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7 Best Hot-Weather Hair Tips

Summer is in the home stretch�but it's not over yet. Prevent a heat-and-humidity-related tress mess with these 7 simple tricks to keep hair smooth, manageable, and frizz-free.

1. Lose the flat iron. Not only are the heated plates creating further damage-induced frizz, but a supersleek style will only make the inevitable frizz stand out even more. In this weather you want to master the air-dry: If you have straight hair, distribute a styling cream such as Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Smoothing Cream ($5; drugstores) from your roots through the midsection, then clip strands on the top of your head until they're almost dry.

For curly hair, apply a curl-enhancing cream, then twist
sections around your finger to encourage spiral shapes. Once hair is dry, don't tousle it. Smooth any remaining frizz with a bit of serum, like Dove Hair Nourishing Oil Care Serum ($5; Walgreens).

2. Add sunscreen to your hair. New hair products contain
sunblocking ingredients to prevent color and strength
degradation. Try adding Alterna Bamboo UV+ Color Protection Fade-Proof Fluide (approx $22), a new UV-blocking booster, to any of your favorite hairstyle products you already use. You can also create similar protection results by "running your hands through your hair after applying sunscreen to leave a fine residue of SPF on your strands," says Boston dermatologist Ranella Hirsch, MD.

3. Look for a protein treatment. "If you pull lightly at a
strand of your hair and it stretches like an elastic band, it means it's been so damaged that the structure of your hair has been degraded," says New York City�based hair colorist Paul Cucinello. "Use a spray or mask that has wheat-based or vegetable-based proteins listed in the ingredients in it." These proteins help fortify the strands and patch the damage.

4. Use a new formaldehyde-free smoothing treatment. Salon
straightening treatments are not the miracle treatments they appear to be. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), some contain ingredients that produce formaldehyde gas when heated, and the National Academy of Sciences reports that high concentrations of formaldehyde can cause respiratory lesions or cancer.

5. "Dust" your hair. Not only do split ends look scraggly, but they can also travel further up the hair strands faster if they aren't nipped in the bud. Go to a hairstylist for a mini-trim called a "dusting" (named for the fine dust of hair left on the floor afterward).

6. Pretreat hair before you swim. "Water can be one of the
harshest aggressors on hair and hair color," says hairstylist Nicholas Penna, Jr. of Salon Capri in Massachusetts. Bring a bottle of regular or deep conditioner with you to the beach and apply to hair between dips in the ocean or pool. "The coating of conditioning ingredients and silicones will help protect hair from the water," explains Penna. Try Herbal Essences Touchably Smooth Smoothing Conditioner ($4) or Fekkai Marine Summer Hair Beachcomber Leave-In Conditioner ($22; fekkai.com).

7. Comb, don't brush. "Brushing when it's humid can damage your hair more than in other types of weather," says hair scientist Trefor Evans, PhD, at TRI/Princeton Labs in Princeton, NJ. "When hair soaks up moisture from the air, it swells and becomes more likely to break as you pull the brush through." To prevent this from happening, make sure to untangle tresses using a wide-tooth comb; it's less likely to snag strands than a brush.