If you live on the English Riviera and your hair has turned dry, straw-like and prone to snapping, the cause is almost always the hair shaft rather than the follicle. Salt water, UV, chlorine and mineral-heavy water all attack the outer cuticle of the hair, and once that protective layer lifts, moisture escapes and strands break. That is a cosmetic problem, not a hair loss problem, and it is largely preventable. A trichologist in Torquay is worth seeing when you cannot tell whether you are breaking hair off or shedding it from the root, because those two need completely different plans.

Is my hair breaking or actually falling out?

This is the first thing to settle, because the answer changes everything that follows.

Pick up several of the hairs you find in the sink or on your pillow and look closely at the ends under good light.

• A tiny pale, slightly bulbous root at one end. That hair was shed from the follicle, which is a normal part of the hair cycle. Between 50 and 100 a day is expected.
• Both ends blunt, frayed or split, with no bulb. That hair snapped somewhere along its length. This is breakage, and it is a hair-shaft problem.
• Short, wiry pieces of hair around your parting and crown that never seem to grow. Also breakage, usually the pieces that snapped closest to the scalp.

Breakage makes hair look thinner without any change in follicle number, because you are losing length and the ends have thinned out. If you are seeing genuine shedding instead, our guide to how to work out why your hair is thinning walks through the causes properly.

What does salt water actually do to hair?

Three separate things, and they compound.

First, osmosis. Sea water is a concentrated salt solution, so it draws water out of the hair shaft. Hair that has lost internal moisture is stiffer and much less elastic, which means it snaps at strain levels it would normally survive.

Second, abrasion. Salt crystallises on the strand as it dries, and every time hair rubs against hair with those crystals in place, cuticle scales get chipped away. Add wind, and you have thousands of small abrasive events an hour.

Third, pH. Healthy hair sits at a slightly acidic pH of around 4.5 to 5.5, which keeps cuticle scales lying flat. Sea water is alkaline at roughly 8. Alkaline conditions swell the shaft and lift the cuticle, exposing the cortex underneath.

None of this is a reason to avoid the sea. It is a reason to rinse afterwards, which almost nobody does properly.

What does chlorine do, and why does hair go green?

Chlorine is an oxidiser. It strips the thin natural lipid layer that sits on the cuticle and coats each strand, and it oxidises the keratin underneath. Regular swimmers develop a characteristic texture, dry and slightly rough, that feels almost like very fine wire.

It also binds to the hair rather than simply rinsing off, which is why a quick shower is not enough after a long swim. Chlorine left in the hair keeps reacting.

The green tint that blonde and light hair sometimes picks up is not chlorine at all. It is copper, either from copper-based algaecides or from the pool plumbing. Chlorine oxidises that copper and the oxidised form binds to protein in the hair, which is why bleached and porous hair goes green fastest. A chelating or clarifying shampoo removes it. Ordinary shampoo will not.

Does hard water make it worse?

Water hardness varies a good deal across the South West, and Torbay sits on limestone, so it is worth checking your own supply on your water company's postcode lookup rather than assuming Devon means soft water everywhere.

Where the water is hard, calcium and magnesium ions react with shampoo surfactants and form an insoluble film that deposits on the hair. That film makes hair feel coated and rough, dulls colour, reduces how well conditioner penetrates, and makes people wash more aggressively, which causes more damage. It is a compounding problem rather than a dramatic one.

The practical fixes are a clarifying wash every couple of weeks to strip the mineral film, and an in-line shower filter if you want to reduce the deposit at source. Neither is essential, but if your hair feels permanently coated no matter what you use, this is often why.

Which exposure causes which problem?

How do you protect hair before a day on the beach?

1. Soak it in fresh water first. Two minutes, properly wet through, not a quick splash.
2. Add a leave-in or a light conditioner as a barrier. It slows absorption further and reduces tangling in the water.
3. Tie it back loosely. Loose plaits or a low, soft bun. Nothing tight, because wet hair is at its most fragile and tight styles on wet hair cause tension damage.
4. Wear a hat. UV protection for hair is largely physical. A hat outperforms any spray on the market.
5. Rinse within the hour. Salt and chlorine keep working as the hair dries. Get them off before then.
6. Detangle wet, with conditioner in, from the ends up. Wide-tooth comb, never a bristle brush on wet knotted hair.
7. Deep condition weekly through summer. Not daily, and not never. Weekly is the sweet spot for most hair types.

Protect Me® Leave-In Spray, £13.95

Coastal hair rarely gets damaged by one thing. It is usually sea or pool water followed by a blow-dry or straighteners. This leave-in gives heat protection to 230C, helps with frizz in damp sea air, and supports colour that summer sun tends to fade. Use it on damp hair before styling, and pair it with a hat rather than relying on it for sun protection.

View Protect Me® Spray

What actually repairs damaged hair?

Here is the honest version, because this is where most marketing overreaches.

