Now that the spring time is swinging into full gear, I'm being reminded of just how sensitive my skin is to things like sunlight. This creates unique challenges to someone who only has a motorcycle to get around on. When I went on that road trip down to Eugene, and back via Yakima, I got a pretty healthy burn through my full face helmet, and it was cloudy the entire time.
So, I've been thinking, what could I use in conjunction with my half shell helmet (the full-face is just too damn much helmet in the heat) to keep the sun of of my skin. They have face masks and the like, but they all leave a tiny triangle exposed on the bridge of the nose. They have neoprene ones with a contoured nose channel (would that be called a "channel"?), but neoprene doesn't breathe well, so I might as well use the full face.
If only I had something custom shaped to my face shape that rode up in the nose to cover up that little patch. Something breathable and light weight. At first I was thinking about getting some small sheets of wire mesh to make a form of my lower face, then sew SPF rated fabric to the inside and outside, making it so I can breathe, but get full coverage from the sun.
Then I realized I have that mask they made for my radiation treatments. They let me take that bad boy home, and it's made of light weight plastic, is custom molded to my face, and has holes all through it (much like a mesh). Many of you have seen this thing, it's kinda creepy looking. I put my riding goggles on it and drew guide lines. then cut out the nose, mouth, and jaw portion. Now I'm in the process of sewing the SPF rated fabric to the inside, then I'm going to cover the outside with a light-weight piece of black fabric. It's turning into a sewing nightmare. It has to be hand stitched. This is incredibly time consuming and is driving me a little mad. I'm attaching a double wound stitch at every mesh hole to maximize the amount of room left in the thing when it's on my face.
I bought a sewing kit at Walgreens, and have already gone through all my white and grey thread. The needle threader, handy as that little thing is, broke after the second use or so. There's only one of them in this kit. So I've been threading all my needles the old fashion way. I'm tempted to go up to Walgreens and buy another sewing kit just for that tool. Except this time I'm going to treat it like it's the priceless tool that it is...
So, I've been thinking, what could I use in conjunction with my half shell helmet (the full-face is just too damn much helmet in the heat) to keep the sun of of my skin. They have face masks and the like, but they all leave a tiny triangle exposed on the bridge of the nose. They have neoprene ones with a contoured nose channel (would that be called a "channel"?), but neoprene doesn't breathe well, so I might as well use the full face.
If only I had something custom shaped to my face shape that rode up in the nose to cover up that little patch. Something breathable and light weight. At first I was thinking about getting some small sheets of wire mesh to make a form of my lower face, then sew SPF rated fabric to the inside and outside, making it so I can breathe, but get full coverage from the sun.
Then I realized I have that mask they made for my radiation treatments. They let me take that bad boy home, and it's made of light weight plastic, is custom molded to my face, and has holes all through it (much like a mesh). Many of you have seen this thing, it's kinda creepy looking. I put my riding goggles on it and drew guide lines. then cut out the nose, mouth, and jaw portion. Now I'm in the process of sewing the SPF rated fabric to the inside, then I'm going to cover the outside with a light-weight piece of black fabric. It's turning into a sewing nightmare. It has to be hand stitched. This is incredibly time consuming and is driving me a little mad. I'm attaching a double wound stitch at every mesh hole to maximize the amount of room left in the thing when it's on my face.
I bought a sewing kit at Walgreens, and have already gone through all my white and grey thread. The needle threader, handy as that little thing is, broke after the second use or so. There's only one of them in this kit. So I've been threading all my needles the old fashion way. I'm tempted to go up to Walgreens and buy another sewing kit just for that tool. Except this time I'm going to treat it like it's the priceless tool that it is...