Summer Beauty Must-Have: Hair Oils

Your hair takes a beating every summer, from the hot sun’s damaging UV rays to drying sea salt and chlorine, everything wonderful about the season (even refreshing watermelon and popsicles) is bad for your hair. That’s why summer’s a good time to try out hair oil, a styling and treatment product in one that will leave your hair shiny, silky, and soft if you use it correctly. “The trick to using an oil spray is to put it on damp hair, before you blow dry,” says hairstylist James Peter Williams of the Canalé salon in Beverly Hills. “Only apply the oil from the mid-shaft to the ends and then comb it through the hair. Blowdrying the hair will help evaporate some of the grease so just shine is left behind.” Don’t be alarmed if you see steam rising from your hair as your blowdry or flatiron, that’s just the excess oil. James likes using Kérastase Chroma Cristal on hair that’s been color-treated with a single process and Kérastase Huile Céleste on highlighted hair, and here are Beautylish’s 3 top picks for hair oils you should try this summer.

1 Sisley-Paris Hair Protective Fluid

Apply this citrus/woodsy-smelling blend that features notes of verbena, lemon, peach blossom, and amber to damp or dry hair. This product forms a protective film, helping to protect your hair from effects of the sun, sea, and swimming pool water and contains two filters for optimal protection against UVA and UVB rays.

2 Christophe Robin Hair Oil with Lavender

This can be used as a pre-shampoo treatment or as a protective treatment against damage from chlorine, saltwater, and the sun.

3 Bumble and bumble. Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil

This lightweight blend of six oils absorbs quickly into hair to help soften, silken, tame, de-frizz, detangle, and protect against breakage and UV damage.