Is it me or are we having a damn good summer in the UK? I don’t think I remember a UK summer being this good since the 90’s so it is a bit exciting to see the sun for nearly a month now. There was a little rain inbetween but hey it needs to cool down somehow especially with everyone moaning saying it is too hot. I think someone up there heard ya and gave us rain. With the sun beaming and everyone wearing their sunnies my interest has turned to sunglasses and just how protective they are for our eyes. Do Primark sunglasses mean they are less protective than a designer brand? Here is some research I have done…
From what I can gather it is extremely important to protect our eyes in the sun because our eyes can easily be damaged by the sun’s harmful UV rays just like our skin. However, people do tend to forget to mention the UVB rays which are the most harmful to our eyes and they can cause things such as cataracts over time. So how could you ensure you are buying the correct sunglasses to protect your eyes? By the way it is not all about how dark the lenses are or how expensive they are- you will be amazed!
So the photo above is of my very own sunnies so which one is better at protecting my eyes? It turns out there is not much in it! However one only cost me £15 and the other cost me £100. Ouch! I am not going to go too geeky about this and bore you but basically next time you are looking to buy a pair of sunglasses 1) Look out for the CE mark (a European standard mark) 2) Find a sticker that says UV400, they are even better because they will offer you more protection than just the standard ones 3) Check the design- do they wrap around your face because light can still travel to your eyes from all sorts of angles. With sunglasses sometimes it is all about bigger the better for an even coverage around the eye area, which is what I have learnt in my research.
By the way dark tinted lenses are just there to confuse you, they don’t offer you anymore protection against the rays BUT because they are darker they do open up your pupils to let more light in which could actually be more damaging! Bet you didn’t know that! My advice would be if you are on a budget then a cheap pair of sunglasses could protect your eyes just as well as the expensive ones or, like me (who tends to take the cheaper sunglasses on holiday because I will probably end up losing them) then yeah, cheaper is more suitable. However, my £100 sunglasses (at the top in the photo) I do love them so much! They just fit and feel so much nicer than a cheap pair and I am very precious of them so I would say splash out on a good staple pair because trust me, it is worth spending the money. That’s a good tip because my dad (who just kept splashing out on Ray-ban’s) kept losing them, however my mum has now banned him from taking his Ray-ban’s out unless she is with him under strict supervision and somehow I agree with my mum, sorry dad!