I Hardly Brush My Hair in the Summer, Here’s Why

I almost never brush my hair in the summer. Sounds crazy, I know.

I have long, extremely thick and dense wavy hair that soaks up moisture like a sponge. You’d think I use my wide and vast collection of hair brushes several times a day to manage it, but the truth is that I’ve found my mane to be about 1,000 times more manageable if I actually don’t brush my hair more than one or two times a week in the summer. You totally think I’m gross right now, but let me explain.

I almost never brush my hair when it’s hot out.

For anyone with hair like mine, which is pretty common across a variety of cultural backgrounds, brushing in general is sort of a crapshoot. Sure, you need to brush your hair while you’re blowing it out with a proper dryer or using other styling tools, but the entire game changes if you’re air drying. I air dry almost exclusively in the summer, because frankly the idea of ruining a $50 blowout with sweat and humidity just seems dumb. Also, isn’t the best part of summer the combination of beauty freedom from oppressive hair and makeup routines combined with the delish taste of popsicles? It is for me, anyway, but back to curls and waves. If you dry brush curly or textured hair, it poofs. You can do the poofy thing if you want, but my feeling is why swim upstream when curls, waves, and all the millions of variations within are naturally beautiful? And forgive me for pointing it out, but isn’t every magazine, drugstore aisle, and Sephora shelf basically married to selling the idea of beachy, ocean hair waves right now? If that’s the case, let’s embrace it, because doing almost nothing to feel beautiful is the trend every single human female has been praying for since puberty.

Simply put, if the thermometer is displaying temperatures beyond 75 degrees F, and I don’t have a reason for a blowout (like attending someone’s wedding or appearing on TV), no blowdryers are coming near my head. I cannot be bothered. Instead, I wash and condition as I normally would (I’m not on team #nopoo or team no scalp exfoliation, I like shampoo and think it’s important to wash away dirt, grime, sweat, chlorine — you name it), and when I get out of the shower I add a quarter-size amount of a color protectant to safeguard the old-but-still-kickin’ highlights I have at the ends of my hair. I use nothing more than my fingers at this point to comb through my hair. I do not actually brush my hair with any manmade tools — my hands are enough, and I use them to give a gentle scalp massage at the same time (because I’ve heard from endless derms that it’s healthy for hair growth and follicle health).

These are the products I’ve been using

I’ve been really into this Klorane color protector recently, and definitely recommend applying it while you’re hair is still wet so the SPF really soaks in and doesn’t leave any white streaks. Aside from protecting, it mildly kicks your existing color into higher gear and breathes some temporary new life into it, regardless of shade.

Here’s where my don’t-brush-my-hair routine gets kind of wacky though — I recently used a Bath & Body Works Aqua Cool aloe lotion on my husband’s crispy back and noticed the texture was the PERFECT wave enhancer. Imagine a soft-touch hair gel combined with aloe, but with the slip and texture of a silicone frizz tamer. I know this stuff was made for soothing sunburns and overexposed skin, but OMG, it’s a dream for summer hair, too. My long hair doesn’t need much of it, and usually about a nickel’s worth of this peachy lotion rubbed between my palms and worked through the ends of my hair is more than enough to bring my waves together without any crunchiness, heavy feeling, or greasy look.

A dollop’ll do ya

Admittedly, I don’t know if the ingredients have any interactions with every type of processed hair, but I did try it on a friend’s platinum blond hair as well and it worked perfectly. She used a purple shampoo after just to make sure her hair was clarified and color-balanced, but otherwise is now in love with this trick as well.

Am I the only one in the brush-free movement? Raise your hand in the comments section if this system works better for your air-dried hair as well.

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