The Environment May be Impacting Your Hair’s Health and Here’s How

When we think about our hair health, we often think about genetics and how they may have set the course for our thin, thick or thinning hair. While we are all dealt with certain genetic cards in our life, they are not the main cause of the integrity of our hair. In fact, the environment that surrounds you is full of aggressors that can contribute to damaging your strands. Your lifestyle determines whether you may be more impacted by this, depending on your home town or preventative methods. The following are several ways the environment may be damaging your hair. 

1. Prolonged exposure to UV rays. It’s pretty much common knowledge that you should be wearing sunscreen and protecting your skin from the harmful impacts of the sun but did you know that spending long amounts of time in the sun can also impact your hair? Healthy hair contains a natural, outer layer of lipids that work to keep your strands moisturized and protected. UVA and UVB rays work to damage this protective lipid layer, stripping moisture away from your strands and resulting in dry, brittle, breakage-prone hair. UV rays can also impact your strand’s internal protein structure. Your strands are made of keratin to hold your hair together and encourage elasticity and strength. When the sun is shining on your hair, it eliminates this elasticity and strength leading to shedding and breakage. 

2. Air pollution. Many of us often forget to think about air pollution in our area and how that could be directly impacting us. But living in high pollution environments like busy cities, not only impacts your hair health but also your scalp. The pollution could lead to a sensitive, irritated scalp that may appear itchy and oily. This is so important because a healthy scalp is often directly linked to healthy hair and vice versa. The air particles and smoke of the environment builds up over time and essentially ends up on your strands, resulting in oxidative stress. 

3. Hard water. This is an important one that even I hadn’t heard about until recently. Did you know that around 85% of U.S. residents live with hard water in their home? So, what does that even mean? It means that your tap water could be very rich in minerals like calcium, iron, copper, magnesium, silica, lead and chlorine. Although we are safe to drink hard water, it can cause issues for your scalp and hair. Due to the positive charge of minerals and oxidizers, when they come in contact with your hair they often get stuck and build-up accumulates. All this accumulation of minerals on your scalp and hair is often added to your hair product build up which results in heavy clogging of your scalp and hair follicles. 

Now that you know how your environment could be damaging your hair, how do you prevent it?

One simple step to take when you’re outside is to protect your hair with a hat or an up-do. This could help keep your hair out of the sun and even helps protect your scalp. The main way to remedy the effects of environmental stressors is to properly detox your scalp and hair along with gently exfoliating your scalp. FYAB Health’s Hair Vitality Shampoo and Conditioner is sulfate and paraben-free to gently cleanse and hydrate your strands while also containing tiny beads to effectively exfoliate your scalp and remove any build up. The Hair Vitality Conditioner is formulated with moisturizing ingredients to restore your hair’s hydration if you are experiencing dry, brittle strands from UV rays. The hair products you use are extremely important and FYAB Health knows that through the strengthening effects of their products. The Hair Vitality Series is created to protect your hair from environmental stressors and allow it to maintain its health, bounce and shine once again! 

SOURCES: 

Botchkarev V. A. (2003). Stress and the hair follicle: exploring the connections. The American journal of pathology, 162(3), 709–712. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-9440(10)63866-7—READ NOW

Trüeb R. M. (2015). The impact of oxidative stress on hair. International journal of cosmetic science, 37 Suppl 2, 25–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/ics.12286—READ NOW

Roy, Stanton, and Eppley, (1999), Effects of environmental stress on leaf hair density and consequences for selection. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 12: 1089-1103. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1420-9101.1999.00107.x—READ NOW