Sun Protecting Clothing Can Protect Your Skin

Did you know that clothes can protect you against the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays? Yes that's right, but don't think you can forget the sunscreen it's still needed. Sun protecting clothing isn't just for the hunting and fishing minded people with men in particular any longer. Sun protecting clothing is becoming more stylish and catering to women and children also. The popularity is growing leaps and bounds!

There's no longer the blah greens and khaki colors. There's pink, blue, and purple and they are even styling the clothes so women don't look masculine. There is one catch, sun-protecting clothing is more expensive but with the increase of sun cancer the additional dollars is well worth it if you are an outdoors enthusiast.

So what exactly is sun-protecting clothing? Sun protecting clothing usually has a factor of 30 or higher. Did you know that a regular t-shirt, cotton, has an SPF of 8 but if it gets wet is drops to a 4? So if you think of sending your children into the pool with a t-shirt on to protect from sunburn, think again.

Sun protecting clothing is based on the weight of the fibers, the weave of the material, and the amount of coverage of your skin, and the color all effect the protection they provide. The rating of sun protecting clothing is based on the UPF. This stands for the amount of Ultraviolet Protection Factor which is the about of the sun's UV radiation that is absorbed. If you have a fabric of a rating of 50 then this will allow only 1/50th of the UV rays to pass through the material to your skin, so you are only receiving 2 percent of the UV rays.

Everyone knows about SPF; this stands for Sun Protection Factor. This means the amount of time for the sun to redden the skin and is why we all should use sunscreen but the UPF measures the amount of UV radiation that passes through the material to your skin.

So which fabrics should you look for? If you are an avid outdoors enthusiast then you will want to check into the sun protecting clothes that are on the market. These clothing has been treated with a chemical that absorbs UV, this is a colorless dye that is treated to the material before the clothing is made. The material that is chosen is the weave and color that provides the best protection. Look on the tag for 15-50+ and you will know that that particular garment is sun protective.

Most of these are sold in outdoors sporting shops but if you are outdoors only occasionally then use this as a rule-of-thumb. Looking for clothing that is light colored, loosely woven fabrics and lightweight will not offer you much in the way of protection from the suns UV radiation. Clothing that is tightly woven is the best protection from the sun.

There is an easy way to test any type of clothing to see how much of the suns UV radiation will penetrate the material; just hold it up to a light and if you can see light then you know that the suns UV radiation will penetrate right to your skin.

The color of the material pays a major part in blocking out the suns UV radiation. The lighter the color more radiation will penetrate to your skin; the darker the material the less radiation will penetrate your skin.

What the clothing is made out of also pays an important role. Did you know that unbleached cotton contains special pigments that act as an UV absorber; think about it, years ago all clothing was made out of unbleached cotton and covered all exposed skin. It was the best protection people had. Unbleached cotton wouldn't stretch out of shape during normal wear and would hold up under numerous washings. Lots of the fabrics we use now a day stretch and loose some of its ability to protect our skin. The thinner the material becomes the more UV radiation will penetrate to our skin. When the material gets wet it also looses up to 50% of its UPF in protecting your skin.

There is a sun protection that you can buy to wash into your clothing and will increase the UPF of your clothing, it's called Sun Guard. Just added it to your washer like you do your laundry soap.

But know matter what type of clothing you buy, protecting your skin is the most important thing to always keep in mind. Just because you purchase the sun protecting clothing you are not totally protected so always use sunscreen on exposed areas of your skin. The best way of protecting your skin is not to expose your self to long periods of sun.