Care for Hair Today (So It’s Not Gone Tomorrow)

The glorious hot sunny days of summer require shifts in beauty routines, and it’s agood time to reassess hair care. We do tend to take our locks for granted. The American Academy of Dermatology offers hair tips that are useful year round.

To preserve your hair, the academy recommends:

Be gentle with your hair when it is wet, the time it is most apt to break off. Don’t rub it too vigorously with a towel, or brush or comb it too roughly.

Alternate hairstyles that pull the hair tightly--ponytails, corn rows, braids--with looser styles. Constant pulling can cause hair loss, especially from the sides of the scalp.

Brushing your hair 100 times a day will damage it. Use wide-toothed combs and brushes with smooth tips.

Perming, bleaching, coloring will not cause hair loss but may cause hair to become brittle and break off if done incorrectly or too frequently.

It helps to know common causes of shedding:

* High fevers, infections, severe flu and surgery requiring anesthesia. Usually this shedding doesn’t begin for several months. Usually corrects itself.

* Overactive and underactive thyroids. Usually corrected with medication.

* Poor diets. Some people who go on crash diets or have abnormal eating habits develop protein malnutrition. Massive shedding can occur months later. This may be reversed.

* Medications. Chemotherapy, beta blockers, antidepressants, gout medication, blood thinners, some antibiotics and high doses of vitamin A all can cause hair loss.

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Not since Chanel’s Vamp nail polish hit the scene in 1997 has there been such a shopping frenzy over a cosmetic. This spring, Chanel has done it again with its luscious Glossimers lip gloss ($22.50).

Local department stores report they can’t seem to keep enough tubes in stock.

“Each of our employees has a waiting list that’s at least 20 names long,” says Greg Ochoa, Chanel counter manager at Bloomingdale’s at the Beverly Center. “The Glossimers took us by surprise. A few of the testers have even been stolen.”

The most sought-after color is Brilliance, a soft pink that gives lips almost a holographic effect.

“They have been blowing out of the stores. People are seeing the magazine ad with the big pair of lips and rushing the cosmetics counters,” says Kara Campbell, executive director of marketing for Chanel Cosmetics.

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The product line for British skin-care sensation Eve Lom is now available at Neiman Marcus and Barneys New York in Beverly Hills. Lom, a former Hollywood wife (once married to Herbert Lom of the “Pink Panther” movies), is quickly becoming the darling of the fashion media for her back-to-basics line and treatments.

The Czech-born Lom studied under Georgette Klinger before moving to London and opening her own spa and product line. The products range from $18 for a lip balm to $65 for a cleansing cream.