Out & About July 2017

9 / 68

9
Colour and sunshine – what happens
to your hair and best ways to avoid
damage.
A much repeated question clients ask us is
whether it is wise to colour your hair prior to
going on holiday.
If we do colour before we go on holiday,
the depth and tone fades quite rapidly and
noticeably quicker than usual, because the sun
photochemically produces a reaction within the
hair shaft, enabling colour pigments to oxidise
and change the hair’s colour.
This process works on the same idea as fruit
going off and changing colour. If the skin of the
fruit stays intact, then no oxygen can reach the
fruit beneath the protective layer of the skin,
therefore keeping it fresher and not allowing
any discoloration.
When hair is damaged, the cuticles (skin)
on the hair shaft allow the sun to penetrate
through, causing the colour to fade.
Applying conditioner to protect from UV rays is
a myth, just as wearing moisturiser on our body
will not offer protection from the sun.
However, if you care for your hair regularly
with good quality products that contain high
quantities of nourishing ingredients, you will
limit the damage to your hair cuticles and thus
allow less sun penetration and colour fade.
Another issue that can occur when in the
sunshine, especially on naturally fair or
bleached hair, is the hair picking up a tinge of
green, particularly from swimming pool water.
The blame is often put on the chlorine in the
water, when actually it could be due to the
metal copper in the pool water or algaecides.
When the metals in the water come into contact
with ‘blondes’ and are then left to dry, this is
when the hair turns green or ‘khaki’.
Despite the name copper you may wonder why
the hair is not dyed this colour from the water,
but as the hair dries, copper is precipitated out
as a copper sulphide.
With copper’s positive electrical charge and
hair and skin possessing a negative charge,
water will evaporate from the hair when you get
out of the pool, but the copper does not, which,
with the cationic charge, remains in the hair
and turns it green by an oxidisation process.
To avoid this, we would recommend rinsing
your hair in fresh water as soon as you leave
the pool.
Covering your hair and scalp with a hat prior to
going into the sun proves beneficial, failing that
a high sun factor applied every two hours to the
exposed hair will help protect it.
Hopefully, this will give you some quick and
simple answers as to how to keep your hair
looking it’s best.
If you need any advice with your skin or hair
give us a call at Diverse Beauty, as we are
here to help.
Victoria Lee from Diverse Beauty
T: 01635 728023
If you want to look beach blonde or costa del copper for the summer
holidays, VICTORIA LEE says it’s ok to use hair dye, as long as you take
sensible precautions to protect your locks from the sun’s rays and the
effects of swimming pool chemicals