Sun-protecting your skin isn’t just about wearing sunscreen anymore.

4 Essential Characteristics Of The Perfect Sun Protection Hat

1. It needs to be made of sun impenetrable material. Many hat companies are now rating a hat’s sun protection qualities and ideally you want a hat that says it has a UPF 50. A lot of good hats aren’t rated, however, and you can always test their sun permeability with my Detecto Ring.
2. It must have a full circumference brim measuring 3 to 5 inches. The brim needs to be firm enough that it doesn’t fold and buckle in the wind, leaving you exposed. A billed hat like a visor or baseball hat is never good enough; it’s job security for me because a billed hat dosn’t protect the sides of your face, your ears and your neck. Never depend on billed hats for sun protection when your outdoors.
3. The hat needs to cover your entire scalp with sun impenetrable material. This means no visors and no hats with mesh tops. Trust me, you don’t want skin cancer on your scalp and it’s all too common. I can’t tell you how many cancers I find on the scalp of women who have a good head of hair. Remember, your part line is in the sun whenever you are unless you’re wearing a hat. Men with thinning hair need to wear a hat to protect their scalp skin long before they have a bald spot. If they do, then, when they’re inevitably balder, they’ll have lovely, spot-free scalp skin instead of a scalp covered by liver spots, white marks and scars from skin cancer and pre-cancerous lesions treatments.
4. A good sun hat needs to stay on your head. This means it needs to fit well. Some hats have adjustable brims so you get the perfect sizing for your head. Also, depending on your activities, you may need a chin strap to keep it from blowing off.

If you’re new to full brim hats, keep trying new ones until you find what works for you. When I first started wearing full brim hats, it took me a while before I found ones that were comfortable to wear, worked for my activities and that looked good on me. I went through a lot of duds before I figured out what I liked. Now I have a great hat for every outdoor activity. I even keep one in my car for running errands.

I started selling hats in my office because patients were having trouble finding the same good looking and practical hats that I use. The hats have been a real hit so I’ve added a few to my web site. I want every body to wear hats for sun protection. I’ve added a little incentive by giving a 10% discount when you buy a hat and my Sun Protection Kit. The combination gives you everything you need for smart, dermatologist-approved sun protection — and you get a good deal too.

If you found this helpful, you may also want to read:

Stop The Summer Darkening Of Your Age Spots

6 Tricks For Sun Protecting Your Skin In Really Hot Weather

Skip The Tan And Eat Your Veggies For Beautiful Skin Color

Great Sun Hats: What Works and What Doesn’t is a post from: OTB Skin Care Blog

Solutions for the biggest summer skin problems that I see in my dermatology practice:

Thick, rough and cracked feet: Walking barefoot or in sandals leaves feet thick, rough and cracked. Keep them soft with exfoliation. My ’step by step’ instructions to keep your feet soft and attractive this summer: Dermatologist’s 3 Simple Steps For Sandal Ready Feet By Spring

Athlete’s foot: sweaty athletic shoes and public showers breed fungus. If your feet are scaly, itchy and cracked you may well have picked up this highly contagious problem. Get rid of the fungus before it gets worse by following my instructions: Dermatologist’s Tips For Athlete’s Foot Fungus Treatment.

Chapped and sunburned lips: Sun and wind chap and burn lips fast. You need good sun protection when you’re outdoors, and mineral sunscreen products designed specifically for the lips, such as Lip Cotz, are the best. Some colored lipsticks can also give your lips good sun protection.

For moist, healthy lips you also need constant applications of a really good lip balm like Ceralip or pure shea butter. I recommend avoiding lip balms with a lot of medicated or herbal ingredients because I see so many people whose severely chapped lips are actually due to allergic reactions to these ingredients. I recommend using just the hydrating ointment base in lip balms and skipping all the dicey ‘extras.’

