One of the
things I always advice people, is to protect their hair against the sun. Sun
can be really damaging to hair… Just see what it can do to old fabric or old
paintings.
Hair can’t
repair itself and you can’t out-condition the damage once it’s done, so it’s
important to protect it.
I always
dump about a tablespoon of real SPF with physical sunblock for skin into my 200
ml leave in conditioner bottle. That’s about how much it can take without
changing texture or making my hair greasy. It probably doesn’t add up to a lot
of SPF, but a little is better than none.
Even though
I try to protect my own hair from sun, I still have some fading at the ends. Oh
well. I still do my best that it won’t be worse than it already is. (One of the
reasons I keep trimming my ends!)
The
Schwarzkopf Bonacure is so far my favourite line for the SPF.
It’s affordable,
available at netshops and has a nice smell. How much SPF is actually has, I don’t
know though.
I mix the
creamy one into my leave in conditioner and dust the spray all over my finished
updo.
Products for dyed hair often have sun filters in them. I know one DT and one leave in, but they are Polish and the company doesn't sell abroad. But anyway... Gliss Kur serum for dyed hair has a UV filter quite high in the list. It also has 8 oils apart from 2 silicones, so it's not just an "empty " silicone bomb.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had Gliss Kur available here. Having said that, I did a lot of research into UV protection and found that it doesn't work for hair itself----it does work for color treated hair though. Color processed hair can go brassy in the sunlight. Natural hair, yes, it will get damaged, but I never found anything to prevent this, and believe me, I went through every product and hat, SPF buff out there and until I began getting my hair colored (demi permanent), it just continued to get discolored by the sun. Again, perhaps the wrong products were used/available to me, but after I had color in my hair, and then used UV protection, huge difference! (I also bunned my hair wet, french braided--didn't matter---wore hats ALL the time outdoors). So, my point of this post is that it can't hurt to protect your hair, but if you're outdoors 16hrs a day in the summer, with little shade/shelter, your hair will get some form of sun damage. At least, mine did :(
ReplyDeleteIn a way, it's good to know that. At least I won't be surprised.
DeleteThe matter seems to be prosaic - hair protection, but if anybody wishes to have long beautiful hair, protection is absolutely a must. And the sun can really damage, and that concerns probably all hair types, not only blond and/ or thin hair. I have been having long hair (not shorter than waist) since my childhood. My hair are virgin, dark brown, dry (scalp, the whole hair length and the endings), neither fine, not coarse, but something in between. After spending 2 weeks in Greece 4 years ago without using any hair protection I could proudly present dry straw on my head. I did not actually soaked hair in the see, but the sun itself was enough to dry them out. Luckily after 2 months hair managed to came back to its natural state - although I did not use in those period any delicate shampoos, masks etc. From time perspective I think that probably the only thing which saved my hair that time was that they were virgin. But that proves that even virgin hair need protection. After that unfortunate holidays I always remember now to use a hat to protect my hair - simple, but effective method, at least it works for me. Of course I believe that products with sun filter can also somehow protect hair, although I am aware each lady needs to find the product which will suit her and her hair. And of course we can not be sure that such products for sure protect against all damages - they can protect but up to certain extent. I believe a lot depends also which hair masks we use, wherether we protect hair endings, in what condition is our organism. I do believe, that if a person for example has a vitamin shortage - even the best sun protection won't help. It'll be only a matter of time to see hair damages, in spite of using the best hair products.
ReplyDeleteAnd one more thing - we should pay especially carefull attention to the hair endings - all the time, throughout all the year. When my hair were below waist, they began to look not so good - although I had/ have virgin hair, never dyed, straitened, curled etc. After bouncing between waist-hip-tailbone hairlength for 2 years and periodically cutting hair to waist because of raty ends, I finally started to use several drops of coconut oil and serums with oils for my ends every day. I think that was the main reason my hair ends started to look finally descent. Since the time I started to take care of my hair endings, 2 years have passed, I have now hair slightly below tailbone and they do not have (at last) ugly ends and do not need a trim. I can continue to grow them, to see how far they will grow.
You made a very good post - as people usually forget that vacation does not mean we should stop taking care of our hair, it's a time when we should be especially carefull with them.
My hair was virgin as well when I started working outdoors. And I used a UV conditioner (leave in) and my hair still faded and got dry. What I'm saying is that you CAN protect hair, but don't expect the protection to work like it will for color treated hair---meaning brassiness and such. The protection is geared more towards protecting any added color from turning brassy as it's added into the hair. Natural hair can't be protected by these products, but many hair dressers and people have chosen to use it anyway---no harm done. But if you don't color your hair it may still go brassy regardless of UV protection.
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