What you need to know about special clothing that protects the skin from the sun (Sun Protective Clothing)

We all know how important it is to protect our skin from the harsh sun in our country. Most of the time, we are used to using sunscreen when we go out, especially during the day. It is a very good habit. But did you know, sometimes sunscreen alone may not be enough to provide complete protection to our skin. Today, we are talking about special clothing that can provide additional, stronger protection to our skin from harmful ultraviolet rays (UV rays).

What is UPF and SPF? What is the difference between the two?

UPF and SPF are two words you often hear when talking about sun protection. Although they sound similar, they have two different meanings. Let's break this down into simple terms.

• SPF (Sun Protection Factor): This is a familiar term to us, because it is printed on the bottles of sunscreen we use. Simply put, SPF measures how long it takes for your skin to burn and turn red when you use a certain type of sunscreen. Imagine, if you go out in the sun without any makeup and your skin turns red in 20 minutes, if you use a sunscreen with SPF 15 , you will be protected for 15 times that time, which means about 300 minutes (5 hours). But this mainly measures only the damage caused by UVB rays.

• UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor): This is a measure of clothing. To be precise, UPF is a measure of how much harmful UV rays (both UVA and UVB) a fabric can block from reaching the skin. For example, if your clothing says UPF 50 , that means the fabric blocks 98% of harmful UV rays, letting in a very small amount, like 2%.

See this table to further explain this difference.

A UPF value between 30-40 is classified as "very good protection," and a UPF of 50 or higher is classified as "excellent protection."

How to choose the best clothes to protect yourself from the sun?

Not all clothes we wear provide the same level of protection. Many factors affect this, including the color, fabric type, and weave of the clothing.

Does the color of the dress matter?

Yes, absolutely. Dark (black, dark blue) or bright (bright red, orange) clothing is much better for sun protection than light-colored clothing. The reason is that these dark and bright colors absorb UV rays and stop them from reaching the skin. Light-colored clothing allows some of those rays to pass through to the skin.

Fabric type and weave

The type of fabric the garment is made of is also very important. Thick, tightly woven fabrics like denim and wool are much safer than thin, see-through fabrics. There is a very simple test to find out.

Some good fabrics for UPF protection include unbleached cotton, shiny polyester, satiny silk, and high-tech fabrics made specifically for this purpose.

The shape and size of the dress

Wearing loose-fitting clothing is safer than wearing tight-fitting clothing. This is because when you wear tight clothing, the gaps between the threads increase as the fabric stretches, increasing the chance of UV rays entering.

Also, wearing clothing that covers as much of your body as possible provides good protection. Wearing a long-sleeved shirt rather than a short-sleeved T-shirt can completely protect your arms from the sun.

The difference between specialized UPF clothing and regular clothing

You might think that wearing any clothing will provide some protection from the sun. That's true. But the question is how much protection . Think of your average cotton T-shirt. It has a very low UPF rating of 5. That's because the tiny gaps between the threads allow UV rays to penetrate easily.

But UPF clothing, which is specifically designed to protect against the sun, is woven very tightly. There are very few gaps between the threads. And some clothing is treated with special chemicals to reflect or absorb UV rays. These can look and feel like the clothes you normally wear to exercise.

UPF clothing? Sunscreen? Which is better?

To be honest, this is not a competition, but more of a team sport. It's best to use both together .

It's much easier to wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and a hat than to reapply sunscreen every few hours. And the protection provided by UPF 50+ clothing is usually greater than the protection provided by sunscreen.

But no matter how much you cover up, there are still areas that are exposed to the sun. Think about your face, neck, the backs of your hands, and ears . You should definitely use a good sunscreen for areas that aren't covered by clothing.

The next time you're going to spend the day in the sun, protect your skin with both clothing and sunscreen. It's one of the best investments you can make to avoid serious conditions like skin cancer.