Gardener’s Hands: chapped, rough and cracked hands are a part of summer for you if you’re a gardener (like me). Good hand care is essential to keeping your hands looking even remotely presentable outside of the garden. The same hand care that I outlined in the winter for all the folks with chapped hands from hand sanitizers will fix your gardener-worn hands too.

“Embarrassing” arms and legs!: I can’t tell you how many people are embarrassed to show off their arms and legs; like it or not, summer fashions show more skin. After about our mid-twenties, just about everybody has to put a little work into keeping their arm and leg skin looking good. My recommendations:

At a minimum, moisturizing will help control the dry, flaky scale and give your skin an attractive, dewy look.

Adding sun protection plus alpha hydroxy acid hydration combined with physical exfoliation keeps the age spots from darkening. I give you instructions in my post: Stop The Summer Darkening of Your Age Spots.

On top of that, if you add a sunless tanner, you’ll have evenly bronzed, dewy hydrated skin with a buffed and polished glow! I tell you how in: Use Self Tanners Like A Pro.

Stressed facial skin: In the summer, facial skin care is all about survival; summer sun and environmental exposure will cause permanent damage to your facial skin unless you protect it every day. Sunscreen and antioxidant skin care products are essential for anyone seriously concerned about facial wrinkles and age spots (not to mention skin cancer). The best sunscreens are the mineral-based products. The best antioxidant protection comes from products with high concentrations of vitamin C and products that combine green tea and caffeine. Every day there are new ‘miracle’ antioxidants and sunscreens hitting the skin care market, but in my opinion, the mineral sunscreens and vitamin C and green tea/caffeine antioxidant products have the best scientific evidence proving their benefits; they’re what I personally use and recommend for my patients.

With good skin care you can have soft, healthy and fabulous-looking skin all summer long.

If you found this information helpful, you may also want to read:

How To Get The Most Out Of Your Anti Aging Skin Care

5 Steps For Smart Sun Protection

Photo: Thanks and gratitude to Dystopian

Summer Skin Care…. and Repair is a post from: OTB Skin Care Blog

Every UV ray that missed its direct hit on your skin is a good thing. Think of UV rays as little missiles; use shade, awnings, umbrellas, hats, sunglasses, clothing and what ever else you can think of to cut down on the direct UV hits to your skin. Apply sunscreen to the skin you can’t, or won’t, cover. I prefer the mineral sunscreens (with micro-sized zinc oxide in 5% or higher concentration) that coat your skin with a shield of little particles to deflect, instead of absorb, the UV rays. The Sun Protection category of my blog is filled with dermatologically sound, scientific and practical sun protection information.

These beautiful masterpieces capture bygone fashions that would have provided good sun protection and kept these people’s skin looking young and fabulous. Only in the last century has it been trendy to tan — and we’re learning our lesson quickly. Sun protection inspiration from history (minus the corsets):

I’d love to know what creative sun protection ideas have you found helpful. Please add them as comments or send them to me using the ‘Contact Dr. Bailey’ form in the top left margin of my blog page.

For More on Sun Protection And Skin Care:

How To Apply Sunscreen and Have Fabulous Skin Forever

Are Your Summer Clothes Good Enough To Be Sun Protective Clothing?

Skip The Tan And Eat Your Veggies For Beautiful Skin Color

Stop The Summer Darkening Of Your Age Spots

Photos: Freeparking Nrico

Sun Protective Clothing and Hats: Inspiration From History is a post from: OTB Skin Care Blog

3 Easy Steps You Can Take to Help Prevent Darkening of Age Spots:

1. Keep the sun off of your skin
2. Exfoliate regularly
   
3. Use skin lightening products to ‘turn down’ your skin’s ability to tan

1. How to best keep the sun off your skin to prevent age spot darkening:

The best way to keep the sun off of your age spots is by covering them with clothing. For areas of your skin that you can’t cover (eg. your face), wear a sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher that contains 5% or more micro zinc oxide. I give extensive recommendations on sun protection in some of my recent posts:

