Want to avoid parched holiday hair? Easy – protect it from the sun | Sali Hughes on beauty

UV rays can leave bleached hair parched, coloured hair muted, curls frizzed. So unless you’re happy to baste your hair in ordinary sunscreen, or are one of the six adults who look good sporting a baseball cap, you’d be wise to consider a hair protectant.

Philip Kingsley’s Swimcap (£20) is a beauty classic. Developed originally for the US synchronised swimming team, this protective mask is the next best thing to a rubber cap, too. Just comb through damp hair and either go with the piecey, separated look (gorgeous on curls, coils and thicker hair) or scrape back into a low-maintenance bun. In any case, the moist, creamy texture of Swimcap will to some degree determine your hairstyle, which is why it might suit you best on a relaxed holiday.

For fine-haired people like me, Swimcap is too much for everyday life (ironically, it makes me look as though I’ve been swimming). Instead, I travel with Kérastase Soleil Crème UV Sublime leave-in moisturising hair cream (£33.70) mostly because the deceptively rich texture protects against UV, de-frizzes and keeps things suitably moist without loading up my hair with grease.

I can get away with styling as normal and only losing a little of what scant volume I have. But also partly because the coconut and tropical flower scent is, to me, the delicious smell of summer holidays and can stand in easily for perfume at a push. It’s expensive but lasts ages, as does Kérastase Blond Absolu Cicaplasme treatment (£33.70), which does a similar job on grey and blond hair.

If your hair is fine, you’re likely to be already well versed in the volumising benefits of dry shampoo. And so you may love Bumble & Bumble’s Prêt-à-Powder Très Invisible (£25), which usefully doubles as a UV protectant. Most hair sunscreens are oil-based and so rob the hair of volume in exchange for UV protection. Not this, which lifts and fattens the appearance of roots like any other dry shampoo, while simultaneously stopping your scalp and lengths from frying.

If you’d like to bring the beach to your hairstyle without the associated damage, Sam McKnight’s gloriously scented Sundaze Sea Spray (£26) gives both UV protection and that sexy, salty, surfy tousle without dryness. For me, this works best on slightly damp hair, misted lightly and scrunched in before drying, but those with drier, thicker types can layer on and leave it.