with repeated exposure. Add sun, wind and repeated wetting and drying, and you may notice more tangling, friction and changes in manageability.
Chlorine is also an oxidising agent. Repeated exposure can contribute to dryness, roughness and changes in the way the hair feels and behaves.
How much your hair is affected depends on several things — including porosity, previous colour or chemical treatments, heat damage, the condition of the hair and how frequently it has been exposed.
It isn't simply about how curly or coily your hair is.
And then there's the water itself
Pool water and hard water can leave mineral deposits on the hair, including calcium, magnesium and certain metals.
Over time, this can make the hair feel rough, dull or coated and change the way it responds to your usual products.
So if your hair suddenly feels dry after vacation, adding more conditioner, oil or styling product isn't necessarily the first answer.
Sometimes we need to remove what's accumulated on the hair first.
Certain cleansing ingredients can bind to mineral and metal deposits and help wash them away. This process is called chelation.
What can you do while you're away?
You don't have to wait until you get home.
Wet your hair with fresh water before swimming and rinse afterwards when possible.
And think about slip.
Textured hair exposed to salt, wind, swimming and repeated wetting can become more prone to tangling and friction. Keeping the hair conditioned and lubricated can make it easier to manage and detangle with less pulling.
This is where Rich Leave-In Conditioner fits easily into a beach or pool routine. It provides lightweight conditioning and slip, helps with detangling and manageability, and gives UV protection too.
Spray through the hair when needed, gently distribute and braid, twist or put the hair up if that's how you're wearing it for the day.
What does your hair need when you get home?
Start with a proper cleanse.
Remove the buildup first, then assess how your hair actually feels.
Is it still unusually dry? Does it feel weaker? Has it lost some elasticity? Is it tangling more easily? Is your definition disappearing faster?
Then treat what your hair is actually showing you.
Condition
Bring conditioning back into the routine and focus on hydration, softness, slip and manageability.
A leave-in such as Rich Leave-In Conditioner can help detangle and condition the hair without unnecessary weight.
Strengthen
If the hair feels weaker, less elastic or isn't bouncing back the way it normally does, it may need more than moisture.
This can be a good time for strengthening masks, bond-building treatments or a more intensive conditioning mask, depending on the condition of your hair.
Bounce Back can be used as a lightweight strengthening step. Powered by FiberHance® technology, it helps support and strengthen the hair fibre while adding hydration and can be used as a treatment, leave-in and primer before styling.
You don't need to use everything at once. Cleanse, assess, then choose what makes sense for your hair.
Protect
Keep rinsing after swimming when possible, keep the hair conditioned and protect it from prolonged UV exposure.
Most importantly, pay attention when your hair starts behaving differently.
Don't just add more. Ask why.
When textured hair feels dry, it's easy to keep adding moisture.
But dryness is a feeling and there can be different reasons behind it.
Sometimes the hair needs conditioning. Sometimes it needs strengthening. And sometimes buildup needs to be removed before you can properly understand what the hair needs next.
That's why we always come back to behaviour.
Understanding why your hair is behaving differently is the first step to giving it what it actually needs.
Always rooting for you,
— Sarah/ Staunch