Are Your Summer Clothes Good Enough To Be Sun Protective Clothing

How To Apply Sunscreen & Have Healthy, Fabulous Skin Forever

2. Exfoliation to lighten age spots:

Exfoliating lightens your age spots because the dead skin cell layers above them are extra thick and the brown color is carried up through every layer. Because of this, age spots are sort of like little speed bumps and regular exfoliation of the dead skin really lightens up the dark color because they sit slightly higher than the rest of the skin. The best way to do this is with my Anti Aging Body Skin Care Kit that includes both physical exfoliation and strong AHA glycolic acid exfoliation. Over the years, I’ve had many thousands of my patients using this kit and it works beautifully to lighten age spots. I’ve used it myself for at least 10 years and have watched my age spots actually go away just because I’m using these products; I created the kit for my 40th birthday when I got my first age spot on my arm — it went away in a few months after using my new kit, which was a great ‘happy birthday to me’ !

3. Using skin pigment lighteners to fade age spots:

I also have my patients ‘turn down’ pigment production with prescription bleaching creams that contain 4% hydroquinone, and prescription Retin A (tretinoin). There are tricks to using these products and they have side effects so ask your doctor if these treatments would be appropriate for you. One of my favorite skin lightening programs is The Obagi Nu Derm System and I discussed it during a post that I wrote this winter:

Winter: Now Is The Time To Fix Your Unwanted Age Spots and Skin Pigmentation

The good news about age spots is that it really is possible to get through the summer without getting spottier and spottier. Using any one of these steps to prevent age spot darkening will help, and doing all three is even more effective. You might even see them get lighter than they are in the winter!

A final note on age spots:

Remember that not every brown spot is an age spot. Melanoma, a deadly cancer, can often start looking like one of your age spots. If you have age spots, you’ve probably also had a lot of sun exposure in your life and would be well served by getting an annual skin exam by your dermatologist. Early detection of skin cancer really does save lives, I see it every day.

If You Found This Information Helpful, You May Also Want To Read:

How To Get The Most Out Of Your Anti Aging Skin Care

Choosing The Right Make Up For Post Menopausal Skin

Use Self Tanners Like A Pro

Skip The Tan And Eat Your Veggies For Beautiful Skin Color

Photo Mik Hartwell Flickr

Stop The Summer Darkening Of Your Age Spots is a post from: OTB Skin Care Blog

The concept of sun protecting skin isn’t new, and sunscreen isn’t the only way to sun protect.  Across the globe, and across history people have been taking measures to avoid excessive sun exposure. The classic example is the parasol and white gloves of western Victorian women.  Traditional Arab clothing for men still  includes a scarf like head covering and long sleeved one piece garment, both designed for breezy sun protection.  And remember, cowboys wore wide brim hats and long sleeved shirts, and today’s agricultural field workers wear similar hats and shirts.

Improvise! Use what you have and what’s functional for your activities.

A sun umbrella, wide brim hats, breezy long sleeved shirts, long dresses, pants, shawls – they all work.

Wear swim pants and shirts over your bathing suit – they’re not hot when you’re in the water.

Sit under a beach umbrella, in the shade of a tree or patio awning - it helps.

You’ll be cooler and more comfortable.  Hot sun beating down on exposed skin it HOT! Cover up, create shade, minimize direct sun exposure and sunscreen what’s little is left uncovered by clothing.

Every little bit of sun you keep off your skin means fewer wrinkles, age spots and even skin cancers-all good reasons to improvise.

More from Dr. Bailey on sun protection:

5 Steps For Smart Sun Protection

Are Your Summer Clothes Good Enough To Be Sun Protective Clothing?

