• Question: Why does your hair get darker when it's wet?

    Asked by 962curm44 to Daniel, Fiona, Hazel, Jacque, K, Matthew on 13 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Fiona Macfarlane

      Fiona Macfarlane answered on 13 Mar 2018:

      It looks darker because light from the sun reflects off the water in a way that reflects it back into the hair. So less light is reflected making your hair look darker.

    • Photo: K Sasitharan

      K Sasitharan answered on 14 Mar 2018:

      Water is known to reduce reflections off any surface. Wet hair always has a film of water trapped in layers. When light hits wet hair, some of the light reflecting off the surface of the hair strikes the inside surface of the water film in such a way that it gets reflected back onto the hair again. Thus technically there are 2 absorptions taking place which makes the hair look darker.

Comments