Why is sun radiation harmful for Micropigmentation treatment?

Over the past few weeks we have seen some of the many publicity campaigns that warn of how damaging continuous exposure to the sun can be and how important it is to protect our skin from sun radiation. The market today offers us a wide variety of products for this purpose and in most cases they are the brands and manufacturers themselves who run these advertisements, although it is also common to see prevention campaigns by medical organizations and/or others related to the field of medicine and health. This is a very clear indication of the real importance of the topic that Aldemar Campos Micropigmentation team has chosen for this article in our blog. We know that you, our readers, like to delve deeper into topics and discover the whys and wherefores of things, so let’s try to look at some aspects that we’ve found interesting and which are certainly not the usual ones you hear of when talking about “sunscreen”.

The risk

When asked why we should use sunscreen, a quick answer might be to avoid sunburn and, more importantly, not to put ourselves at risk of developing a serious disease such as mela

Why is sun radiation harmful for Micropigmentation treatment? Before answering this question, we would like to clarify that sun radiation is nothing more than the energy emitted by the sun when it undergoes nuclear fusion reactions that produce a loss of mass. This radiation covers a wavelength range from ultraviolet to infrared. This may all sound too complicated at first if you’re not familiar with these terms… but let’s try to make it simple.

The sun radiation

With an amplitude or wavelength between ultraviolet (UV) and infrared radiation, what we call visible light – or simply light – is situated within this range. Light is nothing more and nothing less than the fraction of radiation that the human eye is capable of perceiving. Light illuminates matter, allows us to see it and makes us able to perceive its colors when reflected on it. And the colors we know do indeed range from infrared to ultraviolet: what a coincidence! Don’t forget that black is the absence of color and is not a color in itself.

But light doesn’t heat, and it doesn’t burn. And it certainly doesn‘t produce alterations in matter. Infrared radiation, on the other hand, is practically pure heat energy that causes matter to heat up and that can cause burns to our skin, although the sunburn we’re “used to” is actually caused by ultraviolet radiation, the fraction of solar radiation with shorter wavelengths. UV rays cause excitement in the bodies they hit and cause reactions of a very differing nature. Although their antioxidant effect and the extra production of melanin are good effects, excess UV rays can cause cellular damage and oxidation stress in the skin, destroying collagen and causing a loss of elasticity and smoothness and the appearance of wrinkles.

But UV or ultraviolet rays also cause reactions in inorganic matter. It’s very common to see how objects exposed to the sun lose color, and the pigments used in Scalp Micropigmentation are no exception, meaning SPF50 sunscreen must be applied daily. Ultraviolet radiation also has the ability to cause a pigment to “break down” and its constituent colors to separate again. If the pigments used are the right ones for Scalp Micropigmentation, this shouldn’t be a problem, as they are made from pure black which is diluted to achieve different tones and shades. If, instead, the wrong pigments are used for this purpose and created from several colors, such as some pigments used in lip or eyebrow micropigmentation, these could break down and the Scalp Micropigmentation treatment would look blue, green and even have reddish tones.

Whilst controlling the strength with which the sun radiates energy doesn’t quite fall within the capabilities of the Aldemar Campos Micropigmentation team, we can, however, guarantee that the pigments we use are fully suitable for Hair Micropigmentation, and, in conjunction with our experience, enable us to provide our customers with the best results.

Warmest regards!!