How To Pick The Best Sunscreen

6 Tricks For Sun Protecting Your Skin In Really Hot Weather

Photo Attribution:

Improvise Sun Protection for Your Skin is a post from: OTB Skin Care Blog

My wonderful vacation included touring ancient ruins on treeless hillsides, with the sun beating down from a cloudless sky and reflecting up off marble walls.  It was humid and there was often only a slight breeze to dry the sweat.   I was also on a cruise ship where the ‘culture’ is all about sun bathing. This meant that I had to improvise.  Happily,  I was able to totally enjoy myself, and I’ve returned with no tan line and only a faint darkening in my freckles (age spots).   Here’s the tricks I used:

1. I always applied sunscreen with 5% micro zinc oxide to of my skin that was not covered by a hat or clothing. I reapplied it for swimming and at mid day.
2. I wore a hat almost all the time when outdoors. I have crush-able hats which pack easily and they took good care of me on this trip.
3. I covered as much of my skin as possible with clothing. I kept cool by using light colored, long sleeved linen shirts.  I washed Sun Guard into them for sun protection since light colored linen would normally not provide great sun protection.  (I explain how to do this in a previous post on making your own sun protective clothing).  I wore thicker, but loose and breezy linen or cotton pants and below-the-knee skirts.
4. I wore a rashguard shirt and swim tights over my swim suit if I was going to swim for more than a few minutes.
5. I used a light weight travel umbrella in cities like Rome where there is often enough shade from tall buildings. I’d pop open the umbrella when I couldn’t avoid the sun.  This allowed me to skip the long sleeves and hat, and just rely on sunscreen, the umbrella and shade from buildings.
6. I’d always aim to be in the shade. I’d stand under trees, in the shade of buildings, use deck chairs that were in the shade, ride ferries on shaded areas of their outer decks-anything to be out of the direct sun.

Boy it was hot in the Southern Mediterranean! But, in spite of my hats and clothing, I don’t think I was any hotter than the other tourists who were wearing sleeveless shirts, shorts and bathing suits in the direct sun.  A lot of people were bringing sun damaged skin home as a vacation souvenir, and they could have avoided it with just a little creative sun protection.  Sun screen’s not enough. You have to physically keep the sun rays from hitting your skin by using shade, clothing, hats, and umbrellas.  Mix and match these tricks to suit your activities and the climate-and don’t bring sun damage home as your vacation souvenir.

What sun protection tricks have you found helpful?  I’d love to add your experiences to my own, please send me your stories.

If you found this information helpful, you may also want to read:

5 Steps For Smart Sun Protection

Tanning Addiction; Dermatologist’s Personal Story

How To Apply Sunscreen And Have Healthy, Fabulous Skin Forever

If You Want A Nice Sunburn, Use Last Year’s Sunscreen

6 Tricks For Sun Protecting Your Skin In Really Hot Weather is a post from: OTB Skin Care Blog

Well, I just had to post a comment on the New York Times!  I’m surprised at what memories came up for me when I read the article and wanted to share my comment with you.  Here is the comment I left on the New York Times online health blog concerning the article:

I’m a practicing dermatologist and was probably addicted to tanning as a teen and young adult. I was unable to stop tanning in spite of having surgery for a skin growth that was at first thought to be a very aggressive melanoma. In the end the growth was not cancer, I did not have the lower leg amputation recommended by my first dermatologist, but the scare did not deter me from tanning.

It wasn’t until my dermatology residency in San Diego that I found the resolve to stop; seeing sun damage and skin cancer in patient after patient was like the shock therapy used to help people stop smoking. For the last 25 years I’ve avidly sun protect my skin. Interestingly, my facial skin texture looks younger now than when I was in my 20’s and tanning. Also interesting is that my family now has a strong family history of melanoma and I’m convinced that if I had continued tanning I probably would not be here today.

As for vitamin D, fair skin makes all it needs in the first few minutes of sun exposure. Continued exposure actually starts to break the vitamin D down. Knowing that sun protection is never perfect, I recommend sun protecting your skin, and the ‘margin of error’ usually lets enough sun into your skin for vitamin D production. To really know what your vitamin D needs are, get it measured and ask your doctor for advice. I find there is very little correlation between patients that sun protect or tan and vitamin D levels. My specific advice and more information on vitamin D is available on one of my recent blog posts.

