Winter can be just as bad as summer when it comes to your hair. Dropping temperatures and other winter hair hazards can leave you with hair that is limp, dry, or damaged – even without the seawater or chlorine. Now for the good news: with a few precautions, you can protect your hair through the cold months and emerge with beautiful hair in the spring.

Indoor Hazards

Unless you live somewhere close to the equator, you’re going to come in frequent contact with one of the top causes of dry, unmanageable winter hair: indoor heating. No, don’t reach for the thermostat. Freezing to death for the sake of good hair just isn’t worth it. Instead, try these tips to keep your hair from drying out as you keep warm:

• Switch to a moisturizing or replenishing shampoo.

• Condition daily and use a deep, leave-in conditioner or hair mask once a week.

• Put a little shea butter, jojoba, or olive oil on your hands and run them through the tips of your hair to prevent dryness and splitting. Treat your hair like your skin.

• Limit your use of the curling iron, set your blowdryer to a lower setting, and wash your hair in warm (rather than hot) water. Do this year round to keep heat from drying out your hair.

• Dry-shampoo your hair between water washes. Dry shampoo is essentially an oil-absorbing powder such as cornstarch that is sprinkled on, then brushed out. It doesn’t strip your hair of oils the way regular shampoo does.

• Use a small indoor humidifier to keep the air moist.

Outdoor Hazards

Whether you’re a diehard skier or just someone who spends time outdoors in the winter, you’ll want to protect your hair from sun, wind, extreme temperatures, and frost.

These simple steps can help keep the great outdoors from damaging your hair:

• Wear hats or scarves to protect your hair. Wash and rotate them often to avoid oil build-up.

• Comb a small amount of sunblock through your hair before prolonged outdoors activities. Alternately, you can also buy spray-on sunblock for your hair.

• Don’t go outside with your hair wet! This one is pretty obvious, but it’s worth a mention. Frozen hair is brittle hair, and that means breakage. (To say nothing of the misery associated with having icy hair.)
   

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