Keratin extensions through an Algarve summer

Keratin extensions are built to last three to six months. In the Algarve, the difference between a set that reaches six months and one that gives up at three is almost never the application — it is what happens in July and August.

Salt, chlorine and UV all attack the same thing: the keratin bond at the root and the cuticle along the length. The good news is that the habits that protect them take about a minute each.

Wet your hair before you swim

This is the single most effective thing on this list, and almost nobody does it.

Hair is absorbent. Dry hair entering the sea or a pool soaks up salt water or chlorinated water immediately and holds it against the bonds. Hair that is already saturated with fresh water has far less capacity to take on anything else — the same way a wrung-out sponge picks up less than a dry one.

Thirty seconds under a fresh shower before you get in, and a proper rinse when you come out, does more than any product.

The bonds do not fail all at once. They soften, loosen slightly, and slide — and by the time you notice, the damage was done weeks earlier.

Sun is a colour problem before it is a bond problem

UV oxidises the pigment in extension hair faster than it does in your own, because extension hair no longer receives oil from your scalp. Blondes go brassy. Caramel and chocolate tones go warm and flat.

A leave-in with UV filters, reapplied after swimming, holds tone for far longer. A hat on the beach does the rest. If the tone has already shifted by September, that is fixable — a gloss or toner is a short appointment, not a full colour service.

Products: what matters, and what does not

• Sulphate-free shampoo — sulphates strip the bond and the cuticle. This one genuinely matters.
• Conditioner from mid-length down only — keep it off the bonds themselves, where it softens the keratin.
• Oil on the ends, never at the root — the same rule, for the same reason.
• Silicone-heavy masks — fine occasionally, but they build up and dull the hair. Once a fortnight, not twice a week.

Brushing and sleeping

Use a loop brush or a soft extension brush, and work from the ends upward, holding the hair above the bonds so you are not pulling at the root. Two short sessions a day beat one long one.

Never sleep on wet hair with extensions. Wet keratin is soft keratin, and a night of friction against a pillow is what turns a tidy row of bonds into matting at the nape. If you must go to bed damp, a loose braid is enough.

When to come in

Keratin extensions want a check somewhere around the ten-to-twelve week mark — sooner if you have been in the water most days. It is a short appointment, and it is far easier to move a few loosening bonds than to repair matting that has been building since August.

If your set has been through a full Algarve summer and you are not sure what it needs, bring it in. The consultation is free, and it takes fifteen minutes to tell you honestly whether you need a refit, a tone, or nothing at all.