SPF Clothing?
Why Sun Protective Clothing?
1, Sunscreen enough for UV protection?
Sunscreen is chemical agent that helps prevent the UV rays from reaching the skin, it is necessary to protect uncovered body parts from UV rays. SPF is the value that tells consumers how well a sunscreen blocks UVB, one of the two harmful UV rays. You do not know, from SPF score, how much UVA your sunscreen blocks;
Sunscreen can only achieve the protection level indicated on the label if you use it correctly. You may know that you should apply sunscreen at least 15-30 minutes before your outdoor activity, but many consumers forget they need to reapply the same volume every 2 hours. Sunscreens should also be reapplied immediately after swimming, toweling off, or sweating a great deal. Re. the volume per application, do you know that an adult needs to use 1 oz. or 30-35ml of sunscreen everytime for good UV protection, which means a bottle of 4 oz. sunscreen should only last for 4 applications;
2, Ordinary clothing enough for UV protection?
Compared to Sunscreen, clothing is a natural, low cost and effective way to protect you from UV rays. One application lasts the whole day. But does ordinary clothing offer good UV protection?
UPF is the UV Protection Factor used for textile fabrics and it tests the ability that a fabric blocks both UVA and UVB; To claim a Sun Protective Clothing, usually the fabrics used should have a UPF score not less than 30. However, UV rays are invisible, so you can not tell by your eyes if a fabric provides good UV protection. For this reason, Dr. Thilo Gambichler tested 236 fabrics selected from the market and got the following results :
“33% fabrics had UPF less than 15, 19% of them had UPF between 15 and 30, and 48% had UPF over 30. ……, and only less than 30% of the cotton, linen, and viscose fabrics had UPF values of 30+. ……”
Please notice that ordinary summer clothing (cotton material, loose knitting/weaving , light color, light weight) usually offers lower UPF scores. Some testing results show that ordinary 100% cotton t shirts only have UPF 4-10. Imagine this: your arms are protected by broad-spectrum sunscreen offering protection against both UVA and UVB rays, but the UV rays are reaching your body through the ordinary 100% cotton t shirt you wear!
At SunProtectiveClothing.ca or LessUV.com, we only supply products that are tested by recognized independent labs and rated according to strict industry standards! Our SPF 100% cotton t shirts offer UPF40-50+, and it is the only 100% cotton t shirt recommended by Skin Cancer Foundation!
Don’t just take our words for it, please search the resources you can find or ask your dermatologist for more advices.
Here are some useful links that may be helpful: