Protecting your beard from the sun
Now that the sun’s getting stronger and we’ll soon be enjoying the summer heat, it’s time we should start thinking about protecting ourselves from solar radiation.
Bearded friends, we unfortunately have to give you some bad news: your beards don’t protect you from the sun. It might seem like they do, that a thick beard can stop the radiation from reaching the surface of the skin, however this is not the case.
In the same way that the scalp needs protecting, the skin under the beard equally needs to be cared for.
Why?
Ultraviolet radiation is able to penetrate enough to have the same effect as it does for people who keep their facial hair trimmed. There’s a simple reason: the beard’s physical barrier, while it does exist, is not sufficient. So while you may think your beard fully protects you from the sun, you shouldn’t forget that it isn’t compact and doesn’t fully block the sun’s rays.
In fact, continued exposure to solar radiation can cause variations in the pigmentation of the hairs. This is why we can often see different colourations within the beard. It is more common to see these changes in hair pigmentation in shorter beards, as the hair is closer to the roots and therefore more sensitive to changes in growth from the follicle.
Protection, protection and more protection
We won’t get tired of saying it: it’s absolutely crucial to properly protect your skin, especially if it is continuously exposed to the sun.
Good protection will prevent changes in pigmentation from producing blemishes or lesions on the skin of the face that can lead to skin cancer.
How to protect myself?
It’s simple: the procedure is similar to the one you would follow to protect your skin during exposure to the sun. We just need to bear in mind the following:
- Look after your facial hair: use products that don’t contain excessively oily ingredients and which are adapted to your skin phototype and hair composition.
- Protect your skin: use products with sunscreen to get enough photoprotection.
- Prevention: avoid exposure during peak hours of sunlight, between noon and 3 pm, when the sun’s rays can directly affect your skin.
- Apply protection repeatedly: it is very important for protection to be applied directly and in accordance with the time of exposure and factors like water. Salt or chlorine can intensify the harmful effects of sunlight and affect the absorption of solar protection products.
- Wait for it to absorb: the beard can affect how sunscreen is absorbed, due to the physical barrier it constitutes between the product and your skin. So make sure the product has fully absorbed before you carry on sunbathing or go for a refreshing dip.
- Keep hydrated: drinking plenty of water and making sure not just the skin but also the scalp is hydrated will mean you are protected from the dryness that can affect us at this time of year. Hydrated skin regenerates better and its barrier function is intact, meaning less vulnerability to the sun.
Show off your beard, but don’t forget to protect!
