Make the Ultimate Sun Hat: Photo How-To

By Jeff Cooper, About.com Guide

If you're not entirely comfortable with the idea of trusting the health of the skin on your face and neck to sunscreen, a sun-blocking hat might be an alternative. Protecting your head and neck from the sun isn't easy, though, because even at mid-day, when they're most effective, broad-brimmed or big-billed hats don't stop the sun's rays from bouncing off your shoulder into the sides of your face and neck, and when the sun isn't directly overhead, its rays can angle under a hat and hit your neck directly.

You can buy baseball-style caps that come with a curtain of sun-blocking fabric, but because the curtain isn't held away from the head and neck by a broad brim that extends all the way around, the curtain tends to cling to the neck, and in hot weather, it can be quite uncomfortable. It's also hard to rotate the cap and curtain comfortably to adjust to different sun angles.

Pictured here is a broad-brimmed hat with a homemade curtain of SPF-30 fabric that attaches with three snaps. It greatly increases protection for your head and neck, and you'll hardly notice the curtain--unless it's quite windy out. On the following pages are instructions for making this ultimate sun hat.

Previous

• Why Make an Ultimate Sun Hat?
• The Broad-Brimmed Hat
• The Sun-Blocking Curtain
• The Snap-Attaching Tool
• Close-up of Attached Snap Socket
• Close-up of Attached Snap Stud

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