Both are fine in one photo and costly across a set. The reason is simple: people are trying to read your face, and eyes carry most of what they're reading.
Sunglasses
Sunglasses remove the eyes, which is where warmth, humour and genuineness are read. A smile without visible eyes is exactly the smile people describe as fake. Worse, a profile where every photo has sunglasses raises the obvious suspicion — that you're hiding what you look like.
One sunglasses photo, in a context that explains them — a beach, a hike, driving somewhere with the top down — is fine and can look good. Never the opener.
Hats
Hats cost less than sunglasses, because they don't cover the eyes — but a brim shadows them, which does much the same damage in bright light. Caps also invite the assumption that you're covering hair loss, fairly or not. If that isn't the story you want, one hat photo out of six settles it.
The standard
At least three photos in your set must show your unobstructed face in good light, including the first. Everything else is optional.
The same logic elsewhere
- Masks and face paint. Fun, and unusable as anything but a later photo.
- Heavy filters. Same effect as a covering — people can't see your face, and they know it.
- Extreme distance. A photo where you're a speck against a mountain is a landscape, not a portrait.
- Hair over the face. Easy to miss when you take it, obvious to everyone else.
Everyday prescription glasses are a separate decision: keep the look someone will recognise, then check your eyes are visible using the dating photos with glasses guide. See dating photos to avoid for other problems to check.
