If winter brings holiday blues, Labor Day is notorious for the hair blahs. All that glorious sunkissing is over, highlights turn brassy, and outgrown cuts look more like hay to be baled than anything you might comb. Someone should write a
Chicken Soup for the Hair.
We put out a 911 call to the top stylists in the country for help:
5 WAYS TO REHAB SUMMER BUMMED TRESSES—AT HOME AND IN THE SALON
THE FRIZZIES
Whether you've got flyaway strands, straw-like ends, or an unruly bush, frizziness is caused by the cuticle of the hair shafts not laying smoothly.
Self Help: Rule number one is to use
sulfate-free shampoo. "Also, the less you wash your hair the better," says Daniel Bechara, owner of
Salon Daniel in McLean, Virginia, whose clients include Liv Tyler, Mel Gibson, and Queen Noor. Post-summer, he recommends doing a rinse with white vinegar to remove the salt, chlorine, and dirt buildup; then a gentle shampoo and a deep conditioning treatment. "I'll give you the trick we do at the salon," he says. "Flat iron [wet] hair on the highest temperature with the conditioner in it. The heat will help the product penetrate. You can also use a blow dryer. After ten minutes, wash it out." (As for the Moroccan Oil craze? Our stylists say the product's best asset is its marketing genius. "I like coconut oil," says Bechara. "But just a drop.")
In Treatment: Hot keratin treatments, like the popular Brazilian Keratin Treatment, will definitely eliminate the frizz for three or four months. The process has generated controversy because the chemicals can include formaldehyde, so it's important to find an experienced stylist or ask for formaldehyde-free alternatives.
LIMP, STRINGY, HAIR
Too fine, too thin, too long—for whatever reason, your mane hangs with about as much bounce as a Basset Hound's ears.
Self Help: Product is key. Latrice Strader, owner of
Destiny De'Ve Salon in Washington D.C. recommends shampoos that contain keratin. And Bechara suggests styling only with a root lifter and not weighing down the shaft with goop. To add extra body? "The loose curl is really in right now," says
Terrence Michael Renk, a stylist at J Beverly Hills who works in TV and film. "All you have to do is round-brush the hair, stick in some Velcro rollers, let it set, and then loosely let the curl fall." If necessary, mist with a very light hair spray.
In Treatment: A cut is the most obvious solution, and we're not talking about an Emma Watson pixie (
though it sure is cute.) "You can keep your length; just add some layers," says Strader. Color is another solution. Going darker makes the hair look denser, while highlighting expands the shaft and adds a little heft. A third option, says Renk, is a custom extension that you clip in. "I make them all the time for clients. It's a lot cheaper than a whole head of extensions and you can have it forever."
TIRED OF THE 'NATURAL' LOOK
For African-American women bored with the natural look, there are ways to wake up the hair without straightening.
Self Help: One of the easiest fixes, says Strader, is to plait your hair, wet—you only need five or six braids—and add some mousse. "When it dries, you'll have an intense, wavy texture that gives you a Bohemian twist."
In Treatment: "For my natural clients," she says, "my biggest recommendation is to add color."
THE IN-BETWEEN PHASE
Don't cut! If you're growing your hair out and at the point where there's
nothing you can do with it... well, there is:
Self Help: “If your hair is bushy," says Bechara, "flat iron it to keep it calm until you pass this stage. Or just use a lot of styling product to make it heavy—gel for curly hair and mousse for straight—and let it dry naturally." For curly hair, he recommends gel; for straight, a mousse. For fine hair, if it’s short, just use more root lifter. And if it’s longer, try braids, which are so trendy now—down the side, in a plaited ponytail, and especially the Heidi braid on your head.
In Treatment: This is another time when a hot keratin treatment can come to the rescue by relaxing the hair for three or four months—long enough for it to grow into a better look.
OVERDUE DYE-JOB DULLNESS
The 9.5 percent unemployment rate is flattening hair in America along with everything else, as people stretch the time between color treatments.
Self Help: To perk up dullness, try a
clarifying shampoo, or add a teaspoon of baking soda to your regular product. If you're past your dye-by date, a great way to "freshen" the hue is to use a color
shampoo and conditioner, says Erick Orellana, colorist at
Privé Salon in Los Angeles (clients include Emma Roberts, Audrina Partridge, and Sarah Palin.) For the best results, he says, ask your salon to custom-blend a shampoo and conditioner for your color that you can use at home.
In Treatment: You can get even more impact without paying the price of a full dye-job with a professional color gloss, which is also known as a color glaze. "It's a no-ammonia product that adds tone, moisture, and shine, and lasts four to six weeks," Orellana says. This won't cover grey 100 percent, but you can play around with your tone to see if, at your next coloring, you might want to go red instead of blond, or auburn instead of platinum. Terrence Renk loves a hair glaze, too, because, he says, "it smoothes the cuticle and controls frizz." That may be as close to chicken soup as we get.
