If you’ve lived through the jarring experience of a sun-singed scalp, or just wondered about hair and scalp SPF, you’ve come to the right place. “Hair helps maintain body temperature during colder months and blocks UV rays,” explains Joshua Zeichner, MD, Associate Professor of Dermatology and the Director of Cosmetic & Clinical Research in Dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “When the hair is parted, or in cases where the hair is thinning, the scalp may be directly exposed to the sun; the scalp is at particular risk since it points upwards directly to the sun and often goes unprotected.”