Sun, seawater, sand, humidity, chlorine, wind, air conditioning – the elements of summer that can do some serious damage to your strands if you’re not giving your hair the extra care it needs to stay safe during this season. Just like you need sunscreen to help protect the quality of your skin, your strands should have some shielding as well so that they can maintain a youthful and healthy appearance. This isn’t always an easy task to accomplish when the heat is on. Hair can become extremely dry and prone to breakage, and color can become definitively dull. The combination of products you can choose from to protect your hair can be confusing. Luckily for us, we’ve stumbled upon a simple solution in Redken’s UV Rescue. This new line of broadband environmental defense products makes options that are a synch to understand and apply throughout all sorts of summer activity.
UV Rescue consists of two product categories: Protective In-Sun (which offers maximum UV coverage during fun in the sun) and After-Sun (which provides restoration and relief to your strands and scalp post-sun days). The Protective In-Sun products include two designated for sun and two for swim, and both are to be administered pre-exposure. The sun items include the UV Rescue Daily Sun Milk and the UV Rescue Protective Oil. The Sun Milk is a lightweight, natural and sheer spray that helps detangle hair while providing it with nourishment and moisture. It offers an SPF 12 level of protection and works best on fine hair. The Protective Oil is a water-resistant spray that offers intense broadband UVA and UVB protection. It’s a silky oil that gives hair luminous shine with the help of gold mica particles, which help add a cosmetic look to locks. This product is perfect for thick, coarse and dry hair types that desire sleek control.
The Protective Swim Creams include UV Rescue Blonde Guard and UV Rescue Brunette Guard. These are both water-resistant creams designed to protect and prolong colored, highlighted and natural blonde and brown hues, respectively. Both contain ionic-bonding chelators as an ingredients that prevent the absorption of chlorine, which turns blonde strands to green; as well as iron and magnesium, which can make brown hues become brassy and copper tones (as well as severely dull). The Blonde Guard contains natural lemon extract to enhance the true brilliance of blonde hair. It also provides smoothing and shining elements. The Brunette Guard contains a silicone complex that maintains rich, dark tones. It incorporates golden mica particles as well to provide a lustrous, multi-dimensional shine.
For the After-Sun products, there’s a shampoo that provides strands with a deep cleanse to remove mineral, chlorine and salt deposits. It also helps restore moisture. There’s also a conditioner that offers nutritious conditioning, detangling and shine benefits. Both products also provide a gentle soothing and replenishment to the scalp.
What’s unique about the UV Rescue line of products is its C2 Solar Complex. This is a new technology Redken developed that combines Vitamin C and Ceramide. These powerful ingredients help reconstruct, strengthen and revitalize the inner structure of your strands. And they work in conjunction with the UVA and UVB filters to protect hair against damage, dehydration and discoloration.
Rodney Cutler, owner of the Cutler Salon (http://www.cutlersalon.com) in Soho, has recently started using the UV Rescue line with his clients, and so far the feedback from them has been extremely positive. He revealed to BN why the timing of these new products is so appropriate. “More than ever sexy hair and fashionable hair has always been a desire, but now healthy hair is becoming a much bigger issue,” says Rodney. “I am seeing it day in and day out from our clients now. They want to look great, but just as important, they want their hair to maintain its integrity. Even in products we’re using and the colors we’re choosing, it’s become a much bigger issue in the last year.” Cutler goes on to say that UV Rescue plays to this strength because it’s about protecting hair from the elements and it’s also about avoiding color fading. “The big thing about summer is not bleaching your hair color,” says Rodney. “So how do you retain the colors you’ve had and still go out and enjoy summer? Keep on your normal schedule of coloring, but have the products become your savior.”
He also advises to look at humidity as a savior as well. “Try to have hairstyles that are going to work. Clearly, summer is the time to experiment with texture and movement, which we are seeing as a real trend. Because of humidity, it’s hard to dry hair straight.” He advises if you are going curly wash strands less; if you want your hair super straight wash it more. He also revealed that the UV Rescue products like Sun Milk and Protective Oil also double as great treatment and styling aides. “The Sun Milk can be a great styling tool to create textured, sexy, ‘beachy’ hair,” says Rodney. “The Protective Oil also makes a good shine spray.” And he believes these products don’t have to be used as strictly a “summer fling” because his clients want very specific solutions all year round, and UV Rescue product benefits are in a language that’s easy to understand. “Clients want very specific solutions,” says Rodney. “They want clear, precise answers to their hair problems because they want to be fashionable, but again, the big thing is sexy healthy hair.”
Redken products are sold exclusively in salons across the U.S., including Cutler here in NYC. For more information on these products and where to purchase them in your area, call 1-800-REDKEN8 or log onto http://www.redken.com.
Cutler Salons at either of their locations:
115 East 57th Street
465 West Broadway, Soho
212-308-3838
212-674-2210
