Snow White Syndrome

[Rod Braithwaite]

I’m pale and have a red beard, my wife is from northern Britain and very light skinned. We produced a daughter who is almost transparent and  never able to get a tan. She burns without fail in the sun, and she’s planning to do the PCT in 2020. Are there any other options besides constantly applying sunscreen and\or covering up? Some other form of sun protection she could try? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[BlackHatGuy]

An umbrella. She can hook it to one of her shoulder straps and keep both hands free. The ones with a reflective top are best, methinks.

They suck in the wind, of course, or when in heavy brush, but otherwise are the bees elbows.

[Rex Sanders]

+1 on the umbrella, though it doesn’t help much with bare arms and legs.

Maybe a mid-day siesta in the shade, with more hiking in the pre-dawn and post-sunset hours. A few headlamp batteries might be better than sunburns, heat problems from covering up too much, or the equivalent weight in sunscreen. Might be a good time to make a Midwest “dinner” near water, and snack for “supper” in the evening.

— Rex

[Erica R]

https://www.sundayafternoons.com/p/adventure-hat/

[JCH]

Long sleeves, long pants, sun gloves, a buff and a hat.  Covering up is the only thing that us sure to work. I’ve never tried a trail umbrella, but am intrigued by the notion and would not hesitate to try it.

[Jeffs Eleven]

I hear cheetos makes a spray

[Jerry Adams]

Yeah, long sleeves, long pants, wide brimmed hat like adventure hat

Titanium or zinc oxide sunscreen is effective, but it comes off easily, constantly have to re-apply.  Might be a good option, especially if you’re covering up most areas

Don’t get a super bad sunburn, it will open you to skin cancer many years later.  Many sunscreens will be effective at preventing that.

[PaulW]

If sunscreen and/or covering up aren’t acceptable, I think your options are limited to an umbrella. I have a love/hate relationship with mine, but rarely regret having it along. It’s a PITA in the wind though. A few years back I met a lady who was hiking with what she called a sun poncho. It was her own design and looked just like a rain poncho, but made of a white mesh material. I didn’t get a lot of details from her other than it was a work in progress.

[Geoff Caplan]

I’ve never liked or trusted sunblock, so have always opted for covering up with a generous hat and long sleeves and pants. When it’s really hot I use fingerless liner gloves, as hands can burn too, particularly if you use walking poles. Covering up is what desert nomads do. These days you can get thin, breathable fabrics with good UV protection. If clothing is loose and vented you can avoid overheating too badly. By the way, the idea that white clothing protects you from heat seems to be a myth – it does reflect the sun’s heat away, but it also reflects your body heat back at you. There’s no strong evidence that colour matters much.

An umbrella is useless in the wind, so unless the weather is settled or the route is sheltered you have to carry an alternative anyway. They are heavy and they really only shade your head, not your arms or legs. I haven’t found them worthwhile, though there are others here who disagree.

Beyond that, I agree with those who suggest hiking at dawn and dusk and taking a siesta during the worst of the heat. Invest in a good torch and night hiking can be a pleasure. This makes most sense above the treeline where there’s no shade, and I enjoy the long moonlit views, the planets, the Milky Way, the night smells and sounds. You often see vlogs of thru-hikers grinding up slopes in blazing noonday heat, and I wonder why they don’t do more at either end of the day instead.

As with most issues there’s no pat answer. Everyone’s different, so it’s really a question of your daughter building up her skills and dialling in something that works for her.

[Todd T]

Covering up is the only thing that us sure to work.

^This.

Don’t get a super bad sunburn, it will open you to skin cancer many years later.  Many sunscreens will be effective at preventing that.

I’m not convinced we know that.  And don’t get me started on the unknown effects of letting your skin absorb those chemicals day after day after day.  I only trust two means of sun protection:  (1) a slowly acquired tan (has its limits, especially if you’re a Snow White and/or planning many long days in the sun [e.g., on the PCT]), and (2) covering up.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Many, possibly most, people do not hike the PCT with exposed skin. Some, of course do, but many, if not most, wear long sleeves and pants. They don’t call ’em desert shirts for nothing.

