Cotton shirt in summer

I think cotton and silk are the king and queen of fabrics for hot dry weather. The fact that they absorb a lot of moisture and are slow to dry is an advantage in those conditions.

I don't see a problem. We used to wear cotton t-shirts in the heat of summer. We'd thoroughly wet the shirts and they'd keep us cool all day. We made sure to have a dry synthetic shirt in reserve, though.

I would do this again, but just haven't been out in such hot weather in a while.

I perhaps recall some chafe, but in those days we carried monster packs, so it might not be such an issue today.

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Cotton has its place in desert hiking–get that T shirt wet and you have your own personal swamp cooler for 20 minutes or so. In fact, it will dry too soon in that high heat-low humidity environment!

On the other hand, I am not a fan of cotton in the mountains and foothills where I hike (Pacific NW). A hot sunny day can turn foggy and cold in less than an hour. Should that same T shirt get wet, it will never get dry. In the meantime, it has absorbed its weight in water, which you'll have to carry. Personally, I'd rather carry my water in a bottle than in a soggy T-shirt!

One compromise is a woven fabric (not knit) shirt of cotton-polyester blend, which I used to wear for hiking, in hot weather. Unless it's really heavy fabric, it dries faster yet definitely is more breathable than all-cotton. I like a nice loose, floppy fit for more ventilation.

I would still wear a cotton-polyester blend floppy shirt in hot weather except that I now own a heat-stroke prone dog (mostly Lab). I therefore no longer hike when the temp gets above 85* F (29 C). Instead, I start at the crack of dawn and plan to seek deep shade and water for a nice long siesta by 11 am.

I tend to overheat. So I hike in a loose weave cotton shirt, dunk it often in each icy stream I come across as well as soak my cotton baseball camp.
When I get to camp, I put on a full change of non-cotton.
In the morning I put on that damp cotton again before hitting the trail.

I've tried all the brands of synthetics that breath and the thinest smart wool but it doesn't work for me.

I should add that I would never hit the trail with JUST a cotton shirt, but a very lightweight cotton or silk shirt makes a nice addition to the synthetic or wool I carry for cooler, wetter weather.

Wouldn't bother me in a dry climate, but 6000' feet up on the soggy side of the Cascades in 50F cloudy weather, noooo. It might dry out in June. Maybe.

in the hot and extremely humid south eastern part of the country, there will be no sudden cold fronts here.

We're having a cool night here, compared to the last few nights. Humidity up a little. It's 10:15 pm, 88 degrees, 31% humidity. Cotton feels great.

Sure why not, just have something dry to change into if the temps take a sudden dip.

I live in the SE (currently 76 with 76% humidity at 6:48 AM) and there's no way I'd wear cotton during any high output activity.

Can you elaborate as to why?

Primarily chaffing. Very light wool would be optimal, IMO. It sits right between cotton and synthetics. It won't draw moisture from you as fast as a synthetic and it won't stay soggy as long as cotton.

My personal feeling about wearing cotton in hot humid weather is that it doesn't breath very well and I feel all clammy for a good long time after I've sat down at my desk, presumably due to the water retention. That's just from wearing a cotton undershirt walking to work and back in Manhattan. In a dry desert environment, I could certainly see a benefit. I bought a few Champion 60/40 synthetic cotton blends as well as a few 100% synthetic white shirts to try as undershirts in the hotter weather, and I find, Like Ben2World, the blend to be the most acceptable comfort/quick drying combination for these hot and humid conditions. I just wish I could find Ben's 80/20 duofold for the $7 I pay for the Champions at Target, as I think a little less cotton would be better.

In my experience, a 150-ish weight wool is cooler than a cotton t-shirt. Quite noticeably so, in fact. I've hiked plenty in cotton t-shirts back in the day, but no longer. If nothing else, I don't want to carry an extra t-shirt for when the cotton one's too wet. Most cotton t's are also relatively heavy.

That all said, I will on rare occasions bring a handkerchief-weight long-sleeve cotton dress shirt. I like them because they add sun & some bug protection when needed, and the ultra-thin cotton dries surprisingly quickly.

When I was playing volleyball regularly in the mid-summer DC heat, I typically wore cotton because I liked that it stayed wet, and helped cool me down. It probably didn't do wonders for my vertical, but those nets were a bit saggy, so that was ok :)

I did discover that I experienced less chafing with polyester microfiber than with cotton.

Since I hike in the Cascades and Olympics, I wouldn't wear cotton at all though. Almost every time I've been at an elevation over 4000 feet in the Cascades and Olympics, the temperatures have dropped low enough to warrant at least a light fleece (I haven't switched over to wool + down yet) in the evening, and in several cases more than just one layer of fleece. That was in the middle of summer when it was in the 80's or 90's back in Seattle….

For summers with low to moderate humidity — cotton, yes.

Summers with high humidity — Houston — cotton, yuck.

I've been fortunate enough to travel to 14 African countries with over a total of 1 year there. It can get miserably hot and all I wear is cotton. I've tried the breathable polyster/nylon blends, but they feel very uncomfortable against the skin when it's truely hot.

"I've tried the breathable polyster/nylon blends, but they feel very uncomfortable against the skin when it's truely hot."

+1 But everyone has different tastes. For instance, I can't imagine why someone would think light weight wool is less chafing or cooler than lightweight cotton?? Maybe it depends as well on whether the cotton or ool is knitted or woven. For hot dry heat I light super light woven Indian cotton. It's a loose, cool and quick drying option that is very light. Also divine to sleep in :)

+2 — Our skin react differently to different fabrics. I don't find my 80/20 poly/cotton blend any hotter or less comfy than cotton in any way — so I enjoy the benefits of blended fabric without the cost.

OTOH, even after tons of literature attesting to the seemingly endless advantages of merino wool — I just can't get over the itch — a low level but ever present itch just enough to be annoying.

"OTOH, even after tons of literature attesting to the seemingly endless advantages of merino wool — I just can't get over the itch — a low level but ever present itch just enough to be annoying."

Ben, have you tried the BPL merino. I've been like you all my life, incessant itch from wool (kinda embarrassing where I live), but found the BPL merino (I originally got it for my son but he never got it :0) to be itch free. Still, a clingy long sleeve black knit is not something I would chose to wear on a hot summer's day!

I hate polycotton blends!!

I do a lot of my hiking in central Florida where I live. Summer here is very hot and humid. Temperatures are hovering from mid 90's to mid 100's (F) this summer and with the high humidity, it feels much hotter than that. I've tried just about every fabric you can think of while hiking in this heat, and haven't noticed much of a difference. When it gets that hot, it's really hard for any fabric, natural or synthetic, to perform well. Nowadays, I will just hike with no shirt and some light shorts. Otherwise, the shirt I'm wearing will be stained white from the salt in my sweat after it dries. I'll usually have a long sleeve synthetic with me to wear after I set up camp to help with the bugs.

Now if you live somewhere where there is a chance temperatures could suddenly drop, I would go with synthetic. But in Florida, I don't have to worry about that.

-Sid

Don't forget about fabric weave/construction. A regular cotton T-shirt will restrict cooling and drying air movement more than a meshy type of nylon shirt. Ok, not "mesh," but I think you know what I mean.

My Champion C9 shirt is MUCH cooler than a cotton shirt, and dries quicker.

"Nowadays, I will just hike with no shirt "

I used to do this, but I just could no longer put up with the woman pointing and laughing, and the terrified look in children's eyes as they clung to their mothers' legs…..