It’s funny that I didn’t go into dermatology because of this early near brush with cancer.  It’s also funny that it took my residency experiences to get me out of the sun, now I know why.

You may also want to read my sun protection advice:

5 Steps For Smart Sun Protection

If You Want A Nice Sunburn Use Last Year’s Sunscreen

How To Pick The Best Sunscreen

Are Your Summer Clothes Good Enough To Be Sun Protective Clothing

Photo Attribution:

Tanning Addiction; Dermatologist’s Personal Story is a post from: OTB Skin Care Blog

When you use a self tanner, do you have soft, moist, evenly bronzed skin?

Or does your skin look like a cross between an alligator and a leopard with the smell of mayonnaise overlaid by cheap perfume?

There are a few tricks to looking (and smelling) good in self-tanners! I’ve learned them over the years from my patients who do it well. The problem is that self-tanners naturally get stuck in the thicker areas of your skin like your freckles and over your knees. They also dry out your skin and the active ingredient has a funny mayonnaise-like smell. I still love self-tanners and will take them any day over sun damaged skin, but… there are some tricks to getting the look you want with self-tanners.

3 Steps For Applying Self-Tanning Products So You Look (And Smell) Great

The general concept: Self-tanners stain the outer, dead skin cell layer of your skin, showing off how thick and how dry this layer is. Understanding this is key. Your skin needs to be exfoliated and moisturized BEFORE you apply self-tanners. Plus, you’ve got to be careful that you put much less product on the thicker areas of your skin like your knees, elbows and feet.

Step by step instructions for applying self-tanners like a pro:

1. Prepare Your Skin First!

Keep your skin exfoliated and hydrated in preparation for self-tanners. This means physically exfoliating your skin in the bath or shower and moisturizing immediately after toweling dry. Physical exfoliation is where you scrub off the extra dead cells using something rough. I’ve found the most effective products for this are the Body Buf Puf or the Salux Cloth. Other options include a luffa sponge or an exfoliating body polish. Of course scrub gently, but use more pressure and scrub longer over the thicker skin areas of your knees, elbows, the back of your hands and tops of your feet. Immediately after toweling dry (within three minutes — no more) apply a rich moisturizer. Ideally your moisturizer should contain an alpha hydroxy acid for additional exfoliation. I’ve found the best exfoliating moisturizer for this is Glytone Body Lotion (which is in my Anti Aging Body Skin Care Kit along with the Salux Cloth). Less strong, but still effective are the drug store products AmLactin Cream or Lacticare Cream. I’ve used them all and Glytone is by far the most effective and it’s what I’ve used for years for my own skin.

2. Know When And How To Apply Self-Tanners

Apply self-tanner immediately after toweling off from your bath or shower. You can apply it before, or in place of, your moisturizer. Don’t put the tanner on your skin if you haven’t just bathed because you’ll get the alligator look. You can apply moisturizer like Glytone Body Lotion on top of the tanner if you’re using a product that isn’t too heavy. This will give you the best results.

Apply very little product over areas of your body with thicker skin. Using your leg as an example, put some product in one palm, rub your hands together and then smooth the product over the thinner skin on your lower leg and thigh, but avoid touching your knee or foot until you have almost no product left on your palms, at which point you can very briefly rub your palms over the back of your foot and the front of your knee. Because the thick skin in these areas picks up more product, they can look much darker than the thinner areas of your skin, giving them a dirty look.

Always wash the product off your palms entirely when you are done. If you don’t, your hands will look dirty. Your palms qualify as areas of thick skin and will stain darker than the rest of your skin if you don’t wash them well and immediately after applying self-tanner.

