Beauty Clinic: Advice for beach hair

Q. I’m going off on a hopefully hot, partly beach holiday shortly and want to protect my long-ish coloured hair. What do you suggest? A. You get top marks for prepping before you go rather than coming back with a haystack. Here are the tips we abide by...

‘Wear a closely woven, broad-brimmed hat as much as possible,’ advises colourist Steven Little at John Frieda. (It will protect your face too, of course.)

Remember that your hair needs sun protection just as much as your skin does. We love plant-based Aveda Sun Care Protective Hair Veil/£21.50 for 100ml, which promises to help protect hair from UV for up to 16 hours, to help minimize colour fade, dryness and damage.

Pack a super-moisturising shampoo, conditioner and hair mask. Beauty Bible testers raved about Ogario Revive and Shine hair care. The Jet Set/£26.50 from ogariolondon.com, contains travel size shampoo and conditioner plus Restore and Shine masque.

‘Rinse with cool water after washing,’ recommends Joanne Dodds, beauty expert at hairtrade.com. ‘This will seal the hair cuticles that have been opened by hot water and lock in the effect of the conditioner.’ (It makes your hair shinier too, we find, and really cold water is great for lifting a headache.) ‘Always wash your hair after swimming in a pool, to get rid of the drying chlorine,’ advises Joanne.

Phyto 9 Nourishing Day Cream/£16.50 for 50 ml, proved a boon for adding extra nourishment to Sarah’s long coloured hair on a recent sunny trip. You apply a pea-sized amount of this leave-in conditioner, with eight plants extracts and macadamia oil, after towel drying (or even on dry hair) and it really seems to add extra gloss and bounce.

Use aloe vera as an after sun for hair and skin. We are huge fans of this natural wonder product and use it top to toe to repair sun damage. Try Organic Aloe Vera Gel by Optima Health, just £5.57 for a huge 200 ml tube, from Victoria Health.

Finally, avoid pulling your mane back into a tight ponytail, which tends to break the hair. If you must tie it back, use a soft scrunchie (velvet ones are good) at different levels to vary the pressure.