Those big, straw wide brimmed cowboy hats are popular with the crowd that spends all day in the sun for a reason. I usually get 1.5 summers out of one.

That is some mighty fine advice!

Luckily, my parents were obsessive and OVER-protective so I never got to get a sunburn as a kid.

I really try to wear sunscreen and a hat but I just hate it! So, I'm very good at wearing long sleeves and at not wearing open collar shirts. I do put sunscreen on my face, even though I b*tch and complain, and I wear it on the backs of my hands. When driving or gardening, I wear gloves. I try to remember to put it on my neck and that area where shirts are always open, below the neck. V-neck tops are awesome but ever notice how women get that dark triangle of red and weathered skin right there?

I forgot about three weeks ago and walked around boulder for around three hours--it was such a nice day out! I'm much redder and darker than usual :(

We should also remember to drink our water while we spend hours in the sun doing hard gardening work.

Thanks for the reminder!

One needs a "stiff" hat so that the head can be wedged into it, David! The broader the brim, the more important that is. Or, conversely, a "floppy" hat allows some lift. Both will help to keep the hat from easily flying off in the wind. (I'm always careful to keep my travel speed down, just to avoid this problem. ;o)

J, you are young, my grandfather believed that the sun had special, curative powers and fair-haired Mom seemed to subscribe to that, somewhat. (That was the Canadian Grandfather, so what did he know? ;o) . . . Dad, on the other hand, looked like olde leather from the very youngest that I can remember him. Dad grew up in Las Cruces.

Steve

I really like the hats from Hills Hats out of New Zealand http://www.hillshats.co.nz/

I have an older Columbia hat that I keep because it has a tensioner around the head - I can tighten when the winds pick up or loosen if on the off chance they stop blowing for 9 seconds.

Dan

I wish I could find them again, but I used to be able to buy a tightly woven grass hat made in Panama or Honduras - sort of the natural base of what they stiffen up for cowboy hats. Soft, flop down over your ears, remarkably cool. Both in the temperature and fashion sense. They cost something like $8.

Now everybody in Panama and Honduras wears ball caps that say Chicago Bulls or something, and they don't make them any more.

Made a visor that has a bill more like a bonnet. Gave them for mothers day. Decided that I really needed to get something that protected my neck, it was starting to look like leather. Plus, it keeps the top of my head cool. bonnie

I could so relate to that article! I remember rubbing down with baby oil and betadine in my teen years to get a tan, and usually ending up like a lobster. There were a couple of times that I was burned so bad I had huge water blisters on my shoulders and chest, and I've lost count of how many times my nose was burnt enough to peel. The only sunscreen available back then, other than the white paste that lifeguards used on their noses, was a SPF2, which didn't really do much, and we didn't use anyway, because we thought it would keep us from gettting a tan.

I keep putting off going to a dermatologist because I'm afraid of what they might find.

My sister, who's not even 50 yet, just found out she has cataracts, and they told her it was from UV exposure, so don't forget the sunglasses too.

Nowadays, I use sunscreen on my face everyday, and on my arms if I'm going to be outside for any length of time, though I still forget the hat half the time. Now if I could just remember to put it on my lower back, and avoid that gardener's stripe!

Bonnie

Bonnie~ I was right there with you way back when with the baby oil (or remember Ban de Soleil orange paste in a tube?), peeling and blisters.

I have worn sunscreen now for years as part of my daily morning routine. I wear a hat too and for mother's day I just got a new tightly woven, wide-brimmed straw one with a chord to tie for windy weather.

They just found a good sized carcinoma spot on my mom's forehead yesterday.

I sometimes get a stripe of a sunburn on my lower back from bending over in the garden.