Lighten overly dark areas by physically exfoliating them. If, for some reason, you still find that some areas of your skin are darker, giving you a spotty or dirty look, you can lighten the color in the shower with a light physical exfoliation using the Salux Cloth, Buf Puf or a body polish.

3. Be An Artist

Refine your technique to get a natural look. Apply more product over the parts of your skin that would naturally be darker if you had a sun tan to give them slightly more bronzed color. (Meaning the tops of the arms should be darker than the under surface of the arms!) This can be done by applying more product the first time, or doing a second application. Also, if you don’t intend to apply the tanner to your entire skin surface, then feather it in to those areas by gradually applying a thinner layer as you approach them, don’t stop abruptly leaving a big color difference. Self tanner application is a lot like painting and you can dial in the color you want by putting more or less product on your skin.

Products:

There are tons of options available. I prefer a thinner product that allows you to put your moisturizer on top without feeling heavy or greasy. My favorites:

Avene Moisturizing Self-Tanning Lotion My new favorite! It has a light feel, no heavy fragrance and a relatively hypoallergenic base that’s perfect under Glytone Body Lotion. I like it so much I’ve decided to carry it at OTB Skin Care!

Clarins Gelee Auto Bronzante Express. Clarins consistently gets high ratings for its self-tanners. I used this product for years and it, too, works well under moisturizer. The fragrance is subtle and the color good.

L’Oreal Sublime Bronze Spray. This is a great way to apply tanner to your back! I’m not fond of the fragrance, but the spray is brilliant.

Jergens Natural Glow and Neutrogena Summer Glow (this may no longer be available). These good products are a little too heavy to use under a moisturizer. This means you’ll get the best results if you use them every other day alternating with an AHA moisturizer on alternate days to avoid the dry alligator look.

Self-tanners work beautifully to give you great looking bronzed skin….without the wrinkles and age spots you’d get from the sun. By knowing how to apply them, you can rely on self-tanners to give you a tan look whenever you want it.

Remember, self-tanner color does not give you any sun protection so follow my recommendations for sun protecting your skin.

If you found this information helpful, you may also want to read:

Back And Chest Acne: Will They Ruin Your Summer?

The New Celebrity Beauty Trend-Going Natural

Dermatologist’s 3 Simple Steps For Sandal-Ready Feet By Spring

Photo Attribution:

Use Self-Tanners Like A Pro is a post from: OTB Skin Care Blog

A good sun protection plan is like having that good home loan which fit your budget-BEFORE the banking crisis hit.

Get your sun protection strategy figured out now

before you need it……

because a sunburn is a debt you can never repay!

Over the past month I’ve explained how to completely sun protect your skin this year using the best that science and medicine has to offer. Now I’m giving you a quick ‘easy reference’ summary of the information that was outlined in those blog posts. I’ve also put the post links for the original posts at the bottom of the page in case you want to go back and look at the longer versions.

Dermatologist Dr. Cynthia Bailey’s 5 Steps For Smart Sun Protection

1. Always use a sunscreen with 5% or more micro zinc oxide listed as an active ingredient. Be sure your sunscreen is no more that a year old and has not been stored in high heat where the ingredients might have broken down.
2. Apply sunscreen 30 minutes before you go out and every 2 hours when you’re in the sun to all areas of your skin not covered by sun protective clothing. Use a shot glass size portion (1 oz.) for your entire body and at least 1/3 tsp for your face, ears and neck. You’ll need more than 1/3 tsp if you need to cover your scalp (1 tsp is recommended to cover the full head and neck). Use a water resistant product for wet or sweaty activities.
3. Wear sun protective clothing on as much of your skin as possible.
4. Wear a hat with a 3 to 5 inch full brim-not a baseball style hat. Be sure it covers the top of your head too.
5. Head for the shade instead of being in direct sunlight-carry a parasol if there’s no shade to be found!
6. Wear UV Blocking Sunglasses that can protect your thin eyelid skin and your eyes.

