My August tips:
- Natural fibers, like cotton or linen. Wearing anything with polyester, rayon, spandex, and so on traps air and moisture against your skin - even blends are very problematic. Yes, 99% of your wardrobe almost certainly is the nightmare you buy at department stores today of artificial fibers, but if you can find actual cotton it's worth it.
- Wear light colored clothing. Seems obvious, but no black t-shirts!
- Avoid knit fabrics and go for woven, it breathes much better. Also, sunburn occurs much more often through knit fabrics.
- Protect yourself from radiation burns - when I was younger I used to get sunburn on the back of my thighs from reflections off of concrete when sitting down. Long pants are generally a must, and at least some sleeves. Cotton and linen promote your body's natural cooling, so by rejecting the sun's heat this actually keeps me cooler than if I was wearing shorts.
- Wear a hat.
- Sunscreen.
- Water on the outside of your body mostly washes away the salt in your sweat as it becomes over-concentrated. For rapid cooling if you're not suffering from heat exhaustion of heat stroke, it's best to apply to your body's core (aka drink the ice water). 1 pint per hour per adult is a good rule of thumb - drink more than you're thirsty for by at least 50%.
