For a couple years, I’ve shaved my head with unguarded clippers and as such have hair length between almost nonexistent and up to a centimeter (I only shave it once a month or so.) Up until last month I didn’t use any sun protection on it since I hadn’t felt any sunburns!
But just to be on the safe side I’ve started spraying spray-on sunblock onto my head. (Because rubbing sunblock onto head hair is grody beyond words. And a hat increases my perceived temperature several degrees.)
I’m wondering if spray-on sunblock actually makes a difference when the hair is near the end of its cycle (around 1 cm and fairly thick except in the places where it’s nonexistent )
Followup question: at what length of hair do you not have to worry about sun protection for the skin under your hair?
There are hats of very thin plastic that sit lightly on your head with a wide brim that you hardly feel.
It’s not the length itself, but also the thickness - my friend has hair down to his ears, but it’s very thin and easily mussed, so parts of his head get sunburned in summer without a hat.
Yes. There are plenty of hats that are cool in the summer. Don’t use a baseball cap, but rather something that doesn’t fit tightly on the scalp. Something with a crownand with a brim that also keeps the sun off your ears.
They have the added advantage of making you look good.
I went straight to a supposedly cool hat with brim but it still made me too hot. On the other hand, lately I’ve been wondering if there are hats with built-in slots that you can stick icepacks in that cool your pate under the fabric. Now I’ve never tried that and it could give you a brain-freeze, but I’d try a pre-made one before I tried to jury-rig one.
When you can’t see your scalp anymore. I cut my hair (well, I get it cut) with a number 1 guard on top and no guard on the sides. If I’m going to be out in the sun all day I usually put sunblock on my hands like lotion and the rub it on my head. This seems to put a light enough layer on to not be gross but enough that I don’t get burned. I’ve been sunburned on my scalp and it sucks.
Is that hard to do? I’ve been tempted for a long time to try it, but I’m terrified that I’m going to miss a spot and look like a dork. Right now I just go get a ‘000’ all around every other month or so. I figure I could just use one of these bad boys and it would pay for itself in less than a year, and I could avoid looking like a clown when my hair gets to the two-month mark. Most people don’t realize that when hair is cut such that every hair is exactly the same length, it looks really stupid a couple of months later, especially if you’re bald on top. Also, and this more directly addresses the OP, it would enable me to apply sunblock better. I’m not giving up hiking/backpacking until I’m too old to carry a pack, and hopefully that won’t be for some time to come. But I’m not going out there without sunblock, either. I’ve already got one tiny black spot on my dome, and I don’t need any more. But having hair got in the way of applying sunblock, for reasons already eloquently stated—‘grody’ is a particularly appropriate aphorism. So it was either no hair or no hiking. Au revoir, hair—it was nice knowing you. Turned out to have the added benefit that the female of the species loves it. Girls young enough to be my daughters want to pat my head. So what do I have to do to ensure that I’m doing it right? I’m such a sloth that I can barely even competently shave my face—progressing to the polar regions seems a formidably daunting task.
You’ll notice in my earlier post I get my hair cut to a #1 on top and no guard on the sides (and then they do something so there isn’t a line). The reason I don’t do it myself all at one length is because of what you just said. You can usually tell when people cut their own hair because their head looks like a basketball when their hair starts to grow out. I have no problem just going to a Fantastic Sams/Super Cuts type place every 6 or 8 weeks and paying them $12-$15 to let them do it for me, and do it right. Even if I wanted to take it all down to no guard, it would mean having to do it probably every week or two to avoid the basketball/‘I cut my own hair’ look.
I’ve adopted a rather beaten-up straw hat as my summer headwear. Sadly it’s not (solely) due to short cuts though - my hair’s just thinned to the point that it’s not blocking enough sun in places. As a bonus you get a bit of protection for your face, ears and neck at the same time.
Washoe! I take issue with your statement that hair that is cut all at the same length and then allowed to grow out looks stupid. With the small exception of doing a tiny trim on the hair in the very back of the head, along the neck, this is exactly what I do each year. I start out in February or so with a very short buzzed evenly all the way around, and by September I’m rocking a full head of shaggy hair, with nice bangs and hair that comes down over my ears, and it looks fine!
I have to run to class right now, but I’ll be back in a few hours. It’s particularly noticeable when you’re bald/thin on top. It may not be as much of an issue if you have a full head—do you?
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