How To Stop Humidity From Ruining Your Hair

Making friends with humidity: 4 easy steps to smoother hair, whatever the weather

Hands up if you recognize this scene: you’ve just washed your hair, painstakingly blow-dried it and then spent longer than you’d care to admit either curling or straightening it. You step outside and, within seconds, every strand on your head has completely shape shifted – straight hair is no longer sleek, or your curls have lost their shape. Hello humidity…

One of the most frustrating things about humidity is that, even if you can’t feel it in the atmosphere, your hair will always tell you it’s there. Humidity is classified by higher than average moisture levels in the air, and all that extra water impacts your hair by seeping into the strands, attaching itself onto the proteins and causing them to revert back to their natural shape. When that happens, your hair ditches whatever style you spent forever trying to perfect. It’s also worth knowing that the impact of humidity is even more significant if your hair is damaged.

Luckily, there are a few ways you can ensure humidity doesn’t end up with the upper hand on your hair. Here’s how…

Choose your shampoo and conditioner wisely

Good for more than just cleansing and conditioning your hair, the right duo can act as a primer for hair styling, helping hair hold that gorgeous final look you worked so hard on. Nexxus’s Ultralight Smooth Weightless Frizz Protection range is ideal here: the gentle, sulfate-free formulas work to strengthen hair while filling in the holes and cracks within the outer layer, which restores overall smoothness and creates an invisible barrier to block out unwanted frizz and humidity.

Styling products are key

Protection against humidity and locking in styles can be done very effectively with smart product selection. Using serums that are specifically formulated to combat frizz will work wonders – and after one use, chances are you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them. Take Nexxus’s Ultralight Smooth Frizz Defy Cream Serum: applied onto damp or dry hair, it forms an invisible barrier around every strand, to ensure hair stays smooth and soft for up to 72 hours. It’s super- nourishing, too, and entirely weightless. If your hair is on the oily side, Nexxus’s Clean & Pure Exfoliating Scalp Scrub is worth incorporating into your routine. It’s designed to detoxify, purify and rebalance your scalp while clearing away any product build-up.

Prioritize styles that combat frizz

Sometimes you just have to make friends with humidity rather than trying to fight against it, and doing that is all about knowing what styles will be the least impacted. Top knots are one of the chicest ways to do this, as are low-slung ponytails, braids and – depending on your hair type and texture – protective styles like cornrows and bantu knots. Not only are they gorgeous, they’ll help ensure you’re always one step ahead of the weather.

Use a keratin treatment

Dry and damaged hair types are the ones that are most likely to fall victim to the impact of humidity. The protein in damaged hair tends to be more porous, therefore it absorbs even more of that moisture in the air. By reinjecting keratin (the protein that makes up the structure of hair) you can repair the damage and give humidity less of a hold on your hair. Nexxus’s Keraphix Repair & Strengthen Reparative Treatment is a leave-in product that has been salon-crafted and has ingredients to leave hair silky smooth with improved elasticity. It can also be used as a pre-wash treatment, making it even more versatile.