There’s one lady who loved her umbrella so much she wrote a song. Watch this video to see typical sun-avoidant clothing on the PCT. It is NOT always hot on the So Cal section of the PCT. In fact, some of your coldest sunny days will be in Southern California.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ly-JN9OLd8

[David Thomas]

I’m of Celtic descent and grew up in central California (my dermatologist thinks I now live at the right attitude, 60N).  In the 60s and early 70s, no one used sunscreen or hats and (presumably as a result of that early exposure) I’ve had 9 basal-cell skin cancers carved off.  Twice I got a second-degree sunburn, once on the PCT, when the sunscreen of the time failed on a hot, sweaty, high-elevation day of hiking and current research indicates those severe burns are especially risky.

Don’t worry about the SPF rating of clothing.  That’s marketing hype.  I’ve never burned under any piece of clothing and I know of no one who has.  So pick the long-sleeve that is most comfortable to wear in the heat of the day so that you WILL wear it in the heat of the day.  For desert settings, for me, that’s an old men’s LS, 100% cotton dress shirt.  The collar helps protect your neck and the cotton holds onto water I apply at each stream crossing to cool me off (I get warm when I exercise).  There’s some timing towards the late afternoon to let it dry out by evening and in the Sierra, there are sometimes afternoon thunder storms to contend with.  Still, on a JMT or PCT thru-hike, I’d bring one.  If SUL is important, then I’d use a 100% nylon, collared, button-down fishing shirt (Columbia has a number of them with air-blown into the nylon so it’s not slick, but kind of cottony against the skin).  I have it along on every trip as a more multi-purpose shirt, but, again, I’d add the ounces for the cotton shirt, too.

ROOF, hat, clothes, sunscreen in that order.  On a Mexican beach, I’m under the cabana with my Corona beer – certainly between 10 am and 2 pm.  When I snorkel, it’s (1) not mid day and (2) I have a stretchy hooded fleecy thing that functions as a warmth layer and as great sun protection (like Chinese women wear to the beach, but thicker).

I’m very +1 on the sun-brellas.  I use a Chrome Dome (8 ounces, silvered on top, $30-$40) which has been in and out of production but there are now multiple sources of identical versions.  Even without the UV concerns, in the High Sierra, it feels 15F cooler under the umbrella and when I take a break for lunch or a nap, I pick a spot under a bush or tree and rest the umbrella in the branches giving me a 3-foot circle of complete shade very conveniently.

Skin on different parts of your body is different and while I’ve always worn shorts a lot and sometimes gotten burns there (behind the knees is the worst and I’m extra careful about getting sunscreen there), I’ve gotten no cancers there, just my head and neck plus one on my upper back.  Yeah, long pants are good, but the angle with the mid-day sun isn’t as bad as on one’s head, neck and shoulders.  Long-sleeve shirts I’m more religious about and I’m pretty maniacal about broad-brimmed hats (with a chin lanyard for the wind).  A baseball cap with a bandana over your neck works in a pinch but it’s cooler under a broad-brimmed hat.

It’s possible to avoid sunburns, but it takes extra attention and care.  A few hours continuing on into the mid-day with covering up and suddenly there’s a sunburn that will be uncomfortable for the next week.

[David Thomas]

I bring a small mirror on longer trips when lots of other people might not.  Not for combing my hair but for checking my face for any hint of redness or sunburn.  Although a quick check for grooming fails does increase hitch-hiking success rates.  And occasionally it gets used for first aid – something in my eye, etc.

The basic 18″ x 18″ cotton bandana is very multiple purpose and only $1 at Walmart.  But for a PCT hike, I’d also throw in one of the 36″ x 36″ silk bandanas I got years ago from Sierra Trading Post for not very much.  It makes a better “Foreign-legion” sunshade for your neck and back, is big enough for a lot more first-aid uses, and worn as a loose skirt can give some sun protection to one’s legs.

