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Summer clothing

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2022 5:11pm
3 replies560 views5 members subscribed
DAF78

Posts: 35

9 helpful points

Location: Rojales

Joined: 20 Mar 2020

A bit frivolous I know, but does anybody have an opinion why Spanish people in general, seem to change their clothing to all black when the weather gets hotter?  My education (many years ago in UK) stated that black absorbed heat, whilst white and lighter shades reflected away from the body.  Has this theory since been revoked?

Linds

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 12:19pm

Posts: 69

13 helpful points

Location: Albir

Joined: 24 Dec 2019

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 12:19pm

I agree with you that black absorbs the heat, maybe that's why you see many older Spanish women wearing all black to keep warm.

But its Navy that is best to absorb any heat in winter, we had school uniforms to wear navy for the wintertime.

As an experiment try sitting out in black shorts and a navy or other colour T shirt and see which bit of you feels hotter!!! i know which part would be unbearable for me!

Pensionista

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 1:12pm

Posts: 86

45 helpful points

Joined: 20 Nov 2017

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 1:12pm

I fou d this interesting, so I went on the web. This is an extract from an article i found ….

As you can guess, the researchers were as flummoxed as you and I by the fact that in oppressive heat, the residents of the Sinai desert wear billowing black robes instead of, say, white (or a maybe pretty pale lavender). What they found was when they tested white robes versus black (and note they did this by having some poor guy stand out in the heat while recording temperature), the differences were nil. They found that the black clothing did absorb more heat, but that's where it stayed: In other words, the black soaks up additional heat, but that extra is lost by the time it actually gets to your skin [source: Abrahams]. Way more useful for keeping cool, however? The fact that the robes are loose and billowing, to allow airflow.

There's also an argument that the whole "light clothing" argument is missing a key element: the person who's wearing the clothes. This means that the heat your body radiates will actually reflect off white clothing, bouncing back to your body to keep you toastier. Not a bad theory, but it's also not tested on humans — it's only been studied in birds with white plumage, with mixed results [source: Walsberg et al.].

So, the answer is — it doesn't make a huge difference whether you're wearing black or white in hot weather. As long as you keep your clothes loose, you're probably going to feel the same as the poor sucker next to you.

Make you own minds up!

Denver

Posted: Wed Aug 3, 2022 11:48am

Denver

Helpful member

Posts: 389

246 helpful points

Location: Catral

Joined: 21 Nov 2017

Posted: Wed Aug 3, 2022 11:48am

Pensionista wrote on Sun Jul 31, 2022 1:12pm:

I fou d this interesting, so I went on the web. This is an extract from an article i found ….

As you can guess, the researchers were as flummoxed as you and I by the fact that in oppressive heat, the residents of the Sinai desert wear billowing black robes ins...

...tead of, say, white (or a maybe pretty pale lavender). What they found was when they tested white robes versus black (and note they did this by having some poor guy stand out in the heat while recording temperature), the differences were nil. They found that the black clothing did absorb more heat, but that's where it stayed: In other words, the black soaks up additional heat, but that extra is lost by the time it actually gets to your skin [source: Abrahams]. Way more useful for keeping cool, however? The fact that the robes are loose and billowing, to allow airflow.

There's also an argument that the whole "light clothing" argument is missing a key element: the person who's wearing the clothes. This means that the heat your body radiates will actually reflect off white clothing, bouncing back to your body to keep you toastier. Not a bad theory, but it's also not tested on humans — it's only been studied in birds with white plumage, with mixed results [source: Walsberg et al.].

So, the answer is — it doesn't make a huge difference whether you're wearing black or white in hot weather. As long as you keep your clothes loose, you're probably going to feel the same as the poor sucker next to you.

Make you own minds up!

Interesting - I worked in the Middle East and temperatures are a lot high than here, we wore black abaya and I never left the heat. 

I personally feel so long as my skin is covered in very hot weather I feel cooler. I always wear a large hat as well. 

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