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Comment by unicornporn | Hacker News Reader

There's a tried and tested alternative to these products: clothes and a hat. I think more people should give it a try.

As a very fair skinned person, this suggestion is laughable. Clothes and a hat are not an alternative to sunscreen, you just can't get the protection coverage that you can with lotion.

My very fair-skinned twins were slathered with sunscreen by nursery school staff and both developed an allergy to it. They use a shirt and hat. Works fine.

Do you burn through long sleeves and pants?

There are clothes marketed as 45 or 60 UPF and even blue denim jeans supposedly are equivalent to 166 SPF.

Wearing long sleeves, long pants, and a wide-brimmed hat and shoes it seems like sunscreen would only be needed for hands and neck. https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/1238

Not practical for swimming unless you’re wearing a wetsuit of course but depending on weather conditions I do find long sleeves, pants, and a good hat can be practical for outdoor activity like hiking instead of sunscreen everywhere.

Also won't work well to protect your face from the UV reflection while skiing. Spring skiing in particular is often too warm to comfortable wear a full face mask.

As the same type of person, I don't think it's laughable ;-) I rock my Ex Officio and Coolibar gear every summer. It's a heck of a lot easier than putting on sunscreen all the time!

Have done so. End up ditching the long sleeves on every single hike because I start overheating.

Every hat which is suitably breathable has laughable sun protection as well, so sunscreen is pretty much my only option.

For day-to-day around-town, yeah, a long-sleeve shirt works. But it's not a one-size-fits-all solve.

I bet the middle east has a good solution for breathable, protective long-sleeves

It's also pretty dry in most of the middle east. What works there might not work in the mid west.

That and mineral sunscreens with just zinc oxide which doesn't penetrate the skin (it does look like white paint so not the most photogenic, but that's kind of the point)

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