Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The truth about hair health and the sun

Lots of people are worried that in the summer their hair needs to get the same preventative treatment from the sun as their skin does. That for most people means that their hair should be treated with a conditioner that has sun screen.

Let’s examine this for a moment. Sunscreen contains an ingredient that tries to prevent the ultraviolet rays from penetrating the skin. Actually your skin has a major mechanism that doesn’t allow the ultra violet rays get too deep. It does that by producing dark pigments and that is why the longer your skin is exposed to the sun the darker it becomes. Your suntan is the result of the skin protecting itself. Don’t forget, the skin is the biggest organ of your body. It is extremely important to you.

However, as you can imagine, hair is made totally different than skin. It really is just a fiber where the core of the hair is enclosed by several horny transparent layers. So, even if you apply a conditioner which contains sunscreen it will have no effect on your hair because it is anatomically different from skin.

The only time you need to protect your hair is if you are at the ocean in the sun all day long. The sun – and the air is mixed with the salt of the ocean – will dry out your hair. If you are one of those people who is outside all day long (at the ocean) you can either smother your hair with hair conditioner or keep your hair covered.

You will be just fine.

Filed under Hair Care