Hi! As heatwave scorches Europe, the second problem I’m a little afraid of (especially as someone without any melanin in my skin) is the sun. I’ve seen someone mentioning a sun shirt but trying to find real information online is very confusing, especially with EU in mind ( I see US has something called UPF) and if you are not looking for ads. Maybe someone knows something about it?
Surprised that no one’s talking about linen, which is one of the most solarpunk materials I can think of.
I am also extremely pale and burn very easily, and my family has a history of skin cancer so that’s fun too! Don’t worry about UPF ratings or special sun shirts or anything like that. Your goals are, 1, keep the sun from touching your skin, and 2, stay cool so you don’t overheat during the heatwave. Linen fabric will do both.
Get yourself a long sleeve linen button-up - mine are from the thrift store to avoid buying new, but if you have to buy new then you have to. You can wear it over your normal tank top or shirt. This will keep the sun off your arms and it’ll keep you cool. Forget polyester anything. Linen fibers are long and moisture wicking due to the properties of the plant its made from and you’ll literally feel a very light cooling effect just by touching it. Even better option is to moisten your shirt with water when you’re outside, if you can, because the water evaporating + the linen fibers will keep you so unbelievably cool it’ll be like upper body air-con.
Skip shorts, even though it’s tempting to expose more skin to keep cool. Go for long linen pants, something loose and flowy if possible. As the fabric moves around while you walk, it’ll cool you even further. Lightweight cotton is also a good option.
Linen blends are okay - I’d skip linen-polyester, personally, because there is nothing that traps heat like polyester fabric (it’s just plastic), but your mileage will vary. My favorite is linen-rayon because it moves and drapes very nicely, and linen-cotton is quite nice too c:
Lastly, get yourself a wide brimmed hat to protect your scalp and face from sun, or you can wrap a lightweight scarf over your head and drape it around your neck and then just wear a lot of sunscreen on your face. Remember to reapply every two hours if you’re out in the sun. Sunscreen on your hands too. Cotton socks and cotton underwear will prevent any fungal issues (if you’re going to be in hot weather, I recommend packing an extra pair of each to switch into partway through the day). And lastly… my best trick, taught to me by my partner: scrap of linen cloth or a linen scarf soaked in water and draped around your neck. Trust me. It feels HEAVENLY. A cotton rag will also work if that’s all you’ve got!
TL;DR: dress in long layers made of linen which will keep the sun from touching your skin and naturally cool you off c:
Peppycito@sh.itjust.works
nocturne@slrpnk.net
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net
DudeImMacGyver@kbin.earth
grue@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Clothing with a UPF rating just means its level of protection has been measured; it doesn’t necessarily imply unrated clothing doesn’t protect also. That is to say, I don’t think sun protective clothing has any high-tech coatings or other special sauce the way waterproof/breathable clothing does.
Just wear something made of synthetic fiber and/or with a dense weave, colored a dark color, and that covers as much skin as possible. And most importantly, a wide-brimmed hat.
Sources:
Why dark colors? All of my sun clothes are as light of a color as I can possibly find stop they reflect the sun instead of absorbing it.
From what I understand, the dyes used in dark colors tend to be less transparent to the wavelength of UV light, and thus absorb some of the UV instead of letting it through. As a side effect, that also makes them heat up more, but the skin is technically more protected (assuming a like-for-like garment, as it’s likely that a thick white shirt will still be more protective than a thin black one).
Looking into it again for this comment, it appear that all color dyes offer some UV protective effect in clothing, and the more intense the color, the more protective it can be (though still varies by the specific color itself). There’s a more in-depth explanation of how that works in this scientific article, under section 6.6.2. I’ll put in an spoiler for convenience sake.
:::spoiler How Dye blocks UV The UVR protecting ability of the dye sources depends upon absorption characteristics of the functional group present in the chemical structure. Sankaran et al. reported that the UVR protection ability of cotton fabrics was effectively improved when dyed with vegetable and animal dyes from madder, indigo and cochineal [79]. Some direct, reactive and vat dyes with darker shade are capable of giving a UPF of greater than 50 due to the nature of dye-fibre bonds. Multiple studies investigated that the potential role of few natural dyes like curcumin and onion skin dye on fibre or fabric by providing UV protective characteristics. The combinational effect of dyes and UV absorbers together on fabric can also reduce the transmission of UVR. The dye shades substantially increase the UPF value of bleached cloth when compared with non-bleached fabric [43,46,74]. Although, light colours reflect solar radiation more efficiently than dark ones but part of the radiation penetrates more easily through the fabric. Since the dye’s absorption bands extend to UVR, all types of dye function as UV absorbers (280–400 nm). The capacity of dyes to raise a fabric’s UPF depends on the extinction coefficient. Another experimental result revealed that the colour depth and dye concentration are the most essential factors influencing the UV protection property of cotton knitted fabrics. Therefore, the UVR blocking ability of textiles are enhanced with increase in ingredient concentration with either a dye or pigment or a delustering agents or other additives [80,81]. :::
But the construction of clothing (how dense or thick the weave is) and what it’s made of appears to matter more for UV blocking overall than the color does. Cotton, linen and Rayon for example appear to offer less protection than wool, polyester, or nylon (synthetics feel kinda gross to wear in hot weather though, IMO). A blend can help make-up for that, though then there’s the problem of microplastics every time you wash them, so personally I still stick with natural fibers.
The structure of the cloth in UV clothes is designed to be opaque to light while being cool, breathable and quick drying. I’ve never gotten a sunburn under my blue jeans and I’m sure they have a quite high UPF, but they are not sun gear in my opinion.