No, you’re right, it’s not summer yet. But next week, I’m going to be vacationing in LA for the first time — a welcome relief from this cold New England weather. For the past two weeks I’ve had sun, sand and In-N-Out on my mind.

In light of the above, and so the rest of you can get a head start on summer, I’m providing you with these hair care tips from Brad Johns of Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa:

How should you change your hair care routine for the summer months?

In the summer months, there are always more environmental stresses on the hair, such as salt water, sun, chlorine and salt, which add dryness and cause extra color fading. To prevent all of this, I always suggest using shampoo and conditioning treatment that contain UV protectors. Similarly to how you would care for your face/skin, you should take the time to treat your hair the same. In the winter, you should use more moisturizing products. I suggest changing your hair care routine every season, as hair tends to get used to your products and they are not as effective.

What summer elements fade hair color and why?

Chlorine is the absolute worst. Chemicals will harm all colors. It turns blondes green and brunettes orange. Sun and salt water are known to fade color, but usually fade it in a natural way. It sometimes looks good and sunkissed, as long as you’re not in a corrective color mode or have had color problems over the winter.

What is the best way to prevent fading and/or preserve color?

The best way is to wear a hat or a headband. Avoid oil-based hair products, as they attract the sun and magnify the color fading. Hair gels, waxes and crèmes protect the hair like an umbrella.

Brad was actually named NYC’s premier hair colorist in the new book, How Not to Look Old by Charla Krupp.

Brad specializes in blonds, but he’ll be worth his weight in gold (haha - no pun intended) if he can do hair color magic on an Asian girl with black hair. I have been dying to get my hair highlighted for years, but just don’t see how this can happen tastefully or naturally. It’s rare that I’ve seen good color work on an Asian head of hair. Or maybe it’s just not meant to be?

I love plays on words, and Herbal Essences has come up with a good one for their brand new line of haircare products for women with long tresses: Long Term Relationship.

I must admit, I’ve had a spotty history with Herbal Essences products. I used their shampoo and conditioner all through high school and loved them. Then I started using them again post college and had bad experiences with itchy scalp. SLS was my guess, but I was never quite sure what the culprit was, so I stopped using their products for a while.

Fast forward to the future when I had a chance to try out the new Long Term Relationship line. You can imagine my apprehension. But lo and behold, I’ve been enjoying the products quite a great deal mostly because — don’t laugh — I really really like opaque shampoos. You know, as opposed to the clear gel kind. I don’t know why but I feel like they wash and condition better. There is no scientific proof behind this, just the crazy, unsubstantiated musings of a beauty blogger. Haha.

And well, I should say that I’m not all crazy. The Long Term Relationship collection is infused with extra hydrators to protect against split ends and breakage. So far, my hair has been very happy. And when my hair speaks, Bon Bons listens.

Included in the line is a Shampoo, Conditioner and Split End Protector. And for a very affordable recommended retail price of $2.99 a bottle, how can you not love that?

This was a birthday present from my very dear friend, Sunnie.

Fruity and light, the “soda” in this shampoo is actually soda of bicarbonate — or baking soda for those who had to repeat Chemistry class. I use this a couple times a week to get rid of buildup.

The mint and grapefruit extracts, coupled with lavender water, give this product the most delicate, refreshing scent ever.

A 10oz bottle retails for $24 at Sephora.com.

Speaking of hair, here are some great tips for those of you with curly or wavy hair. And how to deal with one of the greatest frustrations that come along with that — frizz! Thanks to Aveda for an easy guide on maintaining what could potentially be an unruly mane.

1. Start with the right shampoo and conditioner. Aveda offers Be Curly™ Shampoo and Conditioner to moisturize and reduce frizz to set you up for styling success.

2. Always blot wet hair dry with a towel. Don’t rub! Rubbing creates more frizz.

3. Try not to shampoo every day. The natural oils in your scalp are beneficial to the health of your hair.

4. Refresh scalp and hair style between washings. If you decide to skip a shower one morning, simply spritz hair with Aveda’s Light Elements™ Reviving Mist, scrunching as you go to revive and refresh curls.

5. Curly hair needs moisture. Use Aveda’s Be Curly™ Curl Enhancer when hair is damp and Aveda’s Be Curly™ Curl Control once hair is dry to keep curls moisturized, defined and frizz-free.

6. Blow dry hair on low speed with high heat. And use a diffuser. This gives you defined, frizz-free curls. For extra lift and volume, flip head upside down when blow drying.

7. Avoid running fingers through hair as it dries. It causes curls to separate and become frizzy.

8. Don’t brush or comb curly hair when dry. It removes curl and causes frizz.

9. Spritz curls with a firm hold hairspray to prevent frizz in humid and/or windy conditions.

10. Wrap hair in a silk scarf before bed. It helps prevent frizz while sleeping.

After three weeks of not washing my hair with shampoo, I finally broke on Friday. By that time, I felt like I had all the results I needed to make a pretty decent analysis of the Hair Care Dare.

So my final thoughts?  (Updates One, Two, Three and Four can be found in previous posts.) Conditioner-only to wash my hair definitely cleansed it, and I might put the method to use in the winter since my skin tends to get drier then. But in the summer, it’s just too hot and damp outside. I found that while my hair was ok on the second day after my “wash,” it still felt heavier and greasier than it should. Not a ton heavier or greasier, but just enough that I felt uneasy about it.

