Sun Protection 101: How Cooling Towels and Hats Protect You
There is a lot of conversation about safety tips for cold water fishing and the best gear to stay dry on the water, but having the right gear to keep you cool in the summer is just as important. When you are fishing, hunting, or active outdoors, the sun and heat can quickly sneak up on you and become dangerous if you aren’t prepared.
Sunscreen and drinking plenty of water are crucial for skin protection and avoiding dehydration, but it’s also important to keep your body temperature regulated to avoid overheating. Cooling products like towels, hats, and neck gaiters made with the right kind of fabric technology do exactly that, keeping you cool by blocking UV radiation before it reaches your skin and actively pulling heat away from your body through evaporation.
In this article, the experts at Frogg Toggs explain how outdoor cooling products work to protect you from the dangers of summer heat and offer suggestions for features to look for when buying.
How Cooling Products Protect From Sun and Heat
Cooling products, sometimes called cool clothing or temperature-regulating apparel, are articles of clothing, towels, and other cooling accessories designed to regulate body temperature by blocking UV radiation before it reaches your skin while simultaneously helping your body shed heat faster than natural conditions allow.
Unlike standard materials, such as cotton and polyester, the materials and technologies in properly constructed cooling gear release heat, promote evaporation, and improve overall airflow. When used properly, cooling apparel can not only keep you comfortable and reduce fatigue, but also help protect you from heat stress during outdoor activities.
Evaporative Cooling Features Lower Body Temperature
Your body naturally works to regulate its core temperature, but if outdoor conditions push against that, it's easy for body temperature to accelerate quickly. Not only will overheating make you uncomfortable, fatigued, and less focused, in serious cases, it can lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
Gear with evaporative cooling features can help keep your core temperature in a safe zone by working the same way sweating does. As water evaporates from a surface, it draws heat energy away with it. Hyper-evaporative materials are engineered to do this more efficiently than your skin can manage on its own.
To ensure the cooling gear you buy actually works, make sure it’s engineered with lightweight hyper-evaporative cooling material that wicks away moisture, provides hours of cooling relief before needing to be recharged, and holds up through repeated washing and reuse. For cooling hats, construction to ensure airflow and features that ensure a proper fit, like an adjustable elastic chin strap and crown, are also important.
Frogg Toggs has a full line of cooling products with a range of these features. The Chilly Pad Cooling Towel and Chilly Pro Cooling Boonie Hat are both best sellers that check these important boxes.
Our reusable Chilly Pad Cooling Towel is constructed from durable, exclusive hyper-evaporative PVA material, which retains water while remaining dry to the touch. Simply wet it, wring it out, and it delivers hours of cooling relief.
The Chilly Pro Cooling Boonie Hat brings the same activated cooling technology to your head and neck. The built-in airflow design offers proper ventilation, and our Chilly Pro cooling fabric and CryoChannel headband offer instant and long-lasting cooling.
Cooling Gear Helps Prevent Heat Exhaustion on the Water
Heat exhaustion is a risk for anyone spending extended time outdoors in high heat, but anglers and hunters face a unique set of conditions that can make it even more likely. On the water, you are contending with direct overhead sun and UV radiation reflected off the water. Add physical exertion into the mix, and your body temperature can climb faster than you realize.
Wearing cooling headwear and keeping a cooling towel accessible gives your body hours of steady support against the heat load. While cooling gear does not replace water intake or taking breaks in the shade, it can slow the rate at which your body temperature climbs, giving you more time on the water before the heat becomes a problem.
Even then, if temperatures are scorching and humidity is high, it’s still possible to overheat. Recognizing the early signs of heat exhaustion is important. Heavy sweating, weakness, cool or pale skin, a fast or weak pulse, nausea, and muscle cramps are all warning signs that your body is struggling to regulate temperature. If any of these occur, get out of the sun, hydrate, and use cooling gear to help lower your body temperature.
UV Protection Factors (UPF) in Fabric Provide Defense From Harmful UV Rays
Summer fishing trips often extend into hours when UV exposure is at its peak. Beyond applying sunscreen to exposed skin, it’s also important to protect the rest of your body under clothing from harmful UV rays. Unless you plan to take off all your gear and reapply sunscreen every couple of hours or every time you get wet, the best way to do that is with cooling gear crafted with UPF.
