Spending the summer in Malta means long days at the beach in the sun, sand between your toes, days on a boat & salt and wind in your hair. As magical as it all sounds, and lets be honest, even those who hate the intense heat, have to admit that it can be pretty wonderful – all that sun, sea and play can start to cause some wear and tear to our bodies. One of the places sun and sea damage can show up is our hair. Hair is said to be woman’s crowning glory which considering how exposed it tends to, should raise some concerns for our crown jewels.
I continually read articles about how important it is to protect our skin, different sunblock recommendations and ideas but there’s far fewer literature available that deals with hair concerns. I decided to meet Gordon Mayo – CEO & founder of Malta’s Toni and Guy Salon and pick his brain about the dos and dont’s of summer hair care for women.
Gordon starts by asserting the worst thing most women do. They forget about their hair maintenance all through summer. Many women it seems, have excellent hair care throughout the winter months but then neglect it completely during the summer. He emphasises that prevention is better than cure and highlights the importance of continuing with treatments and necessary cuts throughout the summer months. Unfortunately, the result of foregoing hair care for a few months can result in the necessity of having to chop an undesired amount off.
This is the point at which I jump in to ask if salon treatments are really better than do-it-at-home versions. His reply is yes, but mainly due to application skill reasons, the hair stylist is able to recognise how best to apply said treatment to your hair – certain parts might need more, others less.
Next up for discussion is actual sun and sea protection. Gordon recommends using a Protein Protective Spray that will even out porosity and block UV rays. He stresses that this is actually most important to be applied after having dipped into the water. He explains that when the UV rays hit the water, an atom of oxygen is produced that transforms into peroxide, a protein spray containing wheat and soy will diffuse the atom and removing the peroxide, transforming it back into plain old water.
He goes on to talk about dyed hair which has open cuticles so it quite important for it not be exposed continually to extreme sun – using a hat will make a world of difference and will mean you get to keep your colour for longer.
As a parting wisdom, Gordon advises that even if sun protection sprays are used, spending days in the sun can cause the moisture in the hair to dry up so it is important to go home, wash your hair off all salt residue and apply a deep conditioning treatment to your hair after.
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