• Question: Why does the sun make your skin dark but your hair light?

    Asked by mollie to Panos, Michael on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by lucyd.
    • Photo: Panos Soultanas

      Panos Soultanas answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      The sun induces the production of more melanin in your skin which protects you from the harmfull ultra violet radiation emitted by the sun.

      Hair is made up of a protein and hair colour is again due to two different types of melanin known as pheomelanin and eumelanin. I guess that the sun may also affect the stability of these molecules perhaps destroying them on prolonged exposures and that’s why the hair appears lighter.

    • Photo: Michael Loughlin

      Michael Loughlin answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      There is a chemical called melanin that is in our hair and skin It oproects us from UV radiation.
      Sunlight destroys melanin in hair and in skin.
      Hair cannot remake the melanin so stays lighter
      skin cells can remake it and doso ..and if exposed to the light again and again they make more and more to protect our cells DNA from the damge of UV radiation of the sun…hence we get a tanned appearance

      so hair just loses the melanin and colour..skins cells replace it and increase the amount to protect our DNA

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