It sounds like she’s even more pale than I am and something I had to resort to while sea kayaking in the Sea of Cortez was light cotton gloves to protect the backs of my hands.  Again, like Chinese women use.  There are also shirts marketed as and DIY hacks you can do to provide gauntlet extensions to the cuff of a LS shirt to create little covers over the backs on one’s hand in a way that they can fold back when you’re cooking, eating, filling water bottles, etc.

[Aaron]

“Don’t worry about the SPF rating of clothing.  That’s marketing hype.  I’ve never burned under any piece of clothing and I know of no one who has.”

I’ve burned under my cycling jersey. Granted it was a hot, 100 degree day, I was out for several hours, my back faces straight up at the sun, and the jersey is tight. I don’t think I’d worry too much about looser clothing in a normal walking stance, except maybe the shoulders.

[jscott]

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

this looks a tad dorky perhaps BUT: it’s highly versatile. The drape can be pulled up all the way over your nose if need be. It’s large so there’s lots of ventilation space. It’s completely mosquito proof for your whole face, head and neck. In shade you simply ‘unzip’ the velcro attachment and let it hang down. And you can wet the whole thing for a cooling effect. And its fabric is rated 100% SPF. (I disagree with David about fabric not mattering. My dermatologist who cut out a cancerous sun-caused melanoma from my face ((!!!)) says that cotton doesn’t block potentially cancer causing rays much at all; you don’t need to get a sunburn to be overexposed.)

[Brad Rogers]

I would suggest covering up as much as possible.  Something like the Outdoor Research Echo Hoody combined with an Outdoor Research Sun Runner hat and some sun gloves.  I also suggest long pants like the Railriders Echo Mesh pants.  That should cover just about everything but perhaps a dab of sunscreen on the nose.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I read somewhere that telling people to avoid sun between 10 and 2 is actually not good enough advice, at least not if you’re walking around, maybe if you’re lying by the pool. Humans are a vertical species. We actually get more sun on more of our bodies earlier and later in the day because being vertical, the sun is more perpendicular to our bodies at those times. It feels safer to us because it’s not as hot and not as bright, and we let our guard down and end up in the end getting too much sun early and late in the day.

[Paul McLaughlin]

Unlike David and his friends I have been burnt through a garment – but it was a fairly old cotton T-shirt, soaked with sweat and plastered to my back as I worked on a new house in 100-degree heat, midsummer. So it’s possible, but not likely to get burned through a garment. I think anything that is not actually see-through will do the job.

Being of English/Irish descent, I too glow in the dark. My dermatologist is on my case fairly hard these days. No actual cancer yet, but he burns off a few more spots every year. I have the sunday afternoons hat, have been wearing long sleeves on the trail for close to 2 decades now, and am going to try long pants this summer. Also got a sun hoody so I can cover the back of my neck even when the wind is flapping the skirt of my hat around.Just getting tired of putting on all that sunscreen every two hours. also found some pretty good gloves for the sun – a white version of the coated-palm knit work gloves that I use on jobsites. Used them last August in Humphreys basin, worked fine other than getting really filthy really fast (they are white, after all). Not too sweaty, and kinda nice for those scrambly bits on the granite when off-trail.

[Jay D]

Linen is extremely breathable and will protect the skin. I wear long sleeve linen shirts in the summer, and frequently wear a linen suit (not hiking). As long as there is air movement (which can be from walking), a nice loose weave will be cooler than short sleeves since the sun won’t be beating on the bare skin. Linen pants need to be unlined and also a fairly loose weave to be cool, but shouldn’t be too hard to find.

