Umbrella Color Matters

There's an irony in my life that I am trying to reconcile.

I love going to the beach.

I love running outdoors.

I love picnics.

But I hate the sun.

I grew up with a lot of freckles on my face. While some find them cute and like having them, I don't. I spent years finding the best sunblock and doing research on the best way to completely eradicate them.

With that, I also own a handful of umbrellas that I always use whenever I need to go out of the office during lunch time. I am currently using my white Smiggle umbrella like the one below. 

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Summer is here and I recently noticed that I had to squint my eyes even under the shade of the umbrella. That never happened with my old navy blue one.  This got me to do a little research. Do the colors of our umbrella matter as far as sun protection goes?

Here is what Prevention.com has to say following a study done by the Emory University School of Medicine.

Researchers evaluated the abilities of 23 different umbrellas at blocking UV radiation, and found that all of the umbrellas blocked at least 77% of damaging rays. 

Another thing: When you do bust out the umbrella on the next nice day, you might want to opt for a black one. While all the umbrellas in the study offered protection, black models fared the best, intercepting at least 90% of the sun’s rays. “If you wear a dark-colored shirt, for instance, you get hotter because the color absorbs more UV rays,” say Dr. McMichael and Dr. Chen. “Black umbrellas, too, absorb more of the sun’s energy, so less of it is able to seep through the fabric to your skin.”

This makes sense. Looks like I am going to save this Smiggle umbrella for the rainy days bring out the darker ones for summer. You should too!

Have a great summer, everyone!