July is Ultraviolet (UV) Safety Awareness Month, so lets talk about ways to protect yourself from UV rays beyond putting on sunscreen. If you want to see a post about comparing mineral and chemical sunscreens, check that out here. This is not medical advice, however a lot of these things should be used together with each other and sunscreen.
Hats or UV Umbrellas
Physically shading your face is a great way to protect yourself from UV rays, and it doesn’t have to be expensive either. You can use any kind of hat that you already have. Obviously, if you have a wide brimmed hat that also shades your neck, particularly if you have short hair, but baseball caps also work. UV umbrellas can also be suprisingly affordable, with both Amazon and Walmart having options.
Sunglasses
Sunglasses are so important for protecting our eyes, especially for those of us who have light colored eyes. Now, if you have dark eyes you still have to wear sunglasses!
UV Protective Clothing
Long, loose, dark-colored clothing can provide us with sun protection as during the summer. There are certain criteria that regular clothing has to meet in order to be protective, and then there are specific lines of usually performance athletic wear that are UV protective. These are different levels of sun protection, but I do not want people to think that they have to run out and buy a new wardrobe to protect their skin from the sun.
Comment down below how you protect yourself from the sun!
Written by Brigid Coffey
