SPF clothing required?

I live in SE AZ south of Tucson. I do pretty much the same thing as you; I wear light synthetic pants and a light long-sleeved shirt and a full brimmed hat. I don't pay much attention to the SPF rating of the clothes I wear since I have never had clothes through which I got sunburned and I am fair-skinned. I wear the same clothes when at high altitude in the Sierra and never even tan let alone burn through them. I don't like sun screen either although I will use a little on my nose, chin and lips if I am hiking on snow or on a light-colored surface.

If you can get burned thru 99% of the clothing on the market (SPF rated or not), you have bigger problems, and should probably consult your physician. It's a marketing thing. Unless Victoria's Secret is your outfitter!

Besides, you need the sun to get Vitamin D.

I do agree that too much is made of high SPF clothing. I have burned through shirts in some conditions. Wet tee-shirts, light weight white tee-shirts (not wet), and light weight woven cotton button up shirts (light and dark colors). But this has been pretty rare… and I burn really easily. Most clothing has been just fine.

Most base layers and tee-shirts which have been washed several times in detergent with brighter are UPF 15 or higher. Even my fair skin does ok for multiple hours with UPF 15 clothing.

Most people expect they need super high SPF clothing numbers because they have gotten burned with suntan lotion with high numbers. Suntan lotions' SPF is describing what they initially provide. UV breaks now the protection… in many cases within 2-3 hours. So many people have experienced getting burned with say SPF 50 because they wear getting SPF protection for several hours… but toward the end of the day they might have gotten several additional hours with not protection at all. Clothing doesn't have the problem.

–Mark

Thank you for your comments. Think I am going to try getting a wool base layer at try that on a higher temperature hike or two and see how it does.

The RailRider Eco-Mesh shirt is both cool and has SPF 30. I've had good experience with it in warm weather, but I recommend the light colors…white works best to keep you cooler.

Hey Verber……….is the wet t-shirt deal a spring break story? Will that be on your web site!?!?

> is the wet t-shirt deal a spring break story?

It's a canoeing story. I burned my shoulders on a trip while wearing a tee-shirt I had worn multiple times before without a problem. It was pretty hot so I would slip into the water to cool off for a sec.

Observation isn't on the website because I don't know for certain that there was a connection between wet cotton tee and lower SPF.

–Mark

> The RailRider Eco-Mesh shirt is both cool and has SPF 30

I agree that the eco-mesh is a useful shirt. It’s my go-to shirt when I want both mosquito and sun protection. That said, a bit of side ventilation and some billowing action does come close to being as cool as a feather weight base layer which is significantly more air permeable. As to color… while light colors are better than dark colors for staying cool… a bright white is significantly better still. A while ago Richard posted a color/material -vs- temp in sun observation. My experience is very similar to Richard’s.

Mark, there is a connection between dry and wet cotton shirts. I think a wet tshirt has a UPF of about 3.

http://skincancer.org/sun-protective-clothing.html

thanks john. I updated my clothing page with your link.

–mark

What I've read is that burning indicates damage, but, damage often occurs without visible burns. Damage adds up over a lifetime, increasing cancer risk.

In OZ we have one of the worlds highest rates of skin cancer, some of us older people take sunburn seriously (I did not when I was young and I have to now), last time I went to my skin cancer clinic I had 7 spots removed, it is not difficult to get UPF 50+ clothing here.

I use UPF 40-50+ clothing and SPF 30+ Zinc cream, the sunblock cream has to be applied at least 30 minutes before going out in the sun and replaced evey 2 hours, it has to be applied much thicker than most people expect, in other words plastered on. I wear a hat with at least a 100 mm rim (4 inch), long pants, long sleeve shirt and sun gloves.

Below is a chart of UVR absorbed vs UPF rating

UPF rating % UVR absorbed
10, 10.0

20, 95.0

30, 96.7

40, 97.5

50+, 98

Tony