Guide
How to protect your scalp from the sun
The simplest way to protect your scalp from the sun is to wear a hat or a scarf, because hair shades your scalp only in part. Let your scalp get used to the sun slowly, and never let it burn. Sunscreen is another option.
This page is for anyone with short or thinning hair, and for anyone who has just had a men’s haircut.
How much sun hair blocks
A full head of hair shades the scalp only in part: in full sun, hair on a mannequin head gave the scalp a protection factor of about 5 to 17. The higher the number, the less sun gets through.
Hat or scarf first
The top of a hat shades your scalp, so a hat with a small brim covers it too. A wide brim also shades your face, ears and neck. If you have thinning hair or none, we’d choose a wide-brimmed hat over sunscreen for your head.
Choose a close weave
Sun gets through the gaps between the threads of a hat or scarf, so the looser the weave, the more reaches your scalp. We’d choose a close weave, with the threads packed tight.
Get used to the sun slowly, and never let it burn
A sunburn can damage the skin for longer than the redness lasts, and it raises the risk of skin cancer. Take extra care when strong sun is new to you, for example on holiday, and while you live in a hot country. After a new short cut, we’d keep your scalp under a hat or scarf in strong sun at first, then add time in the sun bit by bit.
When the sun is strongest here
UV, the part of sunlight that burns skin, peaks in Chiang Mai around May and stays close to that level through August, into the rains. Strong sun comes more often in the afternoon than in the morning, because mornings are often misty. UV can be high under cloud too, and some still reaches you in the shade, for example under a parasol by the pool. So we’d wear a hat on cloudy days and in the shade as well.
Where sunscreen fits
Shade and clothes come first. Sunscreen is for the skin a hat or scarf cannot cover, and for times you cannot wear one.
Where to start
If your scalp shows through your hair, start with a hat or scarf, and if your cut is new, add sun bit by bit. If you are mostly out in the afternoon, that is when to keep the hat on.
If you’d like to come in, you can book here.