Anyone made a sun hood?

[Dunstan Orchard]

I’ve been trying on a few hooded sun shirts recently, and with the exception of the Patagonia Tropic Comfort II I’ve found all their hoods to be useless at keeping the sun off my face.

It made me wish that I had a standalone sun hood, a sort of neck gaiter + hood thing that was light in weight but which had enough material to it that it could provide deep shade for my face and enough coverage around my neck that I wouldn’t get burned while wearing a crew-neck.

The closest thing I’ve found to illustrate my idea are medieval-style hoods like this and this, though they’re obviously too heavy.

Has anyone made anything like that before? All the standalone modern sun products I can find are tight and look more like balaclavas.

[Greg Pehrson]

It seems like you could test the concept pretty easily (replicating your picture) with a big square of lightweight fabric, folded in half and then sewn across the top and from the middle of one side down to the bottom (leaving an opening for the face).

[Larry Swearingen]

It’s called a HAT !

 

[Chris R]

Adding a simple cap or or a sun visor under the hood would be one way of keeping the sun off your face. Making a hood that keeps the sun from the tip of your nose is going to be difficult. The “Sun Runner” caps from Outdoor Research have the long flap down the back that would give you the complete protection you are looking for.

[Ben H.]

A hood big enough to keep the sun off your face will collapse and cover your eyes unless a bit of structure is added. A hat can provide that structure, so…. why not just wear a hat? The picture you provided doesn’t add too much sun protection and even that level only works because it is made out of stiffer heavier fabrics.

[BlackHatGuy]

“Adding a simple cap or or a sun visor under the hood”

This is what I do. I wear the Paty shirt you mention on all my backpacking trips, and wear a visor (sometimes under, sometimes over, depending on wind) in warm weather, and a light REI baseball-type hat in cooler weather.

[Greg Pehrson]

In my initial comment I guess I assumed the use of a billed hat since the Patagonia Tropic Comfort II hood, which the OP likes, also requires a hat to provide complete sun coverage.

I was understanding the OP as basically saying he wants a Tropic Comfort II with a removable hood, perhaps to be able to wear the hood with a variety of shirts, similar to sun sleeves or sun gloves.

[Dunstan Orchard]

Greg, that is what I’m after, but if anyone had made one before I was going to ask about material types that might allow for its use without a hat as well.

There are lots of good hats out there, as others here have kindly pointed out, but hoods and head wraps have been around for ever in many different cultures, so it seems likely that there’s a solution I’m not familiar with.

I’ll try making one to use with my white Salomon race cap as you all suggest, and then see if I can figure out how to get the deeper hood I’m after. Perhaps that won’t be possible with such light fabric, as Ben says.

Thanks for the feedback.

[BlackHatGuy]

Why not just use a buff? Unless I’m still misunderstanding (always a possibility) it seems to do exactly what you’re looking for, especially when paired with a hat or visor.

[Dunstan Orchard]

Because every buff I have is tight and makes me look like a cat with it’s head in a sock. I’m after something much looser, much longer, and which provides more air current and shade.

I’m new here, and just wanted to check that the MYOG community hadn’t got designs for these things sitting around, with all the problems already worked out.

Sounds like I have a small project to waste a few hours on. I’ll noodle about and see what I can make, as Greg suggests.

(It’s also good to know about the visor + sun hoody combo, Doug. I’d not thought of using a visor before. Thank you.)

[Greg Pehrson]

This was made of Capilene first then lightweight merino…not exactly what you asked for but maybe it could provide some inspiration: https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/4617/

Enjoy the tinkering!

 

[W I S N E R !]

I’m happy with the Tropic Comfort Hoody 2 combined with a baseball hat.

Patagonia doesn’t make the hoody in camo or many hunting-friendly colors, so I often carry a shemagh/keffiyeh while hunting instead. I find them quite useful. Drape it like a loose hood when sitting, use it in one of the many ways they can be wrapped when active. They’re pretty breathable but understand you will be trading sweat/some heat for sun protection…but this seems to be the agreement many desert peoples have been willing to make since the dawn of time…

Also love them as a pillowcase, a warm head layer at night, a strainer for suspect water, a sling or tourniquet in an emergency (more functionality than a bandana due to size…).