My Ultimate Sun Kit provides everything for complete sun protection (except of course the hat, sunglasses and shade).

Really enjoy the sun by avoiding the sun burn!

For more sun protection advice:

If You Want A Nice Sunburn, Use Last Year’s Sunscreen

How To Pick The Best Sunscreen

How To Apply Sunscreen & Have Healthy, Fabulous Skin Forever

Are Your Summer Clothes Good Enough To Be Sun Protective Clothing?

Photo attribution:

5 Steps For Smart Sun Protection is a post from: OTB Skin Care Blog

First, the bad news about your clothes:

• One-third of summer clothes are lousy at sun protecting skin. This is especially true for lightweight, thin fabric made of cotton, linen and rayon.
• The best sun protection comes from fabric you’re not likely to wear in the summer like thick and tightly woven fabric, dark colors, polyester, nylon and wool.
• Wet, stretched fabric provides poor sun protection (think wet white cotton tee shirt). Interestingly, a dark tee shirt will probably provide more protection than a light-colored one because the color alone also helps absorb UV rays.
• Fuzzy, new, unbleached cotton sometimes provides good sun protection when it’s dry, but UV rays can pass through cotton fibers.

I see sun exposure, sun damage and skin cancers on the backs of people who do not directly expose their skin to the sun, especially after summer. I can only assume the problem is sun coming through their shirts.

Now, the good news:

It’s easy to buy or make sun protective clothing!

You can buy sun protective clothing from companies like REI, Sun Precautions, Coolibar etc. The styles are pretty generic, but the garments often contain hidden vents, zippers that open for ventilation and other clever tricks to keep you cool in sunny, hot places. (Think tropical vacation, hiking in the sun, gardening, cycling, etc.)

The big surprise — You can make sun protective clothing out of what’s already in your closet using a product called Sun Guard. For $4 you treat an entire load of laundry, saving serious money and giving you fashion control. Sun Guard contains Tinosorb which binds to the fabric fibers and then absorbs the UV rays. I’ve used it many times and it’s never damaged or changed the look or feel of the fabric. I’ve done the washing machine treatment and I also used it in a hotel sink to give this new cotton knit shirt complete sun protective power while I was on a sunny tropical vacation. You can see in the photos below, my Detecto Ring beads change color to indicate that UV rays went through the fabric before Sun Guard treatment. After the treatment, no color change with the Detecto Ring beads. This was at 12 noon on the equator!

Detecto Beads at 12 noon intensely colored to indicate strong sun exposure, even in indirect light

Detecto Ring under the untreated shirt at 12 noon, see the slight color

Detecto Ring under a purchased sun protection shirt at 12 noon

The same shirt after Sun Guard treatment. The Detecto Ring beads hardly turn color indicating much that the shirt now has much better sun protection.

Intense color to Detecto Beads without the shirt's protection at 12 noon

A few more words about how your laundry care effects the sun protection of fabric:

It’s best to use detergents with ‘optical brighteners’ for your summer clothes. These optical brighteners actually absorb UV rays, releasing the energy as ‘fluorescence’ — hence the bright look and more sun protection.

Letting your clothing shrink a little will also increase sun protection because the spaces between the fabric fibers are tighter.

Lastly, bleaching decreases sun protection so try to avoid it, especially for cotton and rayon fabric.

Wishing you wonderful and sun damage free adventures!

Prepare Yourself and Your Family For A Sun Safe Summer By Reading My Sun Protection Advice:

How To Pick The Best Sunscreen

How To Apply Sunscreen And Have Fabulous Skin Forever

Reference:

Photoprotection: a Review of the Current and Future Technologies, Steven Q. Wang et. al., Dermatologic Therapy, Vol. 23, 31-47

Photo Attribution:

Are Your Summer Clothes Good Enough To Be Sun Protective Clothing? is a post from: OTB Skin Care Blog