Dubai Water and Hair Loss
You will often hear Dubai residents mention they shed more hair after moving here, along with complaints that their hair seems dry and brittle, with excessive split ends. The most frequent complaint is an unusual amount of hair loss within the first 3 or 4 months after moving to Dubai.
Being a desert city, the main source of water in Dubai comes from desalinated sea water. But, does desalinated water have a negative effect on the hair as some people suspect?
During the desalination process, excess salt is removed from seawater and chlorine is added to kill bacteria. Since chlorine is an oxidizer, it penetrates the hair’s outer protective cuticle layer, and damages the underlying structure, making the hair dull, dry and brittle. This weakens the hair so much that it breaks off easily during the styling process. This excessive hair breakage is directly due to the desalinated water used when washing the hair.
How to avoid desalinated water damage to the hair?
Desalinated water creates a challenging situation for hair health, but it is altogether preventable by incorporating the following measures:
- Use a good filter in your shower, which has the ability to remove most of the chlorine from
the desalinated water.
- Use good quality shampoos and conditioners. Daily shampooing is the single best thing to avoid damage to the hair because good shampoos remove chlorine from the hair while not stripping away the natural oils that seal the cuticle. Good hair conditioners are also very effective in helping retain the natural oils in the cuticle while moisturizing and conditioning.
- Good nutrition, while in more challenging situations, good nutrition is very important to provide an optimum supply of vitamins and nutrients to strengthen the hair to help it withstand adverse circumstances.
So, although showering and bathing with desalinated water high in chlorine can present a challenging situation to your hair, the damaging effects can be mitigated by preventive measures.
