Sun Protection, what is your solution?

I’m probably hairier than most, including my hands.  And my hands are always sideways around poles rather than palm down – I’ve never got sunburn on my hands while hiking… at the beach sometimes.  Head/face/neck, arms, tops of my knees – those are the only areas I have to worry about protection when hiking.  I’m always wearing at least a ~UPF50 T shirt, shorts, and shoes – no naked hiking…. yet? :P

Ian put it well – HYOH, take greater precautions if you have medical issues which is a big part of the discussion here.  But, and this is getting more religion than science (and I’m a science teacher), I don’t believe that getting sunburns means you’e definitely getting skin cancer.  Sunlight and many other things in our environment are constantly damaging our DNA and your cells normally do a great job repairing that DNA.  I believe your diet, exercise, sleep, mindset, stress level, and sufficient sun exposure, all affect your body’s ability to repair your DNA.    And I believe that vitamin D production is just a small part of the complex physiological processes triggered by sun exposure on your skin and eyes.  So I personally choose moderate sun protection.

I’ve heard that if you are light skinned, about 15 minutes at mid-day sun exposure in winter on arms and face is enough for your vitamin D needs. Even less in summer.

My dermatologist is a scientist, and he says to cover up from the sun–especially at altitude. He slices off cancerous skin cells for a living. It’s deadly when this goes into the lymph.

It’s not a question of burning either. It’s the accumulation of exposure that leads to melanoma.

Consumer Reports found that most sunblocks were rated very inaccurately. Walmart’s brand Equate was rated accurately, as well as a couple other brands.

I personally use clothing, and a broad rimmed OR hat. I’m contemplating making sun covers for my hands, a sort of a tube with loose elastic in the wrist-end and finger-end, to cover the backs of hands mostly.

Kelly

I think thin fingerless gloves would be better and more functional if you want sun protection on your hands.

When it’s really windy or raining, I wear these gloves:

http://www.salomon.com/us/product/xt-wings-glove-wp.html

They would provide sun protection as well.

If your sleeves are long enough, you can just hold your fingers in a natural, curved position, and they’ll be inside the sleeve, totally protected

My windshirt sleeves are not long enough.  My long-sleeve shirts with thumb holes work.

Hybrid for me (long sleeve button shirt combined with shorts+sun screen).  May need to try rail-riders, though, after skeeters used me as a buffet in Kings canyon.

The mosquitos were bad enough that some  overnighters resorted to patio-style bug foggers to establish camp … (college aged group btw)

“I’m probably hairier than most, including my hands.”

At least you didn’t go blind.

“My dermatologist . . . says to cover up from the sun–especially at altitude. “

IME, covering up works reliably.  Sunscreen often doesn’t.  The best derm guy I’ve been to (I’ve had 8 skin cancers carved off) said a few helpful things:

The point of sunscreen is to use it up.  If you haven’t gone through the bottle in a few months, you’re not using enough.  So write the date on the bottle and pat yourself on the back when you get through it.  And,

In addition to the usual: “hat, long sleeves, limit mid-day exposure and use sunscreen”, he started off with, “ROOF, hat, long sleeves, limit mid-day exposure and use sunscreen”.  That isn’t directly applicable to our shared recreational pursuit, but I will stand/sit in the shade of a tree or rock when I can.  And when I travel, I’m the one under the beach cabana, in a lounge chair, reading my book and sipping my Corona out of the tropical sun; rather than out in the sunlight hoping my sunscreen works well enough.  When I’m home, I’ll pull weeds on the west side of the house in the morning (in the shade) and on the east side of the house in the afternoon, etc.

“I’ve heard that if you are light skinned, about 15 minutes at mid-day sun exposure in winter on arms and face is enough for your vitamin D needs.”

Piper: That’s true at middle-latitudes.  But up here at 60N, the sun only gets up to 11 degrees above the horizon at noon in late December.  Because each layer of the atmosphere removes a high fraction of the UV light, such shallow angles preclude getting enough UV to generate vitamin D in our skin (even if we ran around in t-shirts in December, which we don’t).

Good news though, vitamin D stores in the body for quite a while and a day in LA, outside with bare legs and arms in the Winter will boost vitamin D levels for weeks after one’s return to the cold, frozen north.