The fully-transparent visors in space helmets are made from optical Lexan, a very tough polycarbonate material that is essentially opaque to ultraviolet. The gold visor doesn't significantly reduce the amount of ultraviolet that strikes the astronaut's face. The gold visor is meant to attenuate light in the visible wavelengths, the same way dark sunglasses do.
The sun glinting off the surface was probably very bright, but not in a way that would immediately blind you. I used to think Arabs wore sunglasses mostly to look cool until I started spending significant time in the world's deserts, whereupon I learned that you can get along without sunglasses, but you don't want to.
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