Sunshine Attire

I live in the beautiful desert, It is exactly as it sounds, H O T! There is no option but to Stay Shady, year round. I unfortunately learned the hard way, but you do not have to. I want to share, some of my suggestions on, sunshine safe attire. I will share, my favorite choices, but you have to check out their products and use them. You can start now, in your area, especially when it starts to heat up. Our Arizona summers, start about mid April. The summer nights, stay cool until June-ish. So, let’s get to it. We will start with our face and head, why is this an important area to cover up, you wonder? Well, first of all, our hair does not count as proper coverage. In fact, according to skincancer.org “Basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas account for about 90 percent of all skin cancers, and often appear on the head and neck. Hats help safeguard your face, scalp and neck.” Not only are you protecting your scalp, neck, ears and face from sun damage, like wrinkles, you are taking care of you. We work endlessly, to keep our skin looking fresh and beautiful, so making sure we are doing the appropriate steps, will ensure long term results. Let’s remember, that even with a wide, brim hat, we must A L W A Y S, wear SUNSCREEN.

What is a wide brim hat you ask? Well, let me explain, the best hats for sun protection must have a brim (the part that is protecting and shielding your face) of at least three inches to cover your face, scalp, neck, shoulders and upper back. The places, like the tops of our ears, are simply forgotten. Skin cancer, can and will start on your ears too. Anywhere there is skin, there is skin cancer possibalitles.

We can’t forget, our eyes, yes skin cancer happens there too. Ocular Melanoma, “Most eye melanomas form in the part of the eye you can’t see when looking in a mirror. This makes eye melanoma difficult to detect. In addition, eye melanoma typically doesn’t cause early signs or symptoms”- mayoclinic.org So, protecting our eyes, is crucial. we must wear UV-filtering sunglasses, This will protect your eyes and help keep them safe from harmful, UVA/UVB rays. I do not leave home, without mine. The sun is powerful, it may seem beautiful when it shines bright down on your skin, but in fact its quite the opposite. Learn more on this, on my skin cancer page.

Body! its the largest portion to cover and quite frankly, in the summer, the clothes seem to get smaller. So, how do we keep protected? We start with UPF clothing, UPF stands for Ultraviolet Protective Factor. This factor, number, stands for how much UVA/UVB rays touch, your skin. it took me a long time, to understand this, so let me explain further. If you’re wearing a UPF shirt of 50, you’ll get almost a 100% protection. Thats incredible, plus there’s no bothersome timer going off, to reapply sunscreen. #meinthesummer. If I am going outside, for an extended period of time, I am most certainly going to be using mine. Heres what skin cancer.org recommends, “A fabric must have a UPF of 30 to qualify for The Skin Cancer Foundation’s Seal of Recommendation. A UPF of 30 to 49 offers very good protection, while UPF 50+ rates as excellent.” I always look for their seal of approval, it keeps me feeling safe and protected. There are plenty of options (bottoms too) for men, women, children and babies.

TIP: keep the clothing loose, too tight can allow UV rays to get in because the shirt fabric is being pulled apart. Darker color shirts, “keep UV rays from reaching your skin by absorbing them rather than allowing them to penetrate.” -skincancer.org So cool. I always thought, wearing lighter colors would do this. A simple white t-shirt, for example is about UPF of 7!! (thanks mom & dad, for thinking that was sunblock)

Alright, what are some of my favorite brands: