Is it Better to Wear Dark or Light Colored Clothes in the Sunshine?

[easysurfer]

Dark or light? Which is better?

I've heard two different schools of thought. 1) Wear light as that reflects the sunshine. That's why, for example, tennis players where white. 2) Wear dark, as the dark colored fabrics do a better job of blocking out the sun's rays giving better UV protection.

 

[JoeWras]

Dark or light? Which is better?

I've heard two different schools of thought. 1) Wear light as that reflects the sunshine. That's why, for example, tennis players where white. 2) Wear dark, as the dark colored fabrics do a better job of blocking out the sun's rays giving better UV protection.

If you live in a cool, dry area (say, high mountain country) dark makes sense for the sun factor.

If you live in the southeast with the heat and humidity, well, good luck on wearing dark! They didn't invent seersucker for nothing.

 

[COcheesehead]

It's more complicated than that. It also depends on the material. They make some "cooling" fabrics for cyclists and they are black. I also have some synthetic white fishing shirts that will turn into a sauna. So color is only part.

 

[easysurfer]

It's more complicated than that. It also depends on the material. They make some "cooling" fabrics for cyclists and they are black. I also have some synthetic white fishing shirts that will turn into a sauna. So color is only part.

How about for a cotton t-shirt? Dark or light? Which is better?

 

[stepford]

I spend a lot of time in bright sun at high elevations in the summer and never tan/burn through clothing whether I wear light or dark colors. I do, however, notice myself staying a bit cooler in light colors. Honestly, though, color doesn't seem to make nearly as much difference to me as fabric choice (lightweight synthetics that wick sweat away work best).

 

[COcheesehead]

How about for a cotton t-shirt? Dark or light? Which is better?

Living in Colorado were the sun shines 300 days a year, I would opt for white, the color of my car.

 

[Nemo2]

Mosquitoes apparently give thumbs up to dark clothing.

 

[LOL!]

As noted, color is not important for UV. I wear black cycling shorts and tights and get no tan under them. I have a light-colored fishing shirt that say UPF 50 and get no tan nor sunburn as well. I have another fishing shirt of different material that is only UPF 30 and also no problems, but the shirt is hotter to me.

Cotton is not as good as other things for UV. Also note that if something gets wet, then I doubt the sun protection stays the same.

I can say that DARK certainly absorbs more heat and make one hotter. That's good in the snow. Dark wet items will dry out more quickly in the sun than lighter colored items.

So if you are looking for UV protection, then buy clothing where UPF is given in any color you want. While Columbia and others make such clothing, I prefer store brands such as Magellan or something from Walmart because they are the same for one-third the price.

If you expect your clothes to be wet most of the time (swim shirt), then make sure it is made for that and the UPF rating reflects that.

I know folks who have had skin cancer. They are particularly tuned in to clothing that provides sun protection.

 

[easysurfer]

Okay..did some "googling". I like this answer the most .. especially the sucker part :

So, the answer is — it doesn't make a huge difference whether you're wearing black or white in hot weather. As long as you keep your clothes loose, you're probably going to feel the same as the poor sucker next to you.

https://science.howstuffworks.com/s...yths/light-colored-clothes-in-hot-weather.htm

.. there's some compelling evidence — in the form of a real, true scientific study — that says it doesn't matter. Let's start with some 1980 academic research from the journal "Nature," titled "Why do Bedouins wear black robes in hot deserts?" [source: Shkolnik et al].

As you can guess, the researchers were as flummoxed as you and I by the fact that in oppressive heat, the residents of the Sinai desert wear billowing black robes instead of, say, white (or a maybe pretty pale lavender). What they found was when they tested white robes versus black (and note they did this by having some poor guy stand out in the heat while recording temperature), the differences were nil. They found that the black clothing did absorb more heat, but that's where it stayed: In other words, the black soaks up additional heat, but that extra is lost by the time it actually gets to your skin [source: Abrahams]. Way more useful for keeping cool, however? The fact that the robes are loose and billowing, to allow airflow.

 

[davebarnes]

The rich are different from you and me

That's why, for example, tennis players wear white

"By about this time, the rich in America (and England) had adopted summer white as a symbol of their leisure. Since white clothing dirties easily, it didn't recommend itself to factory workers and domestic servants in a dry-cleaning-less era of weekly baths. In fact, really the only people suited to wear white were people who didn't work at all—or who could at least afford to look like they didn't.

Wearing white cost a lot. If you wore it, you signaled that you, too, cost a lot. Since tennis had long been a summer game for the rich, the rich wore white to play tennis. And—since the middle class likes to imitate the rich—as tennis democratized over the course of the 20th century, the middle class wore white to play, too."

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/08/why-do-tennis-players-wear-white/260785/

 

[easysurfer]

"By about this time, the rich in America (and England) had adopted summer white as a symbol of their leisure. Since white clothing dirties easily, it didn't recommend itself to factory workers and domestic servants in a dry-cleaning-less era of weekly baths. In fact, really the only people suited to wear white were people who didn't work at all—or who could at least afford to look like they didn't.

Wearing white cost a lot. If you wore it, you signaled that you, too, cost a lot. Since tennis had long been a summer game for the rich, the rich wore white to play tennis. And—since the middle class likes to imitate the rich—as tennis democratized over the course of the 20th century, the middle class wore white to play, too."

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/08/why-do-tennis-players-wear-white/260785/

Here always thought the white was for functionality to try and keep cool, not a fashion thing .

 

[foxfirev5]

Old school here. Flannel on top of a white cotton tee. Six years laying 300 degree asphalt in relative comfort.

 

[Ronstar]

Light color clothes and a Tilley hat in sunshine. I find wearing a hat really helps battle the heat and my dermatologist likes the hat idea as well.

 

[audreyh1]

Dark clothing attracts mosquitos - maybe that's a myth. Certainly makes them and other insects harder to see.

 

[LOL!]

This seems like a measured sense of info:
https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/sun-protection.html

 

[Spock]

In the SW desert summer, somebody wearing all black clothing in direct sunlight is treated with the same suspicion as somebody wearing a parka.

 

[pb4uski]

Dark or light? Which is better?

I've heard two different schools of thought. 1) Wear light as that reflects the sunshine. That's why, for example, tennis players where white. 2) Wear dark, as the dark colored fabrics do a better job of blocking out the sun's rays giving better UV protection.

Light (all else being equal). The second factor above is a fallacy.

Do Black Color Shirts Protect From UV Rays – UPF Clothing

Black color does attract the light and absorbs it better than white color. But absorbing the light energy does not mean filtering the UV away.

 

[ERD50]

Dark or light? Which is better?

I've heard two different schools of thought. 1) Wear light as that reflects the sunshine. That's why, for example, tennis players where white. 2) Wear dark, as the dark colored fabrics do a better job of blocking out the sun's rays giving better UV protection.

You need to add to "better". Better how?

Are to trying to keep cool, or keep warm (we have some people posting from the southern hemisphere)? Are you trying to block UV? Some combination?

Even if white reflects UV better, maybe that could cause more UV to be reflected up to your face? And there is reflection and absorption.

Lets say one color color reflected 30% of UV, and passed half the remaining UV through to your skin, absorbing the other half, so that your skin 'saw' 35% of UV. Another color might reflect more, say 50% of UV, but passes 80% of it, resulting in your skin 'seeing' 40% of UV. IOW, I don't think there is any simple answer. And we aren't even sure what the question is!

The type and fit of fabric may have more to do with any of these than the color. And if it is assumed that all other things are equal, it still goes back to "better how"?

-ERD50

 

[HI Bill]

I used to have an all-white set of weekend clothes...I loved them, but I later discovered that my ability to spill food, get dirt from the car while loading/unloading dive gear, etc., made it impossible to keep clean. When I was single, I'd just throw on some spray-n-wash, and wash daily on the weekends. Now that I'm married, and my wife does all the laundry, it can sit for days at a time...so I switched to all black shorts and golf shirts. Hotter, but better sun protection.

 

[easysurfer]

You need to add to "better". Better how?

Are to trying to keep cool, or keep warm (we have some people posting from the southern hemisphere)? Are you trying to block UV? Some combination?

Even if white reflects UV better, maybe that could cause more UV to be reflected up to your face? And there is reflection and absorption.

Lets say one color color reflected 30% of UV, and passed half the remaining UV through to your skin, absorbing the other half, so that your skin 'saw' 35% of UV. Another color might reflect more, say 50% of UV, but passes 80% of it, resulting in your skin 'seeing' 40% of UV. IOW, I don't think there is any simple answer. And we aren't even sure what the question is!

The type and fit of fabric may have more to do with any of these than the color. And if it is assumed that all other things are equal, it still goes back to "better how"?

-ERD50

To qualify, the better was to better keep cool in summer.

Later posts after the original, pretty concluded that color really didn't matter as when hot outside, will feel hot dressed in white, black or going naked .

 

[pb4uski]

Yes... when my friends say "but its a dry heat", I reply "Perhaps, but its still fricking hot!".