Sorry, But Your Hair Hates Summer—These 17 Products Can Help

Dear summer, although we love you dearly, you annually present an ever-increasing onslaught of hair sins: sun, sweat, sand, salt, stainage, scorch, and countless other forms of strand sacrilege. So, when you (finally) roll around each year, our excitement is always met with catch-22 nervousness. What kind of carnage, dear summer, will you inflict on my hair this year?

The thing is, it doesn’t have to be like this. Quite honestly, it’s more so you, dear reader, and not so much summer. I mean, it is summer, but how you choose to maneuver the season with strategic hair products will make all the difference. Outfitted with a little extra care and guidance, you can totally customize your summer hair routine with all the best formulas to combat the seasonal side effects you don’t want while welcoming all the ones that you do. Ahead, we’re highlighting 17 of the best new hair products destined for summer and season-long good hair days. Still skeptical? Keep scrolling!

FYI: This isn’t your average leave-in conditioner. Function of Beauty is the holy grail destination for customizable haircare (you take a quiz, and the brand concocts personal hair elixirs to fit your needs!), and this dreamy nourishing spray follows the same design.

This is perhaps the most targeted and innovative hair launch we’ve seen in a while. The four-part system contains a priming spray (pre-shower), a hair wash, a turban (post-shower), and a leave-in conditioner (post-turban) to act as the perfect antidote for summer hair woes. It’s designed to defend hair against "hydral fatigue," aka the swelling of wet hair that makes your hair more fragile and susceptible to damage.

Playa is one of the most beloved haircare brands out there at the moment, and this three-in-one mist has made serious waves since its launch earlier this season. Equal parts hairspray, hydrator, and fragrance, it basically braces days-old hair with Groundhog Day resilience. Essentially, the super-fine mist smooths out kinks and trouble zone so hair looks day-one fresh without re-washing or re-reaching for damaging hot tools.

We’ve all heard of after-sun lotion, and luxurious and deeply nourishing mask from Davines works the equivalent magic on your overly-exposed strands and scalp. Simply apply it post-shampoo, let it marinate in damp strands for five to 15 minutes, rinse, and enjoy the glossy, chlorine-, salt-, and damage-free aftermath.

One of the worst things about summer is the number of unsavory things that accumulate in our hair: minerals, salt, and plenty of other hair nasties. This ingenious new launch from Color Wow uses molecular and polymeric chelating agents to absorb and remove said nasties from strands pre-shampoo so you’re left with pristine color and texture and pristine color and texture only.

Hair supplements can be touch and go, and, for the most part, really depend on the individual and your particular hair concerns and goals. However, instead of just flooding your system with biotin (like, sorry, the majority of hair pills), Moon Juice’s new launch targets ulterior sneaky things like stress and nutritional voids that might be working against you and your length. (If your summer diet features more alcohol and ice cream than vegetables and water, this will come in especially handy!)

We want our hair regimen to be as low maintenance as possible come summer, without sacrificing how it actually looks. In other words, we don’t want limp, wet dog-esque strands. Enter, R + Co’s brand-new volume benefactor—a nutrient-rich spray that adds weightless body and oomph without affecting your color or unique hair texture.

Think of this essential four-piece kit as the ultimate hair detox. Designed by the brand to clarify, nourish, and restore hair to its most natural and beautiful state, it features a clarifying shampoo to exfoliate and de-gunk strands and scalp, along with a hydration-packed mask, nutrient-sealing leave-in, and a cult-favorite (Ghost Oil!) for good, mega-moisturized measure.

We get the appeal of salt sprays. We do! The only problem is that they wreack absolute havoc on your hair. However, this mermaid-inspired spray potion from Kerastase captures the same wave- and texture-inducing effect sans dehydrating additions like sea salt, and with more sun-friendly fares like coconut water, UV filters, and vitamin E.

We’re not trying to get R-rated here, but this summer hair product is called Sexture, and it does make your look impossibly soft, sultry, and all around irresistible. We recommend skipping the sugar and extra cals this summer on the iconic cocktail and giving strands a sip from Amika’s new launch instead. It works beautifully on all hair types and boasts a highly effective two-in-one formula that detoxifies and smooths hair while leaving behind the perfect dose of tousle and texture.

Cool AF packaging aside, this is the summer hair product of all summer hair products: an overnight bond-repairing mask with vegan silk extracts to smooth, strengthen, and heal the worst of seasonal hair hangovers. Just shake, spray, and go! No re-style or wash necessary.

Oribe put the entire hair industry on cloud nine when it debuted new curl-loving formulas into its A-list loved collection of product a few months back. This one is already an MVP and infuses summer-burnt hair with soothing and reparative ingredients like shea butter and avocado oil to protect against breakage and other telltale signs of damage while, of course, keeping your curls in tip-top shape.

Think of this summer hair product from luxe French beauty brand Sisley Paris as an ultra-chic condom for your hair. (Stay with us here.) Essentially, this beautifying elixir forms a protective film around your susceptible hair strands—shielding them from the damaging impact of sun, sea, and pool. Oh, and as an added perk it smells delicious—like verbena, lemon, peach, and amber.

Briogeo is well-known (and appreciated!) for its superfood-packed shampoo and conditioner formulas. This summer, its newest duo is equipped with tropical things like coconut, banana, and açaí, which do just as much good for your hair and scalp as they do for your morning smoothie recipe—a lot.

As a rule, we kind of hate hairspray—especially during the summer when we want our hair to feel as smooth, silky, and product-free as possible. But there is a time and place for extra hold and definition, which is where Rahua’s exotic and stiff- and stick-less formula comes to play. Perfect for all hair types, it’s a non-aerosol and lends lasting medium hold thanks to plant-based ingredients like aloe vera, sugarcane, and green tea.

Hair oils are to summer as chocolate chips are to ice cream—essential. And while it’s relatively easy to find a great formula if you have fine or straight hair, finding a weightless oil that won’t bog down curls is practically sport in difficulty. That’s why this summer-perfect product from DevaCurl is different—it’s specifically designed with wavy, curly, and coiled hair types in mind, offering both stellar shine and crucial UV protection.

For anyone who used to spend their summers dousing their hair with gallons of lemon juice, this is for you! A very cool, very blonde collab with Kristin Cavallari, this at-home highlighting kit from dpHUE is a far more convenient and salon-less way to lighten your hair this summer. The precise applicator blush lets you appoint the lemon juice and hydrogen peroxide formula wherever you wish to go blonder while infusing hair with an extra boost of conditioners to help salvage the inevitable damage. Then, you let the sun—or a blow dryer—do the rest! (But to be clear, this product is only intended for natural or already-lightened blondes.) Next up: The 23 Most Sought-After Hair Products You Can Buy At Sephora Right Now

Source: Who What Wear – Erin Jahns