wicking fabrics < promoting dehydration?

[Gadgetaholic]

We all know the old adage cotton kills in the wilderness, by absorbing sweat, becoming clammy and wet and rapidly chilling the body.

do wicking fabrics promote dehydration?

Hmmm, if the cotton absorbs sweat, becomes clammy & wet and rapidly chills the body, then wouldn't you sweat less as you became cold? If you become cold and sweat less then you would need to drink less. Therefore clothing that keeps you warmer and drier could indeed promote dehydration if you didn't drink enough water to compensate for the loss to sweat.

 

[PhotonSD]

I have heard of Under Armor, does anyone have any experience with Silk next to the skin? With Wool as the next layer when layering for Cold? Does it act like UA? Or is it more like Cotton?

 

[KEmSAT-Survival]

so how does one explain (and yes there are many variables) why i'm always super thirsty after a slog with wicking clothes than the same slog (same conditions) with cotton clothes?

Because the looser fitting cotton shirt allowed for an airspace between your body and the shirt (which is the insulating layer)-- acting as a buffer, and by proxy a secondary insulating layer. Warming your body and cooling your body works exactly the same way, just in reverse.

Dead airspace between your skin and the shirt.

A snug shirt won't have the buffer of the dead air because it's sitting right on your skin, so you'll be warmer...regardless of how much you sweat. You have no air between your skin and your shirt to allow for conduction of cooling and warming.

Another reason the cotton keeps you cooler than the snug fitting wicking material is because the cotton holds the moisture, and as the wind moves across it, cools the moisture, which cools any dead airspace, thereby cooling your skin through the process of conduction. The wicking material, by its very design, negates this process.

So yes, your superfuturistic material shirt is contributing in its own way to your greater thirst.

 

[Calebklyne]

I have heard of Under Armor, does anyone have any experience with Silk next to the skin? With Wool as the next layer when layering for Cold? Does it act like UA? Or is it more like Cotton?

expensive but works amazing, i dont own any yet but my friend loves his stuff he used to wear the long sleeve shirts while we were backpacking in 20-30*c and would always feel cool and would sweat way less than me

 

[Horned Toad]

i do know i sweat MORE with a backpack on vs my micro chest rig.

Backpack covers the kidneys and increases the core temp. Plains Indians in the US wore little heavy clothing in the winter but did wrap their midsection for this reason.

One other thing I have noticed over the years is I always drink more water with a camelback setup because it’s so easy to. When I had to drink from canteens I only did it a certain intervals because it was more of a pain to get one out and put it back, especially while moving fast.

 

[wolfenhawk]

We all know the old adage cotton kills in the wilderness, by absorbing sweat, becoming clammy and wet and rapidly chilling the body.

but what about modern fabrics, such as the hydrophobic wicking fabrics that wick moisture off your skin and push it into the next layer of clothing? could these fabrics actually be promoting water loss (dehydration) to some degree?

as an example, when i used to wear snug Coolmax cycling jerseys in hot weather, I often found myself reaching for the drinking tube a lot more, and refilling the water pack a lot more compared to when i would cycle in a cotton tshirt in the same conditions.

Can such water loss be measured? can such fabrics even be compared or tested somehow?

do wicking fabrics promote dehydration?

discuss

hmmmmm ok. This is the way i see it. In cold weather i can see cotton as being dangerous for keeping moisture next to your skin chilling you and lowering you body temp; and I can see how fabric that pulls it away from your skin can be very beneficial keeping you dry. However your example of needing to drink more is in hot weather. I've heard how old timers used to wear long sleave cotton shirts during the summer to catch the sweat and keep it against their skin to keep them cool as well as keeping the sun off them. I can see no use for wear moisture wicking fabrics during hot weather because the reason your body sweats is to keep you cool and if your clothing keeps wicking that sweat away, then yes would keep sweating more to replace it, need to drink more because you are sweating more as your body tries to cool off. I'd be afraid to wear water wicking fabric during the summer out of concern that I'd get over-heated.