hats are healthy

American history buffs know the sad but true story of William Henry Harrison’s brief tenure as president. Mr. Harrison chose not to wear a hat at his inauguration; he contracted pneumonia and died within a month. Twenty years or so ago, sometime during the Reagan administration, I created a hang tag for our stores that read “Hats Are Healthy.” By this I was not referring to the cold but to the harmful effects of the sun. I cited two agencies (see the tag on the Great Hats For the Great Outdoors page on our site). I was ambivalent about these labels because, on the one hand, I wanted to draw people’s attention to the need to put on sunscreen and wear hats (and other protective clothing), but on the other hand, I felt guilty profiting from fear. Also, our hat business had been successful because our stores were fun, and while the “hats are healthy” message was valid, I didn’t want to overemphasize it. (The atmosphere of a serious clinic was an untested model for a successful millinery.) In any case, I thought that before long most people would get the message anyway and wearing hats, along with sunscreen, and thus calling attention to hats as protective clothing would soon be as unnecessary as calling the public eye. attention to the merits of sun protection.

Two decades have passed since that hang tag. I go back and forth in life as we know it and the fact is most people still aren’t getting the message, they don’t wear hats. And I live in San Diego, where there is a lot of sun. Here are the current facts: The National Cancer Institute estimates that in 2007 there will be more than 1,000,000 new cases of skin cancer (non-melanoma) in the United States and fewer than 2,000 deaths. The NCI also estimates 59,940 new cases of melanoma (a form of skin cancer that begins in melanocytes, the cells that make the pigment melanin) in 2007. Of those, the NCI estimates 8,110 deaths. When asked about the effectiveness of sunscreens in preventing cancer, Dr. Kenneth Kraemer, a dermatologist who researches skin cancer for the NCI Center for Cancer Research, responded: “Sunscreen is more than sunscreens. Sun protection includes avoiding the sun, wearing protective clothing, getting shade under a tree if you get out, and wearing hats.”

As we enter the spring of 2007, I have decided that it may be important to raise the alarm.