Hair is not living tissue. Once keratin in the shaft is oxidised or a cuticle scale is chipped off, your body cannot rebuild it, because there is no blood supply and no cellular activity out along the strand. What good products do is fill gaps, smooth the surface and reduce friction, so the hair behaves better and breaks less. That is genuinely useful. It is not repair in the biological sense, and any product promising to permanently rebuild your hair is overselling.

If you want the mechanics of getting more out of conditioner, our guide on how to use conditioner properly covers placement and timing, which matter more than the product you pick.

Masque Me® Hair Mask, £24.95

The weekly deep conditioner in the routine above. It combines hydrolysed lupine protein with provitamin B5 and argan oil, so it works on both sides of the problem: temporarily firming up weakened sections and laying the cuticle flatter so combing causes less breakage. Apply to the mid-lengths and ends, leave it on properly, and keep it off the scalp.

View Masque Me® Mask

How do you know if you need protein or moisture?

Over-conditioning damaged hair is a real thing, and it produces limp, mushy strands that stretch and snap. Here is the test trichologists use.

Take a single hair that has come out naturally, wet it, and pull gently from both ends.

• It stretches a long way and does not spring back, or snaps softly like wet paper. Too little protein. Use a protein-containing treatment and ease off the heavy moisturising masks.
• It barely stretches and snaps sharply and instantly. Too little moisture. Use a hydrating conditioner and hold off on protein for a few weeks.
• It stretches a little and returns to roughly its original length. That is healthy elasticity. Keep doing what you are doing.

Repeat the test monthly. Hair on the coast tends to swing towards the moisture-deficient end through summer and back the other way in winter.

When is it not the coast?

Environmental damage explains dry, breaking, dull hair. It does not explain these, and they need a different conversation.

• A widening parting or a receding hairline. That is a follicle pattern, not shaft damage.
• Shedding that suddenly doubles or triples. Look back two to three months for an illness, an operation, a crash diet or a major stressor. Our guide to what causes telogen effluvium covers the timeline.
• Smooth, round bald patches. See your GP. That is not a hair-care issue.
• A sore, itchy, flaking or painful scalp. That is scalp skin, and it needs its own assessment. Our guide to keeping your scalp healthy is the place to start.
• Hair that changes texture across your whole head over a few months. Worth a GP visit to check thyroid function and iron levels.

Finding a trichologist near Torquay

Your realistic catchment covers Paignton, Brixham, Newton Abbot and Totnes, with Exeter and Plymouth the nearest cities for a wider choice of clinics. A few things to check before booking.

• Registration with the Institute of Trichologists or the International Association of Trichologists. "Hair loss consultant" is not a protected title in the UK, so ask.
• A proper first consultation with a magnified scalp examination, typically £50 to £120 privately.
• A willingness to refer you to your GP when something falls outside their scope.
• Total costs stated up front, including follow-ups and any products.
• No guaranteed outcomes, no twelve-month package demanded on the day, and no diagnosis made from a photo.

For straightforward environmental damage, you may not need one at all. A good stylist and six weeks of the routine above will tell you a great deal for the price of a haircut.

Frequently asked questions

Does sea water damage hair permanently?

No. Sea water damages the hair that is already grown, not the follicle, so every new hair emerges undamaged. The damaged length has to grow out or be cut off, but nothing about swimming in the sea affects your future hair.

How do I get the green out of blonde hair after swimming?

Use a chelating or clarifying shampoo, which is formulated to bind and remove metal ions. The green comes from copper in the pool water, not from chlorine, so ordinary shampoo will not shift it. Prevention is a pre-soak in fresh water and a rinse straight after swimming.

Should I wear a swimming cap?

If you swim regularly, yes. A cap will not keep hair completely dry, but combined with a fresh-water pre-soak it dramatically cuts how much chlorinated water your hair takes on. For occasional swimmers the pre-soak and rinse alone are usually enough.

Does the sun cause hair loss?

UV damages the hair shaft, not the follicle, so it causes breakage rather than loss. Prolonged sunburn on an exposed scalp is a separate matter and worth avoiding, both for skin health and because a badly burned scalp can shed temporarily while it heals.

How often should I use a hair mask in summer?

Once a week for most people, or twice if you swim daily or have bleached hair. More often than that risks over-conditioning, which leaves hair limp and stretchy. Use the wet-strand stretch test above to decide.

Do I need a shower filter for hard water?

It is optional. Check your supply hardness on your water company's postcode lookup first. If it is hard and your hair feels permanently coated despite good products, a filter helps. A clarifying wash every couple of weeks achieves much of the same effect for a fraction of the cost.

Can I brush my hair straight after swimming?

Not with a bristle brush. Wet hair is at its weakest, and salt-tangled wet hair is the worst possible thing to drag a brush through. Apply conditioner, then use a wide-tooth comb starting at the ends and working upwards.

Why does my hair feel worse in winter here?

Coastal winter brings wind, damp salt-laden air and central heating, which is a drying combination. Wind causes mechanical tangling and friction damage, and indoor heating pulls moisture out of the shaft. The same protective habits apply, with more emphasis on tying hair back outdoors.