Bringing The Heat: Protecting your hair from sun damage, discolouration, breakage - June 11, 2013

  

[ My hair colour after 8 years of chemicals and neglect ]

I love the sun but I'm not crazy! Though I love warm weather, I know how damaging the sun can be to your skin and hair. Unfortunately, protecting my hair from sun damage was probably the one thing I never did, when my hair was relaxed AND since I became natural. It didn't even occur to me to pay attention to that...until I saw an article on the effects of sun damage on hair. It reminded me of my previous sun damaged, relaxed hair. After all those years of relaxing and straightening, my hair had turned into a light, light, light brown which was NOT my natural hair colour (see photo). My natural hair colour is a very dark brown with natural burgundy red tones. I knew the discolouration was from the sun but also from all the chemical and artificial heat damage! So how do you keep your precious curls healthy? This entry outlines the simple things you can do to protect your hair from all types of heat damage, discolouration and breakage.

The most obvious solution is to wear hats and scarves right? Well, you're not wrong! Hats and scarves are great ways to protect your head and hair from sun damage. I love my black and grey baseball caps! But with most things, you have to start on the inside, in this case you have to protect your actual hair! Plopping a hat on your head is great but your hair is still in the same state as before, dry and unprotected. You haven't done anything to improve the condition or protect the actual strands of hair!

 

Some ways to improve the health of your hair so that it can deflect sun damage or withstand heat damage are:

 

• Oil: Using various oils on a daily basis is great for giving your hair the nutrients it needs to be strong, healthy, shiny and soft. Hot oil treatments are also great. You can create your own hot oil treatments by placing a capsule or container of oil into hot water. Wait until it heats up and then spread the oil all over your hair. Leave it on for a few minutes and then rinse it out. Heat helps products penetrate the scalp and hair. In this instance, heat is a GOOD thing! ;)

• Leave-in conditioner: Leave-in conditioner is also a great product to help protect your hair from damage. It adds the necessary moisture that gets stripped from your hair during shampooing, harsh elements and daily styling. It also helps you detangle your curls by softening them. You want your conditioner to be water based, creamy and have slip so it can spread and penetrate your strands easily.

• Deep conditioning: Deep conditioning is a wonderful way to repair damaged hair. The difference between leave-in conditioner and a deep conditioner is that a leave-in can be used on a daily basis, even on dry hair. Deep conditioning is usually done once or twice a month and left on the hair for 1-10 minutes. You can follow a deep conditioner with a leave-in conditioner.

 If you are experiencing discolouration, the best thing to do is visit your hair salon and get a professional hairstylist to access your unique hair situation. Sun damage or heat damage can usually be repaired by following the above mentioned steps and ensuring moisture, conditioning and protecting are apart of your daily hair routine. Breakage is a result from weak or damaged hair caused by excessive sun and heat damage, so if you want to reverse the damage before it gets to the point of no return (I'm so dramatic), refrain from using heat and properly protect your hair if you are going to use hot tools.

 

Hair is kind of like your skin. When skin is extremely damaged by heat, it burns but you are also susceptible to skin cancers etc. With hair, your hair may start to break off because it has been weakened by the damage. You don't want a situation where you have to dramatically cut your hair because you didn't take care of it! Read some hair blogs and magazines to find out the best heat protection system for you. Also, of course we encourage you to rock hats! At least it's some sort of sun protection.

Question of the day: Do you have a special treatment or regime to help repair your hair from heat or sun damage? Is it store bought or homemade?