Is it crazy to wear a hood with a shorty?

[Doc Harry]

A hood will keep you warmer than just a shorty but I wanted to point out that "most heat loss from the head" is a myth Scientists debunk myth that most heat is lost through head | Science | The Guardian .

Perhaps one does not lose "most" of your heat from your head... Change "most" to "significant" and the "myth" becomes "truth."

Add the fact that water conduct heat away from the body more effectively than air, and a scuba hood becomes even that more important in concerving body head.

 

[Kilili]

Wear what you want. Forget about what others might think.

 

[blue steal]

I wear a hood to reduce the amount of water going in and out of my ears. Used for bodysurfing, boogieboarding, surfing cold water, snorkeling, and scuba.
Since wearing one I've reduced the number of ear infections from sea water to practically none.

 

[Akimbo]

A hood will keep you warmer than just a shorty but I wanted to point out that "most heat loss from the head" is a myth Scientists debunk myth that most heat is lost through head | Science | The Guardian .

“Most heat loss from the head” is a myth because it misinterprets the data. As far as I know, the world’s navies are the only ones interested enough to spend serious money on controlled immersion tests.

I saw a Navy study in the 1970s on hypothermia which indicated that ~50% of a diver’s heat loss was through respiration when water temperatures were at 10° C/50° F. The heat loss shifted something like 15% toward respiration on helium mixes below 3% oxygen. This makes sense when you consider that there is about 70 M³/750 Ft³ of surface area in adult lungs. About 50% of the remaining heat loss was through the head when in contact with water at the same temperature.

The verbal explanation we got from Navy hyperbaric docs was it was because of high blood flow near the skin on the skull. I don’t know the methodology used. I understand that there are a lot of newer studies done at EDU (US Navy Experimental Diving Unit) on combat swimmers.

Keep in mind that these conclusions were based on loss of core temperature rather than comfort. The percentages shift wildly with water temperature and suit effectiveness. Muscle mass, work load, age, time, and gender also play huge roles. Hypothermia studies of people in warm water will not provide much guidance here since they were conducted on people in life jackets (head out of water).

Back to the OP’s original question. What do most divers in your area wear? Can you rent a suit until you complete the class and learn what works for you? I would be inclined to wear a thin full suit for protection from abrasion, stings, and sunburn. You can add a hood if required toward the end of a multi-dive day when you are likely to sense the thermal loss. Also, are those small-mouth sea snakes a factor in Kuwait?

 

[KevinG58]

Back to the OP’s original question. What do most divers in your area wear? Can you rent a suit until you complete the class and learn what works for you? I would be inclined to wear a thin full suit for protection from abrasion, stings, and sunburn. You can add a hood if required toward the end of a multi-dive day when you are likely to sense the thermal loss. Also, are those small-mouth sea snakes a factor in Kuwait?

Thin full suit is my preference for the above stated reasons. Except sea snakes, I 've not been in their territories. Yet.
Hood, beanie, or bare-headed? Whatever makes you comfortable and able to focus on your dive. Which is harder to do if you are cold.

 

[RJP]

I wear a drysuit in the tropics... sometimes with a hood.

PS - the head loses a higher proportion of heat than other parts of the body relative to its surface area. This is another the reason that people misstate "most head is lost from the head. The head has much higher blood flow proportionately than other parts of the body, and further that blood flow is NOT curtailed when the head gets cold (like other parts of the body) because the body knows the brain needs blood and keeps sending blood there, even while your extremities go numb due to blood flow there being curtailed.

 

[oldflounder]

I'm thinking I want a 3mm long-sleeve shorty for tropical diving which I'll be doing. But for places where it is just a bit "too cold for that", thought about adding a hood

If it is "too cold for that" you won't be wearing the shorty anyway and you will definately need the hood. My big concern with ocean diving is the scratches [that tend to become little nuisance infections], abrasions and jelly stings. I would say keep as much of the skin covered as possible and use the shorty as an oversuit for added warmth. Even tropical diving eventually gets chilly, esp. on the 2nd and 3rd dives of the day. If you will be diving in the tropics for now, start out your dive wardrobe with one of the lined dive skins such as Lavacore, Aeroskin or the polyolefin suits by Henderson and Pinnacle and accessorize as your diving adventures unfold over the years. These skins have no buoyancy characteristic and have a thermal value of a 2mm suit. I would suggest the pants/shirt combinations for those quick trips to the bathroom or for topside surface intervals. As far as hoods go [and gloves for that matter], you can buy them in any thickness from lycra thin-ness up to 8mm. Think of neck/ear skin protection in the topics more so than warmth. It doesn't take much thickness to keep the warmth in. From my limited personal experience with tropical diving [what is your idea of tropical diving temps?], anything below thermocline starts to get chilly rather quickly and you might want to step up to a 5mm full suit sooner than later for year round diving.

 

[Keith.M]

A dry suit in the tropics?

Can you elaborate? I cannot see any reason for that for myself. Are you extremely thin?

I was so amazed at the water temps on Cozumel I had to take a picture of my computer showing me it was 84 degrees at 90'!

 

[Doc Harry]

A dry suit is a wonderful piece of gear. I don't have a tropical dry suit but I wear my dry suit if the water is 75 degrees F or cooler.

 

[Tom Winters]

Two things here. Drysuit in the tropics. I have one of the old White's Tropical drysuits. It was aimed at the liveaboard market where you're diving 5 times a day. It doesn't have attached boots - just ankle seals. Long ago though, it became my backup drysuit since it was a pain to thread my feet through the latex ankle seals.
My primary drysuit is a self-donner that takes me about a minute to get on. I think it was also aimed at the Search-and-Rescue types who might have to put on a drysuit quickly in a helo or bouncing rescue boat. I just wear shorts and a t-shirt under either suit.
Wearing a hood with a shortie. For years, I did Japanese intro dives in Kaneohe Bay on Oahu. Since I was also a captain, I spent probably more time after a while driving a fast shuttle boat. In the winter, those winds coming off the Pacific get chilly. I would just wear a surf vest over my trunks with a hood to keep my head warm. The guys diving all day were in at least 5 mil suits, and they'd start whining in the early afternoon. I was always fine with that vest and hood though.