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Lord Mayor happily kept in shade

For hat hair and skin care, Perth's Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi wants to bring back the parasol.

Tired of avoiding a mayoral coiffure mess, Ms Scaffidi has reached back to a practical fashion said to have evolved 4000 years ago in Egypt and China.

"The parasol was always around for good reason and for me, I'm often at outdoor events and I burn easily," she said.

"I'm very conscious of not exposing myself too much to the sun because of my fair skin and I also can't afford to get hat hair."

Ms Scaffidi appeared at a Perth City Link event last week with a flashy white parasol from Perth company Sunbella, which mother and daughter Jillian Intini and Casey Bryden opened last year.

Mrs Bryden said her mother had been anxious to start a parasol business because of problems she helped treat as a nurse.

"My mum has seen lots of skin cancers, particularly on women who don't want to wear hats," she said.

"We also wanted to make something we could use ourselves that looked nice and would do the job and we're blown away by how people have responded."

Mrs Bryden said Italian beer giant Peroni recently signed a deal to buy 250 Sunbella parasols for Victoria's annual Portsea Polo event next month.