Using clothing as protection against ultraviolet radiation

The purpose of this research was to find an effective household washing method to improve clothing's sun protection. Four washing treatments were investigated: (1) regular powdered TideRTM detergent containing optical brightener, (2) President's ChoiceRTM UV protection detergent containing UV absorber, (3) RitRTM Sun Guard(TM) wash-in treatment containing UV absorber, and (4) water only. Eleven fabrics, mostly designed for summer clothing, were used in the study. For each treatment, a maximum of 40 wash cycles were applied.; Fabric, treatment, and number of wash cycles were found to affect UPF significantly. Tight fabrics with high mass provided good sun protection. Applying the UV absorbers and optical brighteners improved the fabric's UPF dramatically. RitRTM Sun Guard(TM) was the most effective treatment, followed by President's ChoiceRTM, TideRTM and water treatments. With the increase of number of wash cycles, most of the fabrics showed an increase in UPF. Compared with thickness and shrinkage, mass was a more significant factor to influence the UPF.