My Experience with Trying SPF Clothing

by Lucy
(Dover, OH, USA)

A few years ago my family found a catalog (among the avalanche of advertising mailings we get) for a company called “Coolibar”.

They sell clothing that is supposedly high spf to prevent sunburn. I’ve always had extremely pale skin and therefore been very susceptible to sunburn.

Then I had a really odd allergic reaction to sunscreen once, so I stopped wearing it.

Thus, then the catalog came and this seemed like a great idea. We bought probably $80 worth of merchandise.

The hats were cool, but it still seemed a bit pointless to me because any hat protects against sunburn right?

We also bought a jacket, but I couldn’t bring myself to cover up my new sexy bikini with that massive ugly white tent garment and so I ended up sunburned anyway!

Maybe at some point Coolibar will make its products a bit more stylish. In the mean time, I can’t say they have my raving review.

On the other hand I see the need for spf clothing, since I’m often sunburned because I hate the grease and mess of sunscreen, even though I am no longer allergic.

I hate putting it on my face especially because I wear makeup—then I end up red as a tomato, but only from the neck up!

Overall I would say my recommendation to those considering spf clothing is twofold:

First, don’t spend too much on it. It’s a cool idea, but it isn’t worth breaking the bank over.
You can get great sun protection from thick regular clothing or from the chemical barriers in sunscreen.

Second, make sure you buy clothes that you would actually wear. Try to imagine for a second that there’s nothing special about them—if that were hanging in your closet, would you really use it?

The spf stuff I have I wouldn’t be caught dead in! Best of luck and stay away from skin cancer!