Why does the sun lighten our hair, but darken our skin?

Answer 1

Hair contains pigments that can be chemically
modified by a process called photobleaching, this results in the pigments changing or losing colour in strong sunlight.

The skin contains a protective pigment called melanin, which is what colours the skin in dark skinned people and is the cause of tanning and freckles in lighter skinned people. Exposure of lighter coloured skin to sunlight causes a biochemical response in the upper layers of the skin which increases melanin production and causes the skin to darken, thus giving the lower layers of skin more protection.

Answer 2

Your hair just lightens because the sun bleaches the pigment. Your skin darkens because the more it is exposed to the sun, the higher the melanin count gets. The melanin gives your skin a darker color and it protects your skin from the sun.

Answer 3

skin darkens in sunlight due to the body producing melatonin, which darkens the skin, this is found in the stratum basal layer of the skin and it produces melanin, the darker the skin the thicker it is, it may look good to have dark skin but its not for your body its your skin thickening to protect your inner body, dark skinned people have this colour of skin due to there genetic make up,

your hair beaches in the sun due to the sun reacting with the pigments in your hair lightening it

Answer 4

our skin is alive, it darkens in sunlight in an effort to protect itself from burning (darker colors absorb the light's energy rendering it less harmful)

hair is not alive, at least not the part that gets bleached by the sun. the sun destroys the pigments that color the hair, thereby bleaching it out.

Answer 5

It lightens hair because the UV light triggers the breakdown of these selfsame melanin molecules into simpler and evidently less colorful compounds.

Answer 6

Hair and skin have a different chemical make up.

Answer 7

good point never though of that before i presume its do with the pigment chemicals in our body