Use serious roll-on initially to provide protection from the sun (8)
I believe the answer is:
sombrero
'protection from the sun' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'use serious roll-on initially' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'serious' could be 'sombre' (I've seen this before) and 'sombre' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'to provide' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sombrero that I've seen before include "One sported in sun" , "It may be felt" , "Wide-brimmed 23" , "Wide-brimmed hat of Mexico" , "headgear from Mexico" .)