Are Hats Here To Stay?
The hat has once again emerged on the fashion scene and the
reason may be due to the dramatic increase in the skin cancer
known as melanoma, the deadliest of the known types of skin
cancer.
Prior to 1950, melanoma was rarely diagnosed. In recent years,
this disease has had a dramatic increase in the under 40 age
group. It appears that the years of enjoying the sun, during the
warmer months, without wearing a hat has taken its toll on our
health and we've finally realized the functional purpose of the
hat.
Scientist had predicted for many years, that the effect of
increasing uv rays reaching the earth, due to the hole in the
ozone layer, would have a wide scale effect upon the human
immune system and a devastating effect on the skin. Clinical
studies have shown that overexposure to the sun may take years
to showup with the effects being in the form of premature aging,
age or liver spots and/or skin cancer.
Wearing a hat, that provides shade for your face, neck and
ears, can play a major part in the prevention of the effects of
the sun upon the skin. The American cancer Society and the Skin
Cancer Institute suggest that a hat brim of 2 to 4 inches will
provide adequate shade from the sun - but a wider brim may prove
to be better protection for those who have all ready experienced
some form of skin cancer. For a hat to provide maximum
protection from the sun, it should be one of a tightly woven
material, which is usually straw or cloth.
Hats made specifically for sun protection -- such as the
legionnaires hat, the safari hat, the outback hat -- have been
around for years and were created to protect the head and facial
area from the sun. Most of us associated these hats with
specific occupations and geographical locations with hotter
climates. Now we know that geography no longer plays a part in
whether we actively practice adequate sun protection. The
excuses, we used in the past, to justify not wearing a hat are
no longer valid. As we continue to erode the ozone layer with
hydrocarbons and fossil fuel emissions, uv rays will continue to
increase and we will see an even greater rise in the number of
people with skin cancer. It no longer matters whether hats are
in style or not. Wearing a hat has now become an investment in
our future well-being.