Looking after sun-damaged hair

Everyone knows that the sun damages your skin but have you ever thought how the heat and UV rays might affect your hair?

The sun’s rays are very powerful – we can all recognise that through how fast sunburn can develop on unprotected skin – so it is only logical that they will have an effect on your hair. UV rays cause the most environmental damage to hair, more than blow drying and chlorine, so it is an important factor to consider if you want to look after your hair.

Whilst it won’t be damaged forever – it will eventually re-grow – it will suffer breakages and lack of moisture, leaving it looking weakened and unhealthy. If you wish to keep your skin in good condition this summer, why not complement your beautiful skin with beautiful hair?

How the sun affects your hair

Firstly, let’s examine how the sun affects hair. The most common thing that most people associate with this is the slight lightening of hair after a spell in the sun.

The reason this happens is that hair contains melanin, just like your skin does. Melanin is what gives it its colour but it also hunts down free radicals which would otherwise cause damage. When UV rays reach your hair, they cause the melanin to oxidise and discolour. As the hair is dead and cannot react to the UV rays by increasing melanin like skin, the lower melanin levels are reflected in a lightening of the hair. The lower levels, therefore, also cannot perform their free radical hunting duties so effectively.

Lemon juice is well known for being a natural way of bleaching hair when exposed to the sun and lots of people use it as a cheap way of getting highlights. Unfortunately, whilst it does have a slight lightening effect, it can also cause dryness as it upsets the PH balance of the hair.

Another effect of the sun is that it depletes the levels of vital protein which give healthy hair its strength. This is known as keratin and when it is undamaged, it lies along your strands of hair like tiles on a roof. However, when you weaken the keratin in your hair, some of those ‘tiles’ become broken and shift out of place, causing the hair shafts to weaken and become easily damaged. They also do not reflect light as well, causing your hair to appear dull.

The sun damages your hair in one final way – by sucking the moisture and oils out of it. The moisture level should be around 8% but sun damage, bleaching and other hair treatments can cause this to fall to as low as 2%. When this happens, you’ll end up with split ends and brittle, broken strands of hair.

Here’s a summary of the ways that the sun damages hair:

• Lightens it by damaging melanin
• Depletes the protein which gives hair its strength and shine
• Lowers the moisture levels, encouraging split ends and brittle hair

Looking after sun-damaged hair

The best way to stop your hair suffering sun damage in the first place is to wear a hat when you are out in the sun! This simple measure will also help to prevent your scalp getting burnt, as well as protecting your face and neck from UV rays. If you aren’t keen on hats, try to stay in the shade as much as possible during the hottest hours of the day.

Sometimes it just isn’t possible to wear a hat so some sun damage during the summer is inevitable and you can end up with frizzy, easily broken hair that lacks its usual lustre. Don’t worry – our Moisturising Conditioner will help to reverse that damage and give you back beautiful hair. Just like all of our organic body care products, it is filled with gentle, natural ingredients which nourish and revitalise your hair. Its fabulous citrus scent helps to revive your mind too! The Moisturising Conditioner contains several ingredients which are especially helpful to sun-damaged hair. The first is Jojoba oil, which has a very similar composition to the natural sebum and oils which lubricate and protect your hair from damage. These make an ideal replacement for the oils which are stripped away through sun and chlorine damage. It also contains Quinoa oil, an essential oil rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants are important in protecting against UV-induced free radicals which would otherwise cause damage. In addition to the Jojoba oil and Quinoa oil, our Moisturising Conditioner also has soothing Chamomile extract and protective Marshmallow extract. These will help to bring the condition of your hair up, helping it to become shiny, tangle-free and rehydrated. Give your hair an organic treat this summer, buy our Moisturising Conditioner today!