Beach hair care: before, during and after

The pre-swim step is the one almost everyone skips and it is the most useful. Hair is porous: it absorbs whatever water reaches it first.

1. 01Wet your hair thoroughly with fresh water before entering the sea or a pool. Saturated hair absorbs less salt or chlorine.
2. 02Work a small amount of oil or a leave-in conditioner through the mid-lengths and ends. This is a physical barrier and it also reduces sand clinging.
3. 03Tie hair loosely in a braid or bun. Loose hair in surf tangles severely and abrades against itself.
4. 04Cover your parting if you will be out in strong sun.

• Reapply shade rather than reapplying product. A hat does more than anything you can put on your hair.
• Avoid running fingers repeatedly through wet salty hair, which is friction on a swollen cuticle.
• If hair is loose and tangling badly, tie it back rather than fighting it.
• Rinse at a beach shower if there is one, even briefly. Any fresh water helps.

1. 01Rinse thoroughly with fresh water. Longer than feels necessary, because salt and sand hide near the scalp.
2. 02Do not brush or comb yet. Gritty, tangled, wet hair is at its most breakable.
3. 03Shampoo, concentrating on the scalp, then rinse well.
4. 04Condition the mid-lengths and ends generously and leave it a couple of minutes.
5. 05Only now detangle, with a wide-tooth comb, starting at the ends and working upward in sections.
6. 06Squeeze out water, blot with a cotton t-shirt, apply a little oil or leave-in to damp hair.
7. 07Let it air dry loose rather than tying it up wet.

The order matters more than the products. Detangling before conditioning is the single most common cause of post-beach breakage.

Sand is abrasive, and dragging a comb through sandy hair drags grit along the cuticle. Never dry-brush sand out.

• Let hair dry a little, then shake it out gently upside down.
• Rinse thoroughly rather than picking sand out.
• If sand is near the scalp, a proper wash is the only real answer.
• Rinse your comb before using it, since grit trapped in the teeth causes damage on the next pass.

• Build in a weekly conditioning treatment or pre-wash oiling session.
• Trim more frequently than you otherwise would; salt and sun age the ends faster.
• Consider a swim cap for pool sessions, which is far more effective than any product against chlorine.
• Expect coloured hair to need refreshing sooner.