Sunsafe clothing is an extremely important topic in Australia at the moment, as skin cancer rates are increasing at an alarming rate (http://www.sunsafe.com). Sunsafe clothing has been available to consumers for sometime but has only become popular in the past few years with the advancement of technology. Sunsafe clothing provides consumers with better UV protection. This assignment will explain, describe and explore the positive and negative attributes of sunsafe clothing in relation to protecting our bodies. A number of sources will be utilised including a survey, books, internet, and brochures from the Queensland Cancer Fund and Queensland Health.
Fibres such as cotton (see appendix 1) are exceptional to wear for sun protection due to the fact that cotton has a natural resistance to sunlight (Gohl and Vilensky,1989,pg48). Therefore when wearing cotton fibres and fabrics while being in exposed conditions it will provide excellent protection while also lasting for a long amount of time. Another reason that cotton is good for sun protection is that cotton has very little natural elasticity (Keep 1992,pg 7). Cotton is a very strong fibre and is actually 10% stronger when wet, rather that when dry (Gohl and Vilensky,1989,pg45). Cotton is the best fibre to wear in the sun as it has a moisture content of 7% and it can absorb up to 21% before a felling of dampness is apparent (Gohl and Vilensky,1989,pg 47). This characteristics are particularly important in our climate as we tend to spend fairly large amounts of time in the outdoors and around water. Cotton is a excellent choice in terms of sun safety and protection. .
The first man made fibre to be made was nylon, (see appendix 2) and since then it has be used in almost everything, especially sunsafe clothing ( Mcnamrara and Snelling, 1995,pg 173). Nylon provides excellent protection from the sun as it has been made to have a high resistance to the effects of sunlight.
