Protecting Relaxed Hair From Sun And Wind Damage

Have you ever noticed that your hair seems to feel or even look different after you spend some time outside? If you have, it's not just you. Spending time outside can put stress on our relaxed hair. Everything from the sun, wind, humidity, cold, and even heat can cause some damage to our relaxed strands.

Our hair can get sun damage just like our skin and the wind can dry out our relaxed hair and tangle it up. Both are things we don't want. To help protect our hair from these and other outside or environmental elements there are few things we can do.

Related read: How To Help Your Hair Recover From Summer

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The same UVA and UVB rays that can damage our skin can also damage and wear away the outer layers of our hair strands called the cuticle. You can typically tell when the hair has some sum damage because it can take on a lighter color and start to feel and look dry, limp, dull, and lifeless.

Wind damage in my experience is seen by having dry hair with some knots and tangles and the more knots we have in our relaxed hair the more likely breakage is to occur when we try to remove the knots.

Don't worry because there are four easy things we can do to help protect our hair from these environmental elements.

1. Use a UV protectant

This will block UV rays thus protecting your hair from sun damage. We think about protecting our skin when sitting out in the sun, but not our hair. You can use sunflower oil or aloe vera which are all-natural UV protectants or store-bought ones.

Related read: How To Prep Relaxed Hair For A Day At The Beach

2. Moisturize

Do this before heading outside and after you come back in with a water-based moisturizer. Look for conditioners with vitamins C and B5, acai fruit extract, or blueberry extract as they can help protect against environmental aggressors like the sun, wind, and pollution.

3. Cover up

Keep your hair covered and protected by wearing hats or scarves. You can even use umbrellas to keep your head covered. Another option is to wear long-term protective styles like wigs or weaves. Or wear short-term protective styles such as buns or braids.

The goal here is to keep your hair and scalp from being exposed to the sun and also help minimize tangles caused by the wind.

4. Avoid the sun and wind

You can't always completely avoid exposure to the sun and wind but when you can limit your exposure to the sun and wind as much as possible. This could include sitting under an umbrella or cabana at the beach or pool.  Or not spending a lot of time outside on really windy days.

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