If you listen closely, you might hear the faint sound of out-of-office messages typed in the distance. The weather is heating up, if not already scalding( looking at you, Texas), and the summer months mean one thing: vacation. However, recharging from work shouldn't mean a hiatus from hair care this season. Increased sun exposure can threaten your hair goals if your beauty routine isn't updated to account for the glowing sun in the sky. Skip the risk of having fried hair screaming SOS before Labor Day rolls around and check off how many of these summer hair care rules you follow.  

Wear A True Protective Style 

Do you want to know the secret to retaining length on highly textured hair? Do nothing. Honestly, that's it. Tightly coiled and zig-zag strands are prone to breakage when manipulated because of their dry state. Flat follicles, or pocket-like holes in our skin, produce coily hair. Those follicles tend to be raised, allowing sebum, our body's natural lubricant, to seep out before it can travel the hair shaft. The absence of this coating makes it difficult for strands to slip past each other when detangling. In its natural state, coiled hair is fragile and vulnerable to breakage. Allowing your hair to rest will save it from over manipulation. A proper protective style is low maintenance, will enable you to wash your hair easily, and adds no tension to your edges or ends. Headwraps check all those boxes and protects from the true summer anti-hero: sun rays. 

Practice Sun Protection 

Besides our bucket hats being absolutely darling, they're an added layer of SPF on top of the regular use of sunscreen. Every sun ray takes eight minutes to travel through miles of space, reach our planet, then filter through the various layers of Earth's atmosphere. For all that distance, rays still deliver a potent punch of Ultraviolet (UV) radiation upon arrival. Within healthy doses, UV rays stimulate our bodies' production of vitamin D. Still, over-exposure can lead to changes in our hair, including altering strand color and protein damage. When the sun is at its highest, it's best to keep your hair covered for longevity.  

Deep Condition to your Heart's Desire 

If you make your hair care an extension of self-care, the next bit should get you excited. During the summer, the elements come at hair full throttle, and it's vital to replenish to avoid brittleness. The sun is drying, and chlorinated pool or beachy salt water gets added to the mix on top of our naturally dry, coily hair. Deep conditioning returns moisture to strands after being stripped while out having fun. Add a scalp massage with drops of peppermint essential oil on a clean scalp afterward, log into a streaming platform, and enjoy your me-time. 

Drink Up 

An easy way to think about your hair's relationship to water is to imagine a wilting plant. Misting water on the outside for the leaves and stems to soak up is not as efficient as going straight to the source and watering the roots. Like the roots of a plant, the more water your hair gets, the more it grows. The roots of our hair are the connector between our body's internal process and our hair's external expression. Every body system depends on water to keep them functioning in tip-top shape. When external hydration (deep conditioning) meets internal hydration (water), our hair also operates at prime levels, so ensure you're getting your eight cups.