Here I get serious about the sun: hat, huge scarf and zinc oxide

Who needs a hat? Or so I thought on a recent trip to the Galapagos. After all, I’d packed sunscreen.

But as any sensible traveler knows, when the sun beats down in equatorial climes, you will really kick yourself if you didn’t pack a hat. And if you’re fair and prone to skin cancer like me, you’ll be kicking yourself pretty darn hard.

Anyway, as summer rolled around I vowed to become one of those people who remembers to grab her straw hat before going out in the sun. So I ventured over to Hawthorne Street, a big shopping street where I live in Portland, Oregon. After trying to cheap out in a couple of second-hand stores, I entered The Classic Collection, our neighborhood hat specialist. They had an astounding collection of hats. After much trying on and setting hats at jaunty angles, I chose one by Jeanne Simmons. (No, KISS fans, that’s Gene Simmons)

While Jeanne Simmons makes various types of hats, she has a packable and crushable line that’s perfect for travel. And the brim adjusts so you can turn one side up and the other down, or however you want to arrange it. My hat has an extremely tight weave and is rated 50+ for sun protection. The tag claims it blocks both UVA and UVB rays. Take that, sun! While it’s a neutral color, it is thoroughly shot through with glitter. Skin cancer avoidance has never looked so glamorous!

My hat is holding up great after two months of use. It’s traveled on an airplane and looks no worse for being smashed into a suitcase. But sometimes I wish my hat had a strap. Stupid as chin straps can look, on a windy day a strap prevents you from having to keep one hand on your head. But I consider this hat a good investment at $32.