What is Avobenzone and Why Do You Need To Know About It If You Have Blonde Hair?

Learn from me: blonde hair + sunscreen with avobenzone do not mix!

I was on a girls’ trip recently, and we spent half a day at the beach. It was warm and sunny, so naturally I applied sunscreen all over, wore my hat the entire time, and did all the right things to protect my skin and hair. But what I ignored was the low ponytail I put my hair into.

My hair is longer now than it’s been in a while, and the tips of my ponytail were lying against my back the entire time we were on the beach. I didn’t really get in the water, and there wasn’t a pool nearby, so the only thing that touched the last 2 inches of my hair was the sunscreen + the sun on my upper back.

The next day, once I was back home, my husband looked at my hair and said, “Did you color your hair when you were in Charleston?!” I was baffled by what he was asking me, and went to look in the mirror more closely. And sure enough, the ends of my hair looked orangy-pink. I was immediately confused and began to think through what could have possibly caused this issue.

I looked back on my phone’s camera roll to try to discover when this change happened, and as it turns out, it was the beach day! A quick ChatGPT ask about blonde hair and Vacation Whip Sunscreen informed me that a certain ingredient called avobenzone can cause a pink/orangy tone to deposit onto the hair, primarily on hair extensions, but also on light blonde hair. It’s the combination of avobenzone plus the metal ions in the hair being exposed to UV light that results in a pinkish hue.

It made sense to me that only the tips of my hair were pink because that was the only part that came into contact with the sunscreen + was exposed to the sunlight since I was wearing a hat the entire time.

My first attempt to remove the pinkish tips was to do a Malibu Blondes treatment. It helped, for sure, but it didn’t restore the ends of my hair to the original blonde I had before the staining occurred. I texted my hairstylist to get his opinion, and he recommended a more intense Malibu treatment called Crystal Gel. I ran out to the professional beauty store to buy that packet and did the treatment on myself.

I saw a major improvement in the removal of the pinkish tone to my ends and am satisfied to leave my hair alone now. If it really mattered, I could have the ends of my hair “tipped” with bleach, but I’m comfortable with how it looks now.

I’m glad to have experienced this, so I can share with you: be very careful with avobenzone if you have blonde hair or extensions! I’m bummed because I really liked that sunscreen, but now I’m on the hunt for a mineral sunscreen that doesn’t have negative risks for my hair!

p.s. Speaking of a beach day, here are some swimsuits I love!