UPF stands for Ultraviolet Protection Factor. It is the standard used to measure how much UV radiation a fabric blocks before it reaches your skin. A standard ball cap or cotton t-shirt offers very little protection. Most untreated cotton fabrics test between UPF 5 and UPF 8, meaning the majority of UV radiation still passes through to your skin.
Well-constructed cooling gear is built to a much higher standard. For example, the Chilly Pro Cooling Boonie Hat is made from UPF 50 material, blocking 98% of the sun’s harmful rays, while also offering instant, long-lasting cooling power and 3X water absorption.
Neck Protection for Total Sun Coverage
The neck is an extremely heat-sensitive area of the body. The major blood vessels in your neck sit close to the surface, so cooling that area affects how your whole body handles the heat. On a long, sunny day on the water, neck skin left unprotected absorbs hours of direct UV radiation before you notice it.
Cooling caps work well to protect your head and face, but for full sun coverage and optimal heat protection, you’ll want to wear either a cooling hoodie or a neck gaiter, paired with a cooling hat that has a wide, full-circumference brim that covers your neck, ears, and face in one piece. You could also place a cooling towel or wrap a cooling bandana across the back of your neck for an added layer of both UV protection and evaporative cooling.
How Long Do Cooling Towels and Hats Stay Cool?
How long it takes before the cooling gear needs to be recharged depends on its material and construction. Some cooling towels and hats only stay cold for an hour or two, while those made with premium ultra-absorbent evaporative technology can retain moisture and keep you cool for 5 hours or more. Both the Frogg Toggs Chilly Pad and Chilly Pro Cooling Boonie Hat are designed to last hours before recharging and are durable enough to hold up for years of use.
Environmental conditions also play a role in how long a cooling product lasts before its cooling fades. Evaporation is most effective in a dry-heat climate, which means the cooling effect will be strongest, but your gear will dry out faster and need to be rewet more frequently. In humid climates, evaporation slows, so while cool gear may stay damp longer, the cooling effect may not feel as intense.
Recharging Your Cooling Gear: Just Add Water
Unlike other cooling products that require ice or refrigeration, all you need for cooling gear to become cold again…is water. The process is easy: wet the product, wring out excess water, and give it a few sharp snaps in the air. That last step may seem silly, but it's what introduces airflow to circulate oxygen throughout the fibers and kick off the regulated evaporation that makes the product feel cold.
You don’t need to wait until the cooling is totally gone to reactivate. Most quality cooling gear is designed to be recharged repeatedly throughout the day. Making it a habit to recharge before it fully dries out will help keep your body temperature more consistently regulated throughout a long day outdoors.
Frogg Toggs: The Best Cooling Products on the Market
Since 1996, FroggToggs has been designing and engineering quality yet affordable rainwear, waders, and footwear built to keep hunters, anglers, and anyone who spends time outdoors comfortable and dry. Our cooling products are no different. From cooling towels and hats of various styles to hoodies, bandanas, and neck gaiters, we have a wide selection of cooling gear to keep you cool during hot-weather outdoor activity.
Does Frog Toggs really make the best cooling products on the market? We may be a bit biased, but we know we make the best outerwear on the planet. For decades, we’ve developed many firsts in technology and innovation in the outdoor clothing market while keeping prices affordable. Luckily, our customers agree! We have many 5-star reviews from anglers, hunters, women who enjoy gardening, and people who work outdoors in the heat.
“This is the best purchase I've ever made! I have heard about "cooling towels", but had never used one. I bought one last week and it arrived today, when it was 106 degrees outside! I wet the towel and went to a baseball game, and I was so much cooler, thanks to the Frogg Togg Chilly Pad! Now, I need to get five more for the rest of my family!”
“Great addition to my summer fishing arsenal! Inexpensive, durable, packable, and it just works! I'd highly recommend for boaters, fishermen, outdoor sports, gardening.etc.”
Whether you’re an active angler, like to go hog hunting, spend summer days in your garden, play outdoor sports, or work in a field that requires you to be outdoors under the scorching sun, Frogg Toggs has a cooling product that will keep you comfortable and safe. Click here to browse our full cooling collection, and, as always, if you have any questions about our fabric technology or any of our products, don’t hesitate to reach out.