# Sun protection: should we all look like Afghans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sun-protection-should-we-all-look-like-afghans/652772 "2013-03-13T00:00:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sun-protection-should-we-all-look-like-afghans/652772/1 "2013-03-13T00:00:44Z")
Sorry for the poor title. What I mean is, is there sound health/medical basis for the way people in the middle east, and other hot and dry areas, groom themselves? 1. Is is advisable for men to grow full beards and long hair? 2. Are women better off covering their faces and pretty much every other part of their bodies? Two things come to mind. First, that Time Magazine report of US soldiers growing full beards in Afghanistan. One reason given was they blended better with the general populace. But others said a clean-shaven face literally fries in the Afghan sun. Another was a Yahoo news that said women simply cannot expose their faces, especially their lips in hot weather because some can suffer real burns. Dope please… ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sun-protection-should-we-all-look-like-afghans/652772/2 "2013-03-13T02:59:51Z")
Note: I have never been to Afghanistan. Is it really that extreme there? The average July in Kabul is a relatively pleasant 58-90 F. Meanwhile Riyadh is 84-110 F. Afghanistan doesn’t really look like how you’d imagine a desert. If a clean shaven face “literally” fries, then it’s a wonder Afghan kids don’t all die of skin cancer by 18. Lips can be victim to wind as well as sun, though. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sun-protection-should-we-all-look-like-afghans/652772/3 "2013-03-13T03:10:25Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > 1. Are women better off covering their faces and pretty much every other part of their bodies? The covering of women is not because of the sun, but from the Ancient Near East patriarchal sensibility that women are the property of men and that men don’t want their women looked at by other men. And such ‘sensibility’ continues to this day in many a modern Western marriage ceremony where the bride wears a ‘blusher veil’ to cover her face as her father (her previous owner) hands her off (literally) to her husband (her new owner) at which time the veil is lifted so he can see her. Unless one thinks that the sun is particularly bright and harsh inside a church… ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sun-protection-should-we-all-look-like-afghans/652772/4 "2013-03-13T17:34:40Z")
I’ve read somewhere (sorry, no cite) that the extreme covering can lead to vitamin D deficiency. Of course, this can be remedied by taking supplements. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sun-protection-should-we-all-look-like-afghans/652772/5 "2013-03-13T17:37:37Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > The covering of women is not because of the sun, but from the Ancient Near East patriarchal sensibility that women are the property of men and that men don’t want their women looked at by other men. Actually, no; the fashion of both sexes going covered head to toe is because it just happens to be what’s most comfortable in the places where it developed. Has it been taken over by the kind of people who think that if they have dirty thoughts it’s everybody else’s faults? Yeah, but seriously, it started because in the area where it did, it’s comfy. And I’m from a Western country where “blusher veils” have never been in fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sun-protection-should-we-all-look-like-afghans/652772/6 "2013-03-13T18:48:09Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Note: I have never been to Afghanistan. > > Is it really that extreme there? The average July in Kabul is a relatively pleasant 58-90 F. Meanwhile Riyadh is 84-110 F. Afghanistan doesn’t really look like how you’d imagine a desert. If a clean shaven face “literally” fries, then it’s a wonder Afghan kids don’t all die of skin cancer by 18. > > Lips can be victim to wind as well as sun, though. Kabul is sometimes jokingly referred to as the ‘San Diego of Afghanistan’ for its relatively mild weather. It certainly does get into the 100s and stay there for months at a time in southern Afghanistan. That being said, most troops don’t grow full beards (particularly the female ones!) or wear full facial coverings and end up being fine. The local dress is definitely cooler to wear than western military uniforms, but I really don’t give much credence to the idea that beards will protect the wearer from the ravages of the sun. Far too much of the face is still exposed even with a full beard. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sun-protection-should-we-all-look-like-afghans/652772/7 "2013-03-13T21:09:35Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Actually, no; the fashion of both sexes going covered head to toe… Talking about covering the face. Which cultures used to or still have the men regularly covering the face in and outdoors? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sun-protection-should-we-all-look-like-afghans/652772/8 "2013-03-13T21:26:53Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > Talking about covering the face. Which cultures used to or still have the men regularly covering the face in and outdoors? The Tuareg people. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sun-protection-should-we-all-look-like-afghans/652772/9 "2013-03-13T21:44:15Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > The Tuareg people. They’re not exactly Ancient Near East. And they got that sand storm thing to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sun-protection-should-we-all-look-like-afghans/652772/10 "2013-03-13T21:49:31Z")
I was actually going to say that if anything, extreme covering would be more beneficial against wind and sand rather than against the sun. Would we have lower rates of skin cancer if we all covered up head to toe? Sure, but we would also have lower rates of skin cancer if we all converted to nocturnal and didn’t go outside during the day at all. We’d also have lower rates of skin cancer if we all wore chemical protectants on our skins that kept the damaging portions of the light from impacting our bodies as effectively. Out of those three options, it seems like one of them is a bit less of a general hindrance than the others. Perhaps that’s why it’s the one that’s tended to catch on in societies that don’t have hangups about where other people’s eyes can go on your body.