Need extreme sun protection... but my present UPF 50+ clothing is as heavy as a sack.

I was wondering if people know of summer hiking shirts (lightweight) that offer UPF 50+ protection...

For eg: Mountain Hardwear Mesa pants claim UPF 50+.. but don't know of any shirts.

Is this doctor's directions? Cause SPF 30 is considered sun-protective clothing.

There are plenty of options. More like a typical base are some of golite drimove shirts. Campmor and a number of other folks make tight woven nylon (supplex or supplex like) shirts.

My question is do you really need UPF 50+? I expect some people / conditions need this... but the UPF from the physical barrier doesn't wear out the same way suntan lotion does. I use UPF 70 suntan lotion... but I have found that a UPF 30 has kept me from buring in pretty much all conditions... and I am someone who has burned through tee-shirts and cotton button ups.

--Mark

yeah, this is a recommendation by the dermatologist (for my partner).. light skin that's had problems from the sun before.

Golite's drimove sounds pretty good.. will pick one up from Sierra Trading Post. They seem to have other options there but I can't guess how heavy those might be. I trust Golite to be.. light?

but anyone have any feedback on patagonia's light sun hoody as a baselayer in hot weather?

All clothing becomes sun protective if you launder it with the right stuff. I'll do some searching for the article that listed laundering with Tide as being as effective as buying UPF rated clothing.

EDIT:
SunGuard fabric treatment claims to provide UPF 30 and lasts for 20 washings. Any UPF treatment (vs inherent in the fabric) will wash out. Better to wash in UPF 30 right before the trip than to rely on a UPF 50 that has degraded by multiple washings.

Personally I burn easily but have never burned or even tanned through clothing so I doubt the warnings by the UPF clothing industry.

EDIT 2:
Here's the article. They found that untreated 5 oz. cotton jersey gave about UPF 20.

UPF 80 after 1 treatment with Sunguard,
UPF 100 after 5 treatments with Sunguard.
UPF 60 after 10 launderings with Tide or Wisk
UPF 80 after 15 launderings with Tide.

Cotton/poly blend had lesser improvements, but still big improvements.

Obviously sun protective clothing is more than just the fabric. Make sure that the garments can be vented for cooling without exposing skin.

University of Nebraska study available at:
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=textiles_facpub

Edited by jimqpublic on 05/05/2010 15:16:20 MDT.

You might want to ask your dermatologist what he thinks about Solumbra fabric from Sun Precautions. We've been using these as our primary hiking shirts for several years now. They are a little pricy, but they are solidly constructed, very lightweight, and show no serious signs of wear for many years. I burn easily and have never had an issue with my shirts.

Good luck!

http://www.sunprecautions.com/home.asp