[AK Granola]

A light colored but opaque shalwar kameez? With the top not going all the way down, men’s style is better for movement. Hippie pantaloon, loose fitting at the waist. I wore something like this backpacking through Southeast Asia, to protect from the midday sun but not overheat. Sunscreen was too sweaty and attracted dirt.  Of course, locals didn’t do this- they didn’t go out in the noonday sun! Mad dogs…

[David Thomas]

Okay, now I’ve heard of some people who’ve been burned through through clothing.  As a teenage boy in 1977, I liked Cheryl Tiegs in that fishnet swimsuit – I didn’t realize she had it on for sun protection.

Piper: the point of avoiding mid-day sun is that the steeper the angle it takes, the less UV is blocked by the atmosphere.  At 30% above the horizon, sunlight will go through twice as many gas molecules in each layer of the atmosphere then when it straight above.  That includes the UV-blocking ozone layer which removes about 90% of UV-B.  Taking out 90% twice leaves only 1% instead of 10%.   The highest the sun gets at my latitude in December is 11 degrees so between 99.99% of the UV being eliminated and people bundling up a lot, everyone is low on vitamin D by spring.

Yes, the angle between the sun’s rays and your skin makes a difference, but the bigger effect is the light’s angle through the atmosphere.

[Erica R]

This is my hiking shirt: https://www.exoticindia.com/product/textiles/plain-white-v-neck-short-kurta-top-SPB62/  for sunny weather.

Excellent sun protection. It is white cotton. I buy it 2 sizes too big, so the air flows around me. If it is really hot, I’ll dip it into a creek, then put it back on.

It is an excellent bug shirt.

It is worse than useless if it is cold and the shirt were to get wet.

[W I S N E R !]

Standard Sierra gear…I can easily go a week with no burn using nothing but some zinc on my lips/nose with this outfit.  This combo works in 100+ temps as well as cool weather.  Best piece is the top; most breathable fabric and comfortable hood I’ve used; can hike all day with the hood on without it bugging me.

Used to be an umbrella fan but I find I just don’t need it with this outfit.

Patagonia Tropic Comfort Hoody II, trucker cap, OR sun gloves, Patagonia Rock Craft/Quandary pants, and good sunglasses.

I’ve had two basal cell carcinomas removed so far.  Backpacking sun protection is easy if you try.  Surfing and being in the water for hours upon hours at a time is what gets me.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I’m serious about the PCT. In So Cal the sun will be extra strong and will have a radioactive feel to it, but it could be hot or cold so you don’t want to go into a PCT thru-hike with the belief that the “desert” is hot because it’s not all desert and it’s not necessarily hot. Sometimes it’s hot in the sun and freezing in the shade and sometimes it’s even freezing in the searing hot sun. In the Sierras the sun is so strong a white person like me can feel their skin frying. It’s so uncomfortable it’s hard to take a break at lunch time. I have often needed to just keep hiking to return to treeline again the sun is so harsh. You don’t need anything crazy exotic or weird to deal with any of this. The basic long-sleeves, sun gloves, decent sun hat, sunglasses, long pants and if you like, an umbrella, is pretty standard for the PCT. You will be more comfortable than if you rely on sunscreen. With sunscreen you clog up your skin with the oils of the lotion plus the dirt and dust that will stick to your skin. You will be out for up to 5 days without any significant way to wash yourself. Even without lotion on your skin, and even in long pants your legs and feet will be dusty and brown with dirt. So do yourself a favor and save the lotion for just your face and hands and cover everything else up. You’ll be able to handle a much wider variation of extremes in full clothing than you can in bare skin.

[HkNewman]

Long pants/long skirts plus long sleeves for the sun exposed parts (at least California and some of Oregon).  Spray some permithrin on all the fabric/shoes for ticks too (I got one descending Deep Ck to Mojave Dam in Southern California); could help if there’s clouds of skeeters as well. Oregon started becoming humid for me personally, so my plan is to switch to short sleeves at Crater Lk.  Besides forests in Oregon, by that time it’ll be August and less UV exposure up north as well.

[Author]

Posts