Hair protection again becomes a hot topic as winter gets colder and experts suggest that people should choose different hair-protection measures according to their hair types.

Procter & Gamble, a US-based cosmetic producer has summarized four hair treatments for winter after the survey in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

In Beijing, people's hair is treated as if they were living in a desert since it is extremely cold outside but very warm indoors with the heating on. The great temperature gap makes hair dry, fragile and vulnerable to static.

Treatment that adds moisture is needed in warm houses. The indoor humidity should be kept at 60 per cent, experts say.

Women in Shanghai like to wear hats in winter to combat the strong winds.

Wearing hats for too long makes hair oily and produces scurf while the air conditioning makes the hair lose moisture. Experts suggest that people should not wear hats if the hair is wet and not choose hats that are too tight.

Although the southern cities like Guangzhou are warmer, people in those cities always ignore the harm done to hair by ultra-violet radiation. Too strong radiation can penetrate into the scalp and make the hair frail. For that reason, people should take anti-sunlight measures when it is sunny in winter.

In Southwest China's Chendu, which lacks sunshine in winter, people like to use hair driers. People should keep the blower 20 centimetres from their hair and not use a high-level setting on the blower, a barber advised.

(Shanghai Star  January 5, 2004)