Gloves, hands and forearms
The backs of the hands face straight up in almost every sport and job, and the palms are gripping something abrasive the whole time. Very few plans account for either.
The backs of the hands face almost straight up in nearly every outdoor sport and job, while the palms grip something abrasive for the whole session. That combination means applied protection fails quickly and cover works well, which is why gloves and sleeves are the practical answer for hands and forearms rather than anything you spread on them.
Hold a handlebar, a racquet, a club, a tool, a pole or a rope. Look at the back of your hand. It is facing the sky. Now consider how many hours a week you spend in that position, and how many of those hours involve gripping something that is quietly abrading whatever is on your skin. That is the hand problem in one paragraph.
It is a surface that combines the worst properties of both failure modes on this site. It has a high angle, like a shoulder or the back of a neck, so the load is large. And it has constant mechanical contact, like a strap line, so nothing applied survives. There are very few surfaces on the body that manage both.
| Surface | Angle to the sun | Exposed for | What removes protection | Control that holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backs of the hands | Facing almost straight up on a bar, a grip, a tool or a pole | 4h+ | Grip, glove movement, washing, materials | Gloves. Nothing applied survives contact with equipment |
| Palms and fingers | Facing down, and gripping | 4h+ | Everything. Chalk, grip tape, soil, tools | Explicit acceptance. The exposure is genuinely small here |
| Wrists | Rotating, and marked by a watch or a glove cuff | 4h+ | Watch strap, glove cuff, sleeve edge | Cover the gap between sleeve and glove, which is where the burn happens |
| Forearms, upper surface | Facing up on the hoods, on poles, on a tool | 4h+ | Sleeve edge, materials, wiping a brow | Sleeves. This is the largest exposed arm surface |
| Forearms, under surface | Lit by reflection off pale ground, snow or water | 4h+ | Little friction | Sleeves again, or a deliberate application on reflective ground |
| The gap at the wrist | The one surface everybody leaves | 4h+ | Both cuffs abrade it from either side | Overlap the sleeve and the glove. This is a free fix |
The gap at the wrist
The most consistent failure in this whole area is not the hand or the forearm, it is the strip between them. A sleeve ends somewhere. A glove cuff ends somewhere. Almost nobody arranges for the two to overlap, so there is a band of skin, usually two to four fingers wide, that is uncovered, abraded from both sides, and never treated because it is under a cuff for part of the session.
It is a free fix. Choose a sleeve long enough or a glove cuff long enough that the two overlap. On a bike, on a hill, on a site, in a garden, this single change removes a surface from the problem list at no cost and with no extra kit.
Why the palms are a legitimate exception
The exposure map method includes explicit acceptance as a valid entry in the control column, and the palms are the clearest example. They face downwards, they are in contact with equipment the entire time, and every abrasive in sport is designed to work on them: chalk, grip tape, bar tape, soil, rope, tools. Anything applied lasts minutes.
The reason acceptance is legitimate here rather than an evasion is that the exposure to the palm is genuinely low. A downward-facing surface receives little except reflected light. So the right response is to stop spending effort on it and move that effort to the backs of the hands, the wrists and the forearms, which receive a great deal and can actually be protected.
Water-focused advice does not have a hand problem, because in the water the hands are doing the same thing as everything else and are treated the same way.
On land the hands are the point of contact with all the equipment, which makes them the highest abrasion surface on the body and the one where the gap between what a product claims and what it delivers in use is widest. It is not a failure of the product. It is what happens to any film under a grip.
Gloves in each discipline
| Activity | Glove status | Exposure argument |
|---|---|---|
| Cycling | Mitts are normal, full finger less so in summer | Full finger removes the backs of the hands from the problem entirely on long rides |
| Gardening and grounds work | Already normal | They are doing protective work as well as keeping soil out. Worth choosing ones that cover the wrist |
| Construction and outdoor work | Required on most sites | Already in place. The gap is at the wrist between glove cuff and sleeve |
| Golf | One glove, on one hand | The ungloved hand is the one that needs attention, and it is the one people forget |
| Climbing | Rarely, and chalk removes everything | Cover the forearm instead. The hands are an accepted loss |
| Running and hill walking | Only for warmth | Poles hold the hands forward and up. On a long summer day the backs of the hands take a lot |
| Racquet sport | One grip hand | The tossing or non-dominant hand is exposed and untouched by any grip |
Forearms, and why sleeves win
The forearm is the largest arm surface presented to the sun in most sports, and it rotates through a wide arc, which means it takes light at every angle over a session. It is also a surface that gets wiped constantly, because a forearm is what most people use to clear a brow.
Applied protection on a forearm is therefore being removed by three things at once: sweat, the sleeve edge, and being used as a towel. A sleeve solves all three, does not degrade, and in most sports is a lighter and cooler option than people expect. It also removes the sharp tan line, if that matters to you.
The backs of the hands accumulate exposure across a lifetime in a way most people do not notice, which is why they are among the sites people are advised to keep an eye on. Anything new, changing or not healing is a question for a GP. Cancer Research UK and the British Association of Dermatologists publish guidance. We do not assess skin.
The short version
- Wear gloves where your sport already permits or requires them, and choose ones that reach the wrist.
- Overlap the sleeve and the glove so there is no bare band between them.
- Wear sleeves for the forearms rather than treating them, on any session over an hour.
- Accept the palms. The exposure is small and nothing survives there anyway.
- If you play a one-glove sport, do the other hand deliberately, because it is the one that gets forgotten.
- On reflective ground, remember the undersides of the forearms, which receive light from below.
Questions
Do the backs of my hands really get that much sun?
In almost every outdoor sport and job they face close to straight up while you grip something, which is one of the highest angles available on the body, and they hold that position for the whole session. It is a surface that accumulates a great deal across a lifetime with very little attention paid to it.
Why does sunscreen not work on hands?
Because the palms and fingers are in constant contact with equipment designed to be gripped, and the backs of the hands get glove movement and repeated washing. Any film applied there has a service life of minutes rather than hours.
Are cycling mitts enough?
They cover the palm, which is the surface that needs it least, and leave the backs of the hands and the fingers exposed. On long summer rides a full-finger glove covers the surface that is actually facing the sun.
What is the gap at the wrist?
The band of skin between where a sleeve ends and where a glove cuff ends. It is uncovered, abraded from both sides and rarely treated. Overlapping the two is free and removes the problem entirely.
Should I bother with anything on my palms?
Not really. They face downwards, so the exposure is genuinely low, and nothing survives contact with a grip anyway. Put the effort into the backs of the hands, the wrists and the forearms, all of which receive far more and can be protected.
This article has no commercial links. Nothing in it is sponsored, no product is named and no payment of any kind was received for anything written here. Water Resistant SPF is published by Northbank Media and recommends no products at all. Our funding is set out in full on the about page.
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