Sun and bug protection clothing

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hugz4u
hugz4u Member Posts: 2,781
edited June 2014 in Lymphedema

Time to be thinking about this. I have tried many types of clothing and found Duckskinz to be the most airy and coolest. I am not sure about their shirt material but I love their zip up jackets. Bonus is that it is water resistant so if you are kayaking etc the water rolls off but if you swim in it like me it does get wet. It drys really fast IMO.



I use Columbia bug shirt that has sun protection in it. I don't like the idea that it has bug spray type chemicals in it but what is a girl to do? I often wonder if the chemicals rub up against my LEgear and destroy my precious LE sleeves.



I once visited my recluse aunt on the prairies where she was living alone in a little farm shack. She was a master gardener so she was outside 24/7. To beat the mosquitoes she had newspapers wrapped around her legs secured with elastic bands to keep the mosquitoes from biting. I thought,wow, that's pretty resourceful! Can you just imagine a Mozzie coming at her and getting a bent stinger. DEATH DUE TO NEWSPAPER! HORAY FOR MY AUNT! she is single handed keeping down the mosquitoe population on the prairies. I love it.



What do you do to make it through the summer heat and bug infestations???p>

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  • nibbana
    nibbana Member Posts: 464
    edited April 2013

    I am absolutely against using chemical bug or sun protection, given what I've been through. So, I bought a plain, white, cotton shirt and wear it during summer. Light colored shirts reflect heat away. Think of it, have you seen a Bedouin in shorts and tank top? No, they cover themselves up in long, white robes. 

    I also use long sleeve light weight Columbian shirt for hiking, but have't been in severely bug infested meadows in a while.  There's always bike riding during bug season, problem solved!

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  • Estel
    Estel Member Posts: 3,353
    edited April 2013

    Great thread, hugz, thank you!

    Not much advice here but I got my first mosquito bite on Thursday and was really worried because it was my LE HAND ... had just taken off my glove and boom!  Bit me.  Inside my house!  Yell  It was itching and really red and I was really worried ... and I remembered that I had some tea tree oil.  So I put some on it and within minutes the itching went away and the swelling from the bite went down.

    I know it's suggested to put antiobiotic cream on bites ... but I was really surprised at how good the tea tree oil was at bringing down the swelling.  I'm definitely keeping that in my arsenal this summer.  

    The two things I do and I know it isn't helpful nor what we want to hear:

    1)  When I go outside I spray deet (deep woods off) on my shoes pant legs and jeans to try to keep the critters off of me.  (Ticks are horrible around here).

    2)  I don't go outside much when in the dusk or early morning.  Try to avoid the worst of the bugs.

    Can't wait to hear what others say .... I'm tired of being a hermit in the summer.  Frown

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  • purple32
    purple32 Member Posts: 3,188
    edited April 2013

    Hugz

    Thx for starting this thread -  I've been posing on the EX thread which was not appropriate.  I am the mosquito magnet QUEEN, and would love some tips!

    I am considering  getting an inexpensive screenhouse for the yard this yr.  I have 2 dogs and am not sure how long it would hold up though. I would spray all around it .

    The white clothing makes sense, but I already feel pretty freaky with a sleeve, black glove, hot compression garment and say a pink outfit , then another layer of white ?
    Afraid I may be mistaken for Mickey Mouse >Surprised

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  • hugz4u
    hugz4u Member Posts: 2,781
    edited April 2013

    Bumping this up as I see we have some hot weather chit chats going on.

    Dawne, that is interesting about tea tree oil as it is and anitfungal etc. How is that bite doing after the tea tree? It's been about a week since you had the bite.  I use tea tree on my feet after swimming pools.

    I'm on the hunt for more sunclothing especially since a friend just had a suspicious mole taken off due to sun. Check your moles girls. I use to worship the sun now I am a shade girl with this HOT LE gear.

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  • Estel
    Estel Member Posts: 3,353
    edited April 2013

    hugz - Bite is totally gone.  I've had a good LE week despite getting a little warm on Monday and swelling some that night.  Heat is such a huge flare for me that I try to avoid the sun.  I'm like Casper the ghost.  Undecided

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  • hugz4u
    hugz4u Member Posts: 2,781
    edited April 2013

    Dawne, Great news. Do you think you'll try tea tree next time?.... Opps ...I hope there is no next time.

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  • Kicks
    Kicks Member Posts: 4,131
    edited April 2013

    Original Skin So Soft is the only 'thing' that keeps 'skeeters off me.  I've made wipes out of it since in tthe 1960's.  INow use the Sunscreen with SSS but always have 'wipes' with me 'just in case'.   A very old deterant to ticks was to dust your ankles/socks/lower pants legs with Flowers Of Sulphur - I've never had any tick on me and have used it.

    I've never had/hear of clothes impregnanted with bug repellant or sunscren.  All those chemicals would worry me.

    I will be so HAPPY when it finally gets warm so I can get outside and get my Vit D naturally not form pill (S.A.D. is a BIG problem for me!).  Summer is so much easier as the more active I am the better for my LE - and my mental health.

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited April 2013

    There's also an article by Dr. Marisa Weiss in the Lower Your Risk section of the main Breastcancer.org site called Have Fun in the Sun, But Protect Your Skin with some helpful information and advice.

    • The Mods

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  • purple32
    purple32 Member Posts: 3,188
    edited April 2013

    Many thanks for that link, mods and just to  encourage the ladies to visit it , I will post what I found to be  a very interesting excerpt here :
    "Some of the ingredients in certain sunscreens are considered hormone disruptors. Hormone disruptors can affect how estrogen and other hormones act in our bodies, by blocking them, mimicking them, or messing with the balance of normal hormones."

    Now to figure out which sunscreens are physical/mineral!

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  • carol57
    carol57 Member Posts: 3,567
    edited April 2013

    Our house sits 100% in the woods, and we are also on a lake, so insects are our constant companions.  Sun, a bit less, because of all the deep tree cover, but we definitely have to worry about sun when in our kayaks on the water.  I wear a big white shirt I bought at Bass Pro Shops, their house brand of sunproof and breathable clothing. It's long sleeve and fortunately so light that it's really not a bother to wear in the heat, and if it gets wet, it dries in a flash.  I have a few of them and I wear them when river paddling for days at a time.

    For ticks, when I'm working outdoors in the gardens I always wear heavy jeans and tuck them into my socks, so there's no opening to my skin at the ankles.  And I have the longsleeve sun shirt on, which does not have bug repellent in it, but it's a physical barrier.  

    When the skeeters are out in force (early morning and at dusk), I do use insect repellent, but I try to spray just on clothing, not directly on skin, and I wear a goofy mesh insect jacket that has a hood and mittens; the hood covers my entire head including face.  You have to wear a hat under it so the mesh does not cling to the face, but it works very well to keep the critters at bay.

    Great thread, Hugz. These are hard problems to solve, so hopefully some good ideas will be shared here!

    Carol

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  • hugz4u
    hugz4u Member Posts: 2,781
    edited June 2013

    Anyone found some interesting sunprotective clothing on the net that isn't expensive or geeky?

    I heard silk is sun protective and cool too. Do you know what kind of silk cloths to buy or where to get them?

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