Tightly woven fabric, such as canvas, works best to protect your skin from UV rays. Avoid straw hats with holes that let sunlight through. A darker hat may offer more UV protection. If you wear a baseball cap, you should also protect your ears and the back of your neck.
Unbleached cotton contains natural lignins that act as UV absorbers. Shiny polyesters and even lightweight satiny silks can be highly protective because they reflect radiation. High-tech fabrics treated with chemical UV absorbers or dyes prevent some penetration from UV rays.
Wear clothing to cover skin exposed to the sun, such as long-sleeved shirts, pants, sunglasses, and broad-brimmed hats. Use broad spectrum sunscreens with SPF values of 15 or higher regularly and as directed. Reapply sunscreen at least every two hours, and more often if you're sweating or swimming.
Polyester and Nylon – These synthetic fabrics are top choices for sun protection. Their tight weave and inherent UV-blocking properties make them highly effective. Polyester and nylon are durable, lightweight, and often treated with additional UV inhibitors, making them ideal for outdoor activities and sportswear.
Choose UV sunglasses that block 100% of UVA and UVB rays for maximum eye protection from the sun. Look for sunglasses labeled UV400, which provide nearly full protection against UV rays. These lenses block light wavelengths up to 400 nanometers, including UVA and UVB rays.
Synthetic and semisynthetic fibers like polyester or rayon are the best choices for sun protection, as are dense, heavy, tightly woven fabrics like wool, denim or corduroy.
Simply staying in the shade, especially during midday hours, is one of the best ways to limit your UV exposure from sunlight. Protect your skin with clothing that covers your arms and legs. Wear a wide-brimmed hat to protect your head, face, and neck.
The Cancer Council in Australia suggests that darker colors absorb UV rays, which helps block them from your skin. That's why dark blue, black, and dark red are the best colors for sun protection compared to white or pastel colors of the same fabric.
Linen: The Most Breathable Fabric for the Hottest Climates
It's the flax-based, breathable linen. Linen also has some of the best moisture-wicking properties of any natural fabric, so it feels cool.
To help protect your skin from the sun, dermatologists recommend wearing the following items: Lightweight and long-sleeved shirts and pants. It's important to cover up as much of your skin as possible when spending time outdoors. When selecting clothing, avoid fabrics with a loose or open weave, such as lace.
Dermatologists recommend using a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30, which blocks 97% of the sun's UVB rays. Higher-number SPFs block slightly more of the sun's UVB rays, but no sunscreen can block 100% of the sun's UVB rays.
Vitamin E and C
As powerful antioxidants, vitamin E and vitamin C are both sun protection vitamins that can work wonders to protect your body against sunburn.
The highest SPF is 100 and blocks out 99% of UVB rays. But experts don't necessarily think SPF 100 sunscreen is the best choice. This is only slightly better than SPF 30 and 50 (which is blocks 98% of UVB rays).
Fiber type: Polyester does an excellent job at disrupting UV light, as does nylon. Wool and silk are moderately effective. Cotton, rayon, flax and hemp fabrics often score low without added treatments.
Over this experience, zinc oxide has come out the clear winner as the best sunscreen UV filter.
Of all colours tested, dark blue offered the best levels of UV protection, making it the best colour to wear in the sun. Contrary to the popular belief that they are the coolest colours in the sun, white and yellow were the worst performing colours in terms of UV protection.
Cotton. Cotton stands out as a top-notch choice for scorching summer days. Its unique fiber structure not only lets your skin breathe but also absorbs perspiration, leaving you comfortably dry.
Although moisture-wicking and cool sensation clothing can provide relief and comfort, it does have its limitations. In high-humidity environments, its effectiveness may be decreased as evaporation is typically slower. Additionally, evaporative clothing is only helpful as long as it stays damp.
Heavier and darker fabrics are more protective than thin and light materials. That means fewer little holes for the sun's rays to pass through. Generally, synthetic and blended-composition fabrics protect better than 100% cotton.
Light Colors Reflect Sunlight: Opt for colors like white, light blue, and pastels. These colors reflect more sunlight, helping to keep your body temperature lower.
Black and dark colors absorb more UV rays than other colors, which will ensure they don't hit your skin as much. Essentially, the darker the color, the more sun protection it will offer. Besides black, other dark colors that can provide a level of sun protection include navy, maroon, and dark gray.
Why You Shouldn't Wear Sunscreen Every Day. If you were to use sunscreen every day, your body would continuously absorb any chemicals it contains, potentially much faster than your body can filter and excrete them.
An everyday hero, zinc oxide is a natural mineral sunscreen that shields your skin from both UVA and UVB rays. It creates a protective barrier on the skin's surface, reflecting and scattering the sun's rays to keep your skin safe.
The sun's rays are strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Limit exposure to the sun during these hours, even in winter and especially at higher altitudes. Do not burn. Sunburns significantly increase the lifetime risk of developing skin cancer, especially for children.