In this day and age there are a lot of strange things that occur in our day to day life, natural phenomenon that baffle even the most hardened scientist and skeptic. One of the things that has never baffled a single soul is the “farmer’s tan,” when someone wears a short sleeve shirt all day under the sun causing their arms and neck to tan, but not the rest of their body. Many people receive the title of “red neck” because of their physical appearance after said activities. Is it strange that these people don’t get burned all over their body? NO! But they aren’t wearing the newest UV protective clothing from the posh, new, hauty tuaty companies. How do these outdoor workers avoid get burned under their shirts without mixing the protective chemicals in with their laundry?
Who gets sunburned through their shirt? Jeans? According to the scare tactics of these companies YOU WILL! Almost nobody needs to wear UV protective clothing everyday, all day long (unless of course your daily attire consists of nothing more than draping mosquito netting over yourself). These companies try to take your fear of skin cancer and nurture it into an all consuming lifestyle at the mercy of their latest collection. Sure it is good to wear a wide brimmed hat and long sleeves when you are working in the garden, but I doubt that throwing your money at these companies is going to make you any safer.
A recent article in a popular magazine claims to be verifying common myths about sun protection. This article goes something like this: “#4) Clothing shields you from UV rays. False. The facts: a regular white cotton shirt only provides an SPF of 5 to 7 (wet, it drops to 3)” then they urge you to purchase the latest clothing from Cabana Life whose newest collection is filled with Cotton garments that claim to be 50 UPF (thats not something the bother mentioning in the article). How is Cabana Life’s cotton any more UV resistant than my cotton?
UV Skinz are for the times when one traditionally isn’t covering up. When you are swimming you are usually half naked and exposed to the elements. Your arms aren’t covered, your stomach isn’t covered, your back isn’t covered. If you do wear a normal t-shirt in the water it will stretch and become less protective, less comfortable and it might not ever fit again. Don’t get me wrong, staying protected from over exposure of the sun is very important, but almost nobody needs to run out and make sure that ALL or their clothes are as UV resistant as these companies would like you to think they need to be.
