How damaging is the sun anyway?

[Madora]

Clarenewcastle speaks the truth! Cover up your hair! It isn't worth the grief to get a sunburnt scalp..or CANCER!

Accumulation of being in the sun w/o being properly protected can lead to cancer of the skin.

My mom used to garden every day, not wearing anything on her head. She ended up with several lesions that were in the beginning stages of cancer. Luckily, each one was excised in time.

After that, she wore a large garden hat!

[dulce]

I developed early basil skin cancer in my 50's.Luckily it was caught early and removed leaving no scar on my cheek.If it is not caught early ,you can face disfiguring surgery on your face to remove it and sometimes multiple facial reconstruction surgeries after.It is no picnic.If you get melanoma you can die .

[BlazingHeart]

Please, long hair fans, do you and your hair a favor, protect those delicate strands - and your scalp - by wearing either a WHITE hat or thin WHITE scarf or bandana.

White repells some of the rays (but not the others). A scarf or hat will also protect your scalp from sunburn, something you sure don't want!

Remember..WHITE, not a colored hat/scarf. Your hair will thank you!

No! Other way around. The darker colored the better for blocking UV rays. http://www.skincancer.org/sun-protective-clothing.html

"Darker-colored fabrics are more effective than lighter at blocking out the sun. For instance, the UPF of a green cotton T-shirt is 10 versus 7 for white cotton, and a thicker fabric such as velvet in black, blue or dark green has an approximate UPF of 50." (from the site I linked above)

Now, undyed cotton (which is kind of a tan color, not white) does have some special properties that make it block more UV. The best bet for something lightweight is going with something dark and shiny, so like dark silk, because the shine is also protective.

[Darkhorse1]

VERY damaging.

My hair was destroyed within my first year of teaching. I wish I'd known the full effects of the sun before that. I wore hats just to protect my head, but my length suffered tremondously. It went a very brassy red hue (I have very dark hair), and was dry and split. It recovered in the winter, but then was more damaged again. Within 4 years of working outside, I treated myself to cover my gray, and was shocked at the difference--how light my hair had gotten. As well as dry/damaged.

My best advice is to coil hair up and keep it under a hat. There are many now that have SPF protection, but even using water on your hair will keep it safer. If you color your hair, they have sunblock for that, but only for hair color treated (to prevent early fading)

Dark colors absorb heat though---so, lighter colors if you have issues with heat as lighter colors bounce the sun off. They do make sun protected clothing, and hats as well. SPF 15 and up.

[ilovelonghair]

How bad is sea water (together with sun that must be horrible)? I guess that's also very damaging. I never get swimming pool water on my hair, I think that's the worst of all.

[luxepiggy]

Prolonged sun exposure is definitely worse than blow-drying on the warm setting. The potential damage from blow-drying is mechanical in nature: wear & tear occurs mostly on the hair cuticle due to overly rapid moisture loss.

Sunlight, on the other hand, damages hair at the molecular level and affects not only the outer cuticle but also the cortex itself. UV radiation causes weakening of the protein structure through the oxidation of specific amino acids, in particular the oxidation of cystine to cysteic acid. Lengthy sun exposure can result in a 20%-40% weakening of the hair.

If you're curious, this article from a peer-reviewed journal goes into detail about the specific mechanisms of sunlight-induced photodamage: Oxygen Radicals from Photoirradiated Human Hair.

[Sundial]

No! Other way around. The darker colored the better for blocking UV rays. http://www.skincancer.org/sun-protective-clothing.html

"Darker-colored fabrics are more effective than lighter at blocking out the sun. For instance, the UPF of a green cotton T-shirt is 10 versus 7 for white cotton, and a thicker fabric such as velvet in black, blue or dark green has an approximate UPF of 50." (from the site I linked above)

Now, undyed cotton (which is kind of a tan color, not white) does have some special properties that make it block more UV. The best bet for something lightweight is going with something dark and shiny, so like dark silk, because the shine is also protective.

I think Madora is recommending light colors for scarves so as to deflect heat while offering sun protection She has contributed in other threads stating a preference for white scarves to keep cool since dark colors of the same fabric type trap heat. Your point about shiny dark fabric is valid too

[EdG]

The sun is pretty damaging. I can tell from the plastic items and garden hoses left outdoors in the sun. I believe the culprit is UV rather than just heat.

I used to be a sun-worshiper until I realized how damaged my ends were. I now avoid excess sun exposure. My skin will also likely be better off.
Ed

[defineinsanity]

I felt so awful about going swimming the other day and not putting it up..and forgetting the shampoo/conditioner (biggest fail) who knows what happened to it when i stepped out in the sun afterwards :/ not doing that again anytime soon :P

but yes heat protection spray for sun is the best way to go noone really wants to cover up constantly in the heat :P

[terpentyna]

Yeah, the sun's damaging.

Thanks to luxepiggy for the article!

Now for some info on salt water...