 

[Link .]

Nice link Greg, I sure do miss Bill!!

[William Chilton]

I’ll second Doug’s suggestion of a hoody plus visor, in this case a Rab Pulse Hoody (very similar to the OR Echo) and a Sunday Afternoon visor.

[Dunstan Orchard]

I like that shemagh/keffiyeh, Wisner. We had those in our dress-up box as kids, and I’d thought about trying it for this purpose too. I’ll add it into the mix.

Thanks for that link, Greg! Good to see someone else trying and succeeding with a vaguely similar notion.

[Greg Pehrson]

Thanks, Link! Me too!

You’re welcome, Dunstan. Check out Bill’s other posts too–a treasure trove of MYOG.

[Krishna M]

Dunstan, have you found a good solution? I’m also looking for something exactly like this for sun protection, a wearable hood and neck gaiter in a lightweight fabric. I’ve come across ski hoods which look similar, but are made with a heavier weight fabric for the cold.

[Matthew / BPL]

Montbell makes a cool neck gaiter that seems relevant to this discussion. https://www.montbell.us/products/disp.php?cat_id=25090&p_id=1108934&gen_cd=1

It differs from a normal gaiter in that it is loose which gives airflow. It has a very short section of bendable material you can form over the bridge if your nose and a thin shock cord that tightens at the back of your neck. I’ve not worn it very much but it seems like a good solution for reflected sun exposure like snow or water. I purchased it for those situation when my sun hood and hat are inadequate.

[nunatak]

Yamatomichi makes one, tho it looks to be a little skimpy on face coverage.

https://www.yamatomichi.com/en/products/only-hood/

It appears to be sewn from one piece of fabric with a seam up from the back of the neck only. Lycra stretch banding at the bottom hem and adjustable face cord. Once patterned it should be very simple to make.

[Krishna M]

I found this sun hood after much searching. The Montbell neck gaiter looks interesting. I’ll probably try that also.

[Dunstan Orchard]

I’m afraid I didn’t find anything useful at the time. I do remember that searching for “festival hood”, “medieval hood”, and “desert hood” brought up a bunch of ideas that could be adapted. But nothing I found was good for backpacking as is.

[jscott]

I’m with those who feel a wide brimmed hat, like the Sunday Afternoon, does a better job at providing all around shade than a hoody with ball cap. But others clearly disagree, so…wear your own hat or hood. for me, a hat seems cooler and less finicky than a hoody with a ball cap (two pieces.)

People are sick of me posting this, but here’s a very loose burnoose style sun hat made from spf 100 cloth that also is highly effective for keeping mosquitos from biting. It'[s hard to tell from the pictures, but it has a velcro strip that lets you bring the drape up over your nose. then, it easily ‘unzips’ to hang loose in the shade or when the skeeters aren’t about. again, it'[s hard to tell from the picture but the drape can hang fully off the face if wanted. The 2 reviews are actually more descriptive of how this drape hat works (i.e. cool and off the neck and face when zipped up.)

https://www.sunprecautions.com/product/48100

this company has a less aggressive version of this made from the same 100% spf fabric.

[Dunstan Orchard]

Thanks for that link, I hadn’t seen that particular one before. I should say that I also bought a Sunday Afternoon hat, and like it, and will be taking it on my next trip.

I’d still like to try making a stand-alone hood some time, but I think perhaps there’s a reason that none of the desert cultures seem to use such things. Still, if I ever get my sewing machine set up, I’ll give it a go and learn for myself :)

[Krishna M]

Sorry, I didn’t understand what you meant by “none of the desert cultures seem to use such things”. Did you mean to say that they don’t use hats? My understanding is that they use head coverings like the shemagh as seen in a photo in one of the earlier posts. I feel like that is not much different than a hood.

[Dunstan Orchard]

I meant that in relation to hoods, Krishna. None of the desert head coverings I’ve seen create a shaded area like a medieval-style hood does, which keeps the forehead and face in shadow. They all seem to be about more tightly covering the head and face and would better stand up to wind and blown sand.

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