Moisture-Wicking clothes advice... do they work?...best price, place to buy & brands?

Short sleeve v-neck for starters.
Thx!

:open_mouth:
Go to Wal-mart.
I have some t-shirts they call them Technical and some underware shorts that look almost like bike shorts without the pad.
I wear the short outside in my yard no bad comments from anyone.

In general the Nike stuff seems to work for me. Some cheap wicking clothes work but some don’t. I don’t pretend to understand how or why one will work and a similar looking shirt will feel like you are wearing a garbage bag but some make me sweat and some really work to wick.

Anything other than cotton is a good starting point!

I have tried a lot of cheap stuff over the years and have in the end gone to a propper outdoors camping specialty store. They are more expensive initially, but I think I could have saved a small fortune if I had gone to one first. This is the first winter here that I have felt warm and comfortable.

If you are gearing up for serious outdoors trecks, get quality clothing. It could save your life. I wait for the sales and get what I need then. That doesn’t work out much more than budget shops anyway.
Layering with good quality synthetics is considered the best option here, Merino wool thermals are good but very expensive and require extra care. Personally I don’t think they are worth the extra cost and trouble.

A Good lightweight mid layer and really good jacket and goretex outer are well worth the money too.

Layering let’s you shed according to how active you are, so you need to learn to regulate yourself.

Moisture wicking stuff works and helps, but if you are really working up a sweat, shed another layer. Good clothes will help retain warmth when wet, but it is stll much more comfortable to stay dry if you can.

I carry a microfiber towel to soak up excess sweat. You can wet one to help keep cool ona hot day too.

The thickness of each layer depends on temperature, activity level and tolerance. A good supplier carries quality gear in various thickness/comfort levels. It really is worth the extra cost IMHO

In my work environment I wear polyester dress slacks, cotton skirt & a tie. Often have to spend time outdoors for a hour or two at a time.

The main purpose is to keep one warmer and drier than would otherwise be the case. In your situation cotton with a larger weave to let more air in would probably be the most comfortable choice. Polyester doesn’t really “breath” well. It dries off faster which keeps you warmer if you are in a cold environment. In your case you just need more air to get in to cool you off.

I went to Costa Rica on vacation once and took a white dress short along just to wear as a regular shirt with open neck and rolled up sleaves. It was OK but while I was there I was running low on shirts so I bought another locally. It looked more or less the same but it was intended for that environment and therefore had a much larger weave to the cotton fabric.

It was amazing how much cooler it was. You need cotton clothes designed for that environment.

Maybe there are wicking clothes designed for your environment as well?

Hot and humid is tough conditions for a wicking shirt to pull undershirt duty under a cotton layer. A cotton/poly blend may be better for you than an all poly shirt in that situation.

Wicking shirts rely on the outside air being dryer than the air next to your skin to do their job. If the outside air is not much dryer, the shirt will have trouble wicking effectively. Wearing a cotton layer on top makes it even tougher for the undershirt to wick because it restricts the evaporative effect of air flow.

Even with poor wicking, polyester is a little more comfortable than 100% cotton because it will not stick to your skin and chafe as much when wet. But since polyester only absorbs a little water, and struggles to wick it away in humid conditions, some (or a lot) of your sweat will stay on your skin, and you may not really feel dry.

What you need is a shirt that can absorb a lot of sweat, but still feel dry.

A good cotton/poly blend provides some of the moisture absorbing ability of cotton with some of the fast drying, non-chafing ability of polyester. It is a compromise and does not do either particularly well. But I think it may be better than the alternatives for you.

If you want an all synthetic shirt, polyester knit in a micro-waffle texture (such as light weight Polartec Power Dry or Patagonia Capilene 2) is probably your best option. Polyester absorbs more sweat than nylon which absorbs more than polypropylene. And a micro-waffle texture feels cooler against the skin than a flat jersey knit (which is what a lot of Nike Dry-Fit and Under Armour shirts are made of). So the best bet for an all synthetic shirt for humid conditions is polyester micro-waffle. The downside is that shirts made from it tend to be expensive.

If you had asked for wicking undershirts for hot and dry conditions, light weight merino wool would have been just about perfect. Merino absorbs sweat like crazy and feels very dry against the skin, so it works really well as an undershirt when humidity is low. But when humidity is high, it absorbs moisture from the air as well, and saturates very quickly, and is very slow to dry making it useless, and making you smell like wet wool.

sorry, couldn’t resist.

The kind of Spandex/Lycra shirts that surfers cal Rash Vests work really well, they keep you much cooler and seem to pass moisture well. I always feel some degrees cooler as soon as I put mine on, and you can still feel the breeze on a hot day. They keep the sun off your skin, so not only keep you cool, they help prevent sunburn too.

The kind of Lycra clothing cyclists wear is similar and works the same.

I don’t know of anyone who makes these as more dressy outerwear though. And I can’t say how they would work under another shirt, especially when wearing a tie. That really closes you in.

Once again, try the camping/outdoor suppliers, they do make a range of summer clothing designed to keep you dry and protect you from sun and insects and deal with perspiration moisture. Names like Cool Dry etc. I have not has as much experience with hi tech synthetics in summer. I really do prefer the feel of cotton, but Lycra feels ok too.

