11 Holiday Hair Hacks Worth Knowing

Don’t let hot, sticky weather ruin your hair. These quick styling tricks – from why you should dry hair with an old T-shirt to the benefits of powder sunscreen – and smart buys will keep your strands in tip-top-condition all summer long…

1. Dry Hair With An Old T-Shirt 

On holiday, try to wring water out of wet hair with an old T-shirt rather than a beach towel, says Ken O’Rourke, brand ambassador at Charles Worthington. The smooth cotton will soak up just as much moisture, but leaves your hair less frizzy than a towel’s rough fibres. 

2. Have Baking Soda Handy 

If chlorine has ever interfered with your colour, it’s worth keeping baking soda nearby and washing with it after being in the pool. It’s abrasive enough to completely clean the hair, but gentle too, so you never strip out any natural moisture. Mix a little with enough water to make a paste and rub it over your hair. Rinse it out after and continue washing your hair with a clarifying shampoo to keep up the exfoliating results. 

3. Keep Styling At A Cool Temperature

Use the cool shot on your hairdryer to add staying power to your holiday blow-dry or style. Once the hair’s dry, blast the roots until cold. According to catwalk stylist Neil Moodie, this helps hair hold its shape for days and of course, keeps damage to a minimum. 

4. Pile Strands Up For Ultimate Beach Waves

 You don’t have to invest in expensive tongs to unleash your inner Gisele beach waves. Instead, start by spritzing on a UV protectant like, Bumble & Bumble’s UV Protective Dry Oil Finishing Spray (£25), all over towel-dried hair, then a texturizing spray – try Moroccanoil Dry Texture Spray (£17.45) – from mid-length to ends. Finally, pull your hair up into a loose chignon. As the sun dries your hair, its heat will activate the styling sprays and lock in texture. Come evening, you can shake it all out and comb through with fingers for waves that look casual, but seriously cool.

5. Use A Bristle Brush For Shine

Running a bristle brush through your hair while you blow-dry will help move natural oils from your scalp to your ends. That means you’re naturally taming your hair, as well as giving it more shine. Try Kent’s Large Cushion Bristle Brush (£11) for minimal snagging.

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6. Wrap It Up For Extra Nourishment 

Once ends are split, they’re split for good, but a weekly mask, like Hersheson’s Almost Everything Cream (£10), can tide you over until your next trim. The trick is to keep it on for as long as possible and wrap a heated towel around your hair to push the conditioning molecules deeper into the shaft – as recommended by expert Neil Smith from Barrie Stephen salons.

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7. Stop Frizz In Its Tracks

A top tip from backstage at the catwalk shows: to stop static, instead of loading up your hair with products, grab a laundry dryer sheet and run it through your hair. For a similar effect, we love the Ouai Anti-Frizz Hair Sheets (£20) – ideal for flyaways and free of parabens and sodium chloride.

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8. Put Your Elastics Away

Repeatedly pulling hair into a high, tight ponytail stresses follicle, hinders healthy growth and can lead to thinning, breakage and even hair loss, says Director of Communications & Trichologist, Anabel Kingsley. Switch up your style by keeping your ponytail loose, and, as elastics with metal bobbles can snag the hair, secure with soft, seamless fabric ties instead like Popbands (£7.93), which are a nice addition to your wrist, too.  

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9. Use Powder Sunscreen In Your Roots

Not only will this prevent them getting too oily from sun lotion, it’ll also protect your scalp from UV damage – an area that’s commonly missed with it comes to application. Most have a brush on the end too to make sure you cover the surface easily, and you can also use the powder to prevent excess shine on your face. Our favourite? Science Sunforgettable Brush-On Sunscreen (£38). 

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10. Rinse With Tap Water Pre-Swim

To prevent your hair from chlorine or salt water damage, try rinsing with regular tap water first. Porous strands will absorb the water, preventing the chemical-laden pool water from damaging your hair and stripping away any colour. You can also apply a leave-in conditioner to your hair for similar results pre-swim. Try Living Proof’s Leave-In Conditioner (£22).  

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11. Invest In A Protective Cream

Salt water and chlorine can speed up colour fade fast, not to mention leave your hair looking dull. A rinse in fresh water before a dip gives some protection, but it’s worth investing in Philip Kingsley’s Swimcap (£17), a protective, water-resistant cream that gives hair all the nourishment it needs throughout the summer months.

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