Don’t you just love the sun? To me, there’s nothing better than a nice warm day at the park or beach. I love the feeling of the sun on my skin but those UV rays can really cause some damage to my hair. Our hair is protected by a keratin barrier that provides shine and lustre but just like our skin gets burned, that keratin barrier can be damaged by the sun and other environmental factors and cause our hair to not be as shiny or supple as it should. Not only our hair but our scalp can be prone to sun burn if it’s not protected.

If you have thin hair, you may want to think about how you are treating your scalp. The scalp needs to be taken care of just as much as any of the skin on our body. I never really realized this until recently in my research on hair growth that the scalp needs to even be protected from sun damage, as well as our hair. Our hair isn’t enough to block the UV rays that we encounter every day. Anyone who has had a scalp sunburn can attest. We’ve already learned from last year’s Healthy Skin segment that sunscreen is a must wear everyday. But who wants to put sunblock in their hair everyday? I sure don’t want greasy hair everyday so I would recommend careful consideration of your daily sun exposure. Anytime you are out in direct sunlight for more than thirty minutes, you should be protecting your scalp. A couple ways to do this would be either a hat or a hair product containing spf. Everyday heat protectant spray will also protect your hair from the sun. Here are a few products to help protect the scalp from harmful UV rays:

Do you think it’s important to protect your hair from the sun?