I admit it too — the idea of not using shampoo to cleanse my hair really weirded me out. It was a constant battle to keep myself going in the challenge. But it probably just takes time to get accustomed to it — it took me forever to finally get my head around the idea of sushi!

Big round of applause to all those who participated in the dare. If you keep going, be sure to update us from time to time on how you’re doing!

Checking in again with y’all on the Hair Care Dare. I’m still hanging in there despite a few thoughts of caving in. I can’t believe I haven’t shampoo’ed my hair in two weeks!! Totally creepy, but kinda cool.

Anyway, my hair seems to be adjusting better with each passing day. But I also have off days — it’s probably just the horrendous heat though.

I’ve settled on using Pantene conditioner despite the -cone ingredient in it because it does seem to work. Why ruin a good thing - especially since I don’t know what the -cone does?? (I’m letting my ignorance be bliss.)

By the way, I emailed reader Jessica, who was catalyst for the challenge. She speaks out! Read here.

Keep your updates coming, ladies!

Here is the third update from the Hair Care Dare.

I went to the gym on Wednesday and ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes - got nice and sweaty. Then washed my hair using some conditioner that I found in my bathroom in one of those unlabeled plastic travel sized bottles that you can fill on your own. Don’t know what brand it was, but I can bet you it was something cheap like Suave.

The consistency was thin and runny and it worked amazingly well! I think it worked better than the Pantene from before, which ended up coating my hair too much and making it too greasy the second day. In fact, my hair looked pretty good on Thursday, the next day.

Washed my hair yesterday (Friday) using the same conditioner. Will keep you posted on results.

How is everyone else holding up?

Following up again on the Hair Care Dare. So Monday, the day of my “washing” — magical. Day 2, Tuesday — not so magical.

Before the challenge, I washed my hair (with shampoo) every other day, and oftentimes, my hair looked freshly washed even on the second day. (It took me six months to train it, but I finally did!) Not so yesterday. Yesterday, it looked like I could harvest some Crisco off my scalp.

It could be that my hair needs to get adjusted to this new routine, so I’m going to stick it out. Anyway, I plan to “wash” my hair again, but this time, I am not going to use as much conditioner on and near my scalp as I did on Monday. Instead, I’ll concentrate it on the ends.

How is everyone else doing?

Here is my first update from the Hair Care Dare, for those of you anxiously awaiting.

So I washed my hair this morning as specified in the instructions. I used four generous dollops of Pantene conditioner. (Somehow using a fifth dollop felt a bit unbearable. I was already nervous enough!)

I was terrified I was going to end up with a greasy glop of hair the rest of the day. But miracle of miracles!!! My hair actually felt clean when was I done! And it’s felt clean all day! It’s also felt very thick (thicker than usual), and not heavy or weighed down as I was afraid of.

Anyway, this is just day 1, so keep your fingers crossed for me. Tomorrow when I wake up could be a whole ‘nother scenario altogether.

And by the way, which one of you chick(en)s is going to do this challenge with me and Liz? Huh??

My most popular post, hands down, has been the post on how to wash your hair less frequently. I’m up to 31 comments and counting, for a post that I wrote back in November of 2006. In fact, when you Google “wash hair less,” I’m #3 in the search listings.

I’ve been monitoring the comments with much interest as this seems to be a topic that many women are passionate about, and that they seem to have very decided opinions on. In particular, one recent comment from a reader named Jessica caught my attention:

OK- I’m gonna get booed out of town, I’m sure- you don’t need shampoo at all.

I have had really oily, greasy hair since I was 12ish. My dad had it, his dad had it, and acne too. Disgusting. He of course taught me to melt that grease right out with very hot water and wash the hair every day with strong shampoos- and I did- and I had thin, weak hair that HAD to be washed every day. Three months ago, I was desperate to figure something else out since I know that your skin and scalp does much better without all of that harshness, but you know and I know walking around with little slicks of greasy clumping your hair up is not an option.

Get cheap conditioner- Suave, White Rain, etc (anything without a chemical ingredient ending in -cone.) Wet your hair with tepid water and slather on like 5 handfuls of the condition- all up in your roots, through the length, everywhere. Then go on with your shower- the conditioner needs to sit in the hair at least 15 min. There are mild surfectants in the conditioner that are going to clean the grease/dirt out WITHOUT STIMULATING YOUR SCALP TO MAKE MORE.

Finally, rinse for 5 minutes + with the coolest water you can stand. I haven’t used shampoo in 2 months and my hair is way thicker, glossier, and I can go three days between “washes” now.

If you’re scared, try it some night that you have nothing to do the next day! It works. You’ve trained your scalp to throw up all of this extra oil because you use detergent on it every day. It can be fixed.

So Jessica, I think I’ll take you up on your suggestion and see how I do. I wouldn’t be surprised if the oiliness that many of the readers comment upon are actually due to overwashing and overstripping of your natural hair oils. And that when you stop doing this to you hair, you might find it will calm down on its own.

Who wants to join me in this little experiment? Challenge starts tonight!