I have some very lightweight synthetic slacks that work really well, made for hiking. They keep the sun off and seem to deal well with moisture.

I personally like cotton polo tops in summer, or cotton polly blend. They are very open weave and that works much better, as YoSeKi pointed out. Tightly woven cotton Tshirts, and underwear, trap heat and can hold moisture against your skin. That can cause chafing and rashes.

I recently bought some undershorts made from a bamboo cotton blend. They are without doubt the best I have ever had. The local Aldi had them as a sale item so I got some to try. I will definitely buy more of these next time they have them.

Also, don’t forget a good hat. Here good brands of the Catlemans hats made by Akubra and Statesman and many others are popular for good reason with folks who work and live outdoors. Rabbit fur felt is considered the best, but I have wool felt hats that work just as well and are only slightly heavier. Baseball caps and boonies trap heat, and actually work as solar collectors when the sun hits them. The felt hats are very good insulators and keep your head much cooler, as well as shading your face and neck much more. Skin cancer is a major killer here, so we take sun care seriously. I still prefer a boonie to a baseball cap if I am working hard and don’t want to wear a good hat.

I need advice ASAP! I need to know the best material (pants) to wear in very hot humid weather! I suffer from terrible, agonizing heat rash on my legs when it is hot and humid. I work for a state park so I must wear long pants. (No, finding a different job is not doable at this moment in time, especially with our current economical situation.) What is best? Poly-cotton (tee shirt type) material, especially loose-fitting, seems a good choice, but I just don’t know! Nylon? Canvas? I have heard of these “moisture-wicking” materials but they have mixed reviews and apparently do not work well in humid weather. Anyone who has ever been cursed with heat rash can tell you that any type of woven material just chafes the rash even worse and is absolutely unbearable against your skin. I must find a solution soon! Otherwise I will have no choice but to quit my job and that would be a disaster financially! I am in agony and will welcome any suggestions.

These work well for me and I routinely wear them in 90+ weather. Welcome to BLF by the way.

http://www.rei.com/product/794407/rei-sahara-convertible-pants-with-no-sit-zips-mens-30-inseam

Like these ?

Thanks for the welcome and the advice! I appreciate it!! :slight_smile: And I just LOVE your quote, it’s awesome!

Welcome pattyjm59.

A couple of questions, firstly, what kind of fabric are you wearing now? And, do your clothes have to be fire resistant? If so, and I think that might be wise in your occupation, then ANY kind of synthetic could be an issue, unless they have been specially treated or made to be fire retardant.

I would not like to see you come to grief stomping out a campfire for example

Howdy and welcome to the site, pattyjm59!

Dayum, that looks good RC. You made me all hungry like now. :-\

I would probably eat it.

(Which is probably why my cholesterol is so high.)

No, thank God, I do not have to stomp out fires!! :bigsmile: I do housekeeping, cleaning the cabins, bathrooms, etc. In the cabins I’m better because I can crank up the A/C. But I still need some way to keep my skin dry and breathing. We cannot wear shorts because of the chemicals we use and I must wear a uniform shirt that is poly but thin enough so it’s not too bad. (Besides, I have no problem with going into the bathroom and removing my shirt to wipe down with cold water, LOL! Pants are a bit more of a problem however.) This heat rash is driving me crazy and while I know I’m not supposed to scratch it, if you have ever had a heat rash you know how gloriously ecstatic it can feel to just give in and scratch away. It hurts afterwards, LOL, but for those few moments of scratching you are just like, “Ohhhh YES!!” :heart_eyes: I read on the net that cotton nylon ripstop is a good choice, what are your thoughts on that? God bless you, thanks for your advice!

Breathability is the key factor, as well as the fabrics moisture wicking ability and ability to shed moisture rather than soak it up.

I lived in the sub-tropics for a lot of years before i cam back to this cold climate. I love pure cotton, it feels best on my skin and works great if you can keep dry, but it a disaster if it gets wet. Depending on it’s weave, it is one of the slowest drying fabrics, which leads to moisture trapped next to the skin, chaffing and rashes. I sympathise with you pattyjm59, I know only too well how uncomfortable heat rash and worse conditions can be.

Back in those days, I found thin cotton pants and polly cotton polo tops with a more open weave to be much better than jeans and T-shirts.

These days, I really have learned to trust my local camping/outdoors stores, like Kathmandu and Mountain Designs, for quality clothing specifically designed for the purpose, and good advice on what works best. Research, fabric technology and design have come a long way in a very short time. Synthetics can often be the best thing for your situation. A good doctor for medication and a good outfitter will set you right.

Right here now, it is pretty cold. several degrees below at night, not much warmer in the day. In the summer it gets up to 42C quite often, but it’s a much dryer heat than the tropics as a rule. I am not as active as I once was, but I love to get outdoors and walk in the bush, hunt and climb a few small hills. Good clothing can make the difference between being dry and comfortable or damp and miserable, winter or summer. In winter it can literally save your life if you get bushed after dark. In this case, quality is more important than cost.

I hope you find a solution. I can recommend the old fashioned remedy of bathing the affected area with a mild solution of condy’s crystals after showering. Just a couple of crystals to turn the water pink. It does stain clothes and skin so don’t splash it about. Aloe Vera gel is also good and very soothing. Try to keep as dry as possible.