It kept you dry in December — now it might be the secret to surviving July.
As temperatures soar, a growing number of Americans are getting hip to what much of the world already knows: Umbrellas aren’t just for rain.
“I don’t care how cute my hat is, I don’t care if I have a fan, it’s not going to work,” Amber Ferguson (@girlwithdrive) said in a recent TikTok. “The only thing that’s going to keep me from literally melting out here is my umbrella.”
Turns out, that’s exactly why they were invented more than 4,000 years ago. In fact, umbrellas were the primary method Americans used to shield themselves from the sun until the 20th century, when sunscreen, hats and other protective gear took over, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
