Why does our hair get darker when wet?

Question

Just wondering.

Answer 1

Because everything gets darker when its wet.

Mine:http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=2...

Answer 2

from the wiki files...

"Cloth normally reflects some light. Remember that materials absorb "not colors" and they reflect "colors" that they are. Make sense? If something is blue, it reflects blue light and absorbs the rest (the "not colors"). Let's jump.

Take a piece of cloth that is absorbing some light and reflecting other light. Along comes water. Water is basically transparent to light. But it does refract, or "bend" light, do a degree. When cloth is wet, some of the light that otherwise might be reflected is scattered into the cloth, and the cloth is given a "second chance" to absorb more of the light - which it does. More light absorbed equates to darker color or appearance.

Wet cloth absorbs more light because of the effects of the water. Water scatters some of the light, and the cloth absorbs more of that light than it would if it wasn't wet. "

apply the same logic to hair?

Answer 3

everything gets darker when its wet, not only our hair.

take one of your shirts, and dip it in water, you will see it is darker.

Answer 4

ya all the time

Answer 5

maybe because it pulls your hair together, or the water bends the light, making it appear darker.