why does the sun make your hair lighter and you skin go darker?

Question

what is the reason for this....?

Answer 1

Sunshine is a natural bleacher and antibactiarial agent.

If you want to bleach clothes, you can just leave them outside in the sun.

Your hair is dead material. Exposure to sunshine will bleach it...and I get nice sunstreaks in my hair if I spend a lot of time outside.

But your skin is alive...and wants to stay that way. When it is hit by sunshine it reacts by going darker to protect itself from damage.

So the question you might ask is, why not stay black....that would be simpler. But sunshine is needed for the production of vitamin D. This is why europeans have light skin, because of less exposure to sunshine. Strictly muslim women suffer from vitamin D defficiency because they wear complete body coverings outside of the house. But the alternative is to eat lots of fish.

Answer 2

I first thought that the Sun makes both your hair and your skin darker. The skin has pigments in it that could grow darker in order to protect your flesh from being exposed to the radiation in the Sun, and I thought the hair does the same thing, but perhaps you're right, the Sunlight eats off the hair colour.

Answer 3

The sun bleaches and destroys the melanin in your hair giving you lighter hair. Since hair is dead, the hair will stay that color until new hair comes in. When sun shines on your skin, it destroys the melanin as well. But since your skin is alive, it can respond to the sun’s damage. Your skin cells make more melanin and your skin becomes darker.

---> flinge bunt's answer is ok...until i read the last part, thats moronic and ignorant...muslim women who cover from head to toe actually have beautiful skin...the veil that covers their face protects their skin from dust and the hellish heat + harmful desert sun rays...to add to that the veils and garment are usually black (very high in SPF)...so this gives them enough skin protection when going out. Men and women in Middle East both traditionally used a shawl to protect their faces from the dust and heat since olden times...i know because although i'm not veiled from head to toe, i lived in saudi arabia and i know alot of women from there...they don't age as quickly as ppl who are exposed to sunlight.

Answer 4

your mum