30-07-2025
You Don't Have to Wear Sunscreen...As Long As You Don't Mind Dressing Like Me
Before you come for me in the comments: Yes, I do know what I look like.
But I also know that the sun is a killer. My Wirecutter colleagues have spent hundreds of hours testing sunscreens to protect your skin from the myriad risks it poses. Despite all of their work, and despite my trying all of those endless tubes and creams and aerosols, I've come to an unfortunate conclusion: I just don't like sunscreen.
I don't like the greasy look of it. I don't like the sticky feeling of it. And I don't even like how it smells. I also have sensitive, burn-prone skin and absolutely no desire to incur sun damage.
So what's a girl to do? Luckily, I've found a combination of clothing and other items that keep my skin safe, and they don't require me to smear globs of product I hate.
When I'm wearing this getup, my sister won't walk next to me, my friends laugh at me regularly, and sometimes children even point and stare. Perhaps I look strange. But I am free.
These opera-length UPF gloves provide coverage from your fingers to your upper arms. They're made from mesh, so they're extra breathable. And they have textured index-finger and thumb pads, so you can text on the move.
To avoid using sunscreen, my solution is to wear UPF clothing. I specifically love having a hat and gloves that I can add to any outfit.
UPF (ultraviolet protection factor) clothing is any type of clothing that offers protection from the sun. As Sarah Gannett wrote in our guide to UPF clothing, 'A garment isn't considered sun protective if it has a UPF rating lower than 15.' So any clothing you purchase for the sake of sun protection should have a UPF of at least 15 (my picks here both have a UPF rating of 50+).
Many garments do this without having a UPF rating. But the rating lets you know exactly how much sun can penetrate the fabric, similar to the way SPF indicates how much sun can penetrate sunscreen. Unlike sunscreen, UPF clothing does not require 'reapplication'; you just pull on the item, and whatever it covers is protected until you pull it off. And there's a ton of UPF clothing to choose from (some items are recommended elsewhere on our site, including hats, shirts, and sun sleeves for gardening).
My first line of defense is the Stevie Ultra Sun Hat. It may make me look like a beekeeper, but it's genius: On the underside of the hat, two snaps connect with the veil, so you can remove it or adjust its tightness, and it can be worn over the nose or under the chin. A flexible wire in the veil shapes around your nose (like a face mask) to create a snugger fit. Dorie Chevlen/NYT Wirecutter
It also has a removable chin strap, which can be tightened on windy days to keep the hat secure. And the hat's 22-inch circumference can be tightened, so it's suitable for more head shapes (though not all — a few buyers on Coolibar's site said the 22-inch circumference was too snug for their heads). The brim extends 4 inches on the front half of the hat (the back half has a gator), keeping my face fully shaded and my neck fully covered even on the sunniest days. I have worn my Coolibar sun hat for two years, and it's holding up beautifully.
From there, I add a pair of opera-length gloves. They allow me to skimp on sunscreen for the entire span of my arms, unless I'm wearing a sleeveless shirt, in which case I either rub sunscreen on my upper arms or tack a UPF umbrella onto my getup. Crucially, another thing that sets these gloves apart from winter pairs is their impressive breathability. Everyone asks me, 'Don't you get sweaty in there?' But I don't. The mesh is so breathable that I don't even feel it on my skin.
Also, the touch-screen-compatible pads on the index fingers and thumbs allow me to wear the gloves daily without going batty. Since I am usually lost and swiping around Google Maps on any walk that I take, this is a must-have feature. Another nice detail is the silicon texturing on the palms; this material makes the gloves just a bit grippier, so if you're holding, say, a water bottle, it won't slip through your fingers.
These gloves come in several colors and sizes, too (measured by the circumference of the biceps and the length of the fingers). In hindsight, I wish I'd bothered to measure; I lazily selected the medium-size gloves, but they're just a bit roomy; next time, I'd go with a small pair.
There are many advantages to my sun-protective accessories, including that they're machine-washable. Every couple of weeks (or whenever I remember), I throw the hat and gloves into the washer on the delicate cycle, and then I air-dry them. (I put the gloves in a mesh bag so they don't tangle.)
This getup is also a lot quicker to throw on than your classic rub-in sunscreen. On the few days that I use sunscreen instead of my UPF ensemble, I fume over how long it takes. Pulling on gloves and throwing on a hat takes maybe 15 seconds. But carefully rubbing in sunscreen, making sure it's evenly distributed across your neck and face and on your ears, and then repeating that process every two hours? I've never measured, but I know it's a lot longer than a quarter of a minute.
But even with this getup at my disposal, there will always be some occasions where sunscreen proves necessary — when I'm swimming, for example, or on really windy days (the veil can flap up in strong gusts, making its protection less dependable). And though my various UPF accessories are by no means cheap, the cost-per-wear is ultimately worth it.
If anything, the biggest downside to this getup is the attention it brings.
Even my friends laugh at me or call me a 'whack-ass beekeeper,' and while I have a very high threshold for embarrassment, it can still feel uncomfortable to walk around in public looking different from most people. And though wearing a face covering and gloves against the sun is common practice in many parts of the world, in the US and Canada, where I have worn my getup, people stare. That's usually fine by me, but sometimes I do choose the physical discomfort of sunscreen over the social discomfort of judgmental looks.
More often than not, however, I throw caution to the wind and don my hat and gloves without a second thought. On a recent walk through Vancouver's Stanley Park with my boyfriend, he marveled at the response to my attire. 'People are giving you such nasty looks!' They were. They will again. But I'm holding my ground. No matter what others think, I have the smug satisfaction of taking care of my skin — my body — in my own way. I didn't invent this practice, and I won't be the last to employ it.
So to all of my fellow sunscreen-averse, UPF-hat-wearing friends (past, present, and future), I will say it's an honor to be in your club.
This article was edited by Hannah Rimm and Maxine Builder.
