The Influence of UV Rays Upon Hair

The popularity of sunbathing cosmetics is getting higher and higher. This means that we have become much more aware of the negative results of sunbathing for our skin. And what about the negative influence of UV on our hair? This issue is still taken a bit too lightly and it shouldn’t be so. Sunbathing has got a very bad influence on our hair. It is good to be aware of that, especially that it is easy to protect yourself against negative results of sunbathing. Destructive effect of UV concerns especially such hair which was previously damaged by hair styling, for example: dying, peroxiding or permanent etc. You need to remember, though, that there are several other factors which have got a great impact on the general condition of our hair.

Other factors which have impact on the hair condition:

• The bad influence of the environment, like air pollution.
• Heat. Drying hair with a hair dryer or using other heated hair utensils for styling, as well as sunbathing, all that can damage hair cuticle and cause evaporation of water. Hairs become dry and brittle and loose gloss. The appropriate hair conditioner may protect them from low or medium level of heat (e.g. from a hair dryer). However, if it is possible, we should allow our hair to dry in the air. We should also have our hair be cut by a professional to make it look the best, with almost no influence on our own account. This piece of advice is connected with the following.
• Mechanical friction is caused by using a brush or a comb (even if they are the good ones). Salt in our hair after swimming in the sea, rubbing our head on a pillow while sleeping, using rubber bands all these cause damage or loss to our hair. Such damage has particularly to do with wet hair because then it is more susceptible to stretching and breaking.
• Chlorine which is in water also damages hair. It destroys not only hair’s structure and colour but also makes a hair follicle weaker. That is why every sportsperson uses specific protective preparations for his/her hair.
• Unbalanced diet, loosing weight, may lead to hair loss, brittleness and shine loss of hair. Diet components which are important for building the proper structure of a hair are: amino acids with sulphur (L-cystein mainly) and basic, i.e. indispensable, fatty acids. These are recommended in the hair treatment for general improvement of hair condition.
• Hormonal tablets or substitute hormonal therapy.
• Diseases
• Medication

Sunbathing

As it has already been mentioned, sunbathing is damaging for hair. As a result of sunbathing, hair becomes discoloured, dry, fragile and brittle. In fact, hair damage caused by UV rays is irreversible. UV rays tear some of the protein bonds inside hair. Every time we give our hair to the sun, UV radiation may destroy some of the protein amino acids. This results in the weakening of the hair structure and, as a further consequence, to loosing moisture and to the dehydrating of hair. A small amount of radiation has no big effect on healthy hair, especially dark hair, but such hair which has already been damaged by other factors is much more susceptible to

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