# Why does the sun burn your skin and not your hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-sun-burn-your-skin-and-not-your-hair/186873 "2003-07-07T22:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lestat915](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lestat915](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lestat915)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-sun-burn-your-skin-and-not-your-hair/186873/1 "2003-07-07T22:38:50Z")
Why is the sun hot enough to bnurn your skin but does not singe your hair? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-sun-burn-your-skin-and-not-your-hair/186873/2 "2003-07-07T22:45:15Z")
Dad? Actually, it’s the UV rays messing with your skin cells. And these same rays do lighten your hair. Someone will be along with a more detailed answer… ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-sun-burn-your-skin-and-not-your-hair/186873/3 "2003-07-07T22:51:18Z")
I guess I’m bored enough to read a thread with a vague title. There aren’t many of us, and that might hold a lesson for you. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-sun-burn-your-skin-and-not-your-hair/186873/4 "2003-07-07T23:11:45Z")
The sun is a mass of incandescent mass, A gigantic nuclear furnace Where hydrogen is built into helium At a temperature of millions of degrees. The sun when it’s turning is not literally burning Your skin or for that matter your hair, Cos that would be oxidisation from the radiation When what is occuring is absorption of the rays (apologies to TMBG for lifting the first verse) ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-sun-burn-your-skin-and-not-your-hair/186873/5 "2003-07-07T23:16:26Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** Edited thread title for clarity. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-sun-burn-your-skin-and-not-your-hair/186873/6 "2003-07-07T23:21:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MEBuckner \* > \*\ ***Moderator’s Note:** Edited thread title for clarity. \*\* well, damn. The changed title ruins my opening joke. but, it should draw a more complete answer now. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-sun-burn-your-skin-and-not-your-hair/186873/7 "2003-07-07T23:45:26Z")
It does fry your hair. Certainly gives you highlights, and _really_ works in concert with chlorine if you desperately want to crispify yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/2bfe46/32.png) [@Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-sun-burn-your-skin-and-not-your-hair/186873/8 "2003-07-07T23:48:44Z")
> [@](#): > > **lestat915** : **Sun?** > [@](#): > > **noclueboy** : Dad? Mom? What the hell? ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-sun-burn-your-skin-and-not-your-hair/186873/9 "2003-07-08T00:04:02Z")
Because your skin is alive and undergoes various biological inflammatory responses to being burned - whereas your hair is dead (just an excretion of keratin) that undergoes simple chemical responses to heat and UV, such as bleaching of organic colouring. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-sun-burn-your-skin-and-not-your-hair/186873/10 "2003-07-08T14:28:58Z")
Okay, what people have been dancing around here is that a sun “burn” is not a “burn” in the sense of “apply heat to cook” burn. What we call a “burn” is actually mostly an inflammatory cascade response to interna cell damage while a heat “burn” has much more external cell damage. In other words, while electromagnetic radiation causes both sun “burns” (Ultraviolet) and heat “burns” (infrared), the actual physics are somewhat different. What remains the same is the body’s response. Cells are damaged, so inflammation and (we hope) repair mechanisms are activated.