Style Weekly
Richmond's alternative for news, arts, culture and opinion
Style & Substance: From the Experts
It's still hot out there. What to do about humid hair?
Seal the Deal
Anything with silicone locks out humidity, so that's usually your best bet, and you put it on when your hair is dry to seal it. We use YY Sweet Gum silicone spray ($23). And good old hair spray usually works. I put on a little extra when it's hot. The only other thing is to go natural: Don't straighten your hair in the summer in Virginia. − Jessie Crenshaw, owner of La Bella Hair Studio in the West End, and a stylist for five years
Try These
I swear by the White Sands products − they're humidity-resistant. I've found that those products more than any other helps the hair stay looking the way you styled it. The product I found to be the most helpful is called Porosity, a spray-on liquid ($18). It's almost like a sealant. Also, Redken Shades EQ service ($60). It gives the hair a lot of shine and body. I've been using it for 20 years. − Simone Snyder, owner of Scissors Hair Salon in Shockoe Bottom, stylist for 22 years
Work With It
You don't avoid humid hair; you deal with it. Most people have two options: to go curly or to straighten it with a flat iron. One of our products is a leave-in conditioner for flat-ironed hair or hair in really, really bad shape (Bumble and bumble, $19). It turns your hair into silk. Or you can address wearing it cute and curly. You can control the frizz with a good shampoo for curly hair like Curl Conscious shampoo ($19) and conditioner ($20). − Karina Slaughter, owner of Karina's Salon in Carytown, stylist for 40 years
It's About Product
Definitely use a good moisturizing shampoo and conditioner, and people who have color-treated hair should use a color maintenance shampoo to prevent drying out. Also very important is leave-in conditioners, because that helps the drying from the sun and blowing up from the humidity.
We have a good product with UV protectant, YY's Tallowwood ($18). It's equivalent to the weight of water... [and] it won't weigh the hair down. We have a de-frizzer serum called Olive Tree ($25). It tames the frizz and enhances the shine. And you can put it in wet or dry. One trick we use is we'll apply product from the ends to roots. That way it won't be flat at the roots. − Michael Reeves, senior stylist at Nesbit Salon, stylist for 15 years
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