how do you dress to be the heat

[Newly]

     Okay, I'm kinda new to starting a topic but I was wondering if anyone out there had any ideas how we can start getting the major suppliers of the clothes we were to start looking at materials that help us to keep cool in the 88 degree 80% humidity weather we experience from time to time.  I am no expert in fabrics but for the first few years I started shooting in this wonderful Georgia summer heat I would end up after about the 2nd or 3rd stage so wet from perspiration that I felt like someone had dipped me in glue and pulled my shirt over me.  It just stuck to me like all get up and go and made me feel ssooo tired. 
     It wasn't bad at home, cause I could always duck into the house and cool off for about a half hour and watch a western, but at a match I would always have people asking me if I was okay (I came from Arizona - dry heat except for a couple of months of the year).  I am in good shape for 53, I jog 3-4 miles 3 times a week and lift weights but I'll be darned if I can get use to the Humidity here (been here 12 years).  I did have a friend that told me about Coolmax T-shirts (its a Dupont fabric)and I have one that I now use for the matches, I still sweat but the shirt no longer sticks to me like glue.  I wrote to Wah Maker one time and suggested that they try to market a shirt made out of fabric that cools the body a little, they replied very nicely and in no uncertain terms advised me that the majority of people are looking for authentic clothing and that is thier forte.  I have to admit most of the shooters I shoot with in the summer are looking more to stay cool than they are authentic (except in the winter months and those looking for an edge).  Isn't there someway they can take modern material and make it look authentic or close to it.  I can't afford one of those body suits that hook up to the cooler, and I drink half strength powerade till I turn blue, and stay away from the caffiene about 3 days before the match and have been know to wear a straw hat occasionally sometimes with a wet bandanna over my head, I even tried using those bandanas' that have the crystals in them, but it doesn't seem to work, and everyone always ask me, is that fan period correct ?,  I'm just looking for an edge to stay cool and enjoy the matches a little more than what I am now.
      Does anyone know how we can get the manufacturers or even the SASS Mercantile to do a study on what works best.  I don't think the heat is going to go away and it'll probably get worse (there I go sounding like one of those evironmentalist).

Thanks for listenen to an old Fart, my Anglish grammer isn't what it use to be, so pleez xcuse me

Newly

[Delmonico]

They are, but most folks don't realize it.

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,2935.0.html

[Ozark Tracker]

Newly,

, I have an older friend, 80, he wears a long sleeve cotton shirt everyday of the year, never seen him in anything else, he says thats how his dad worked summer and winter,

I seen on here where some say wool works better in summer, but I've never tried that.

all I can say is drink plenty of water, and I guess I could tell you what an od black man that used to work for us told me one time,  eat a Halepeno pepper for breakfast every morning, said that was why the heat didn't affect him.

[Delmonico]

It works OT, it helps open the sweat pores.

[Ozark Tracker]

that fella that I was talking about, swore by it,  he also was big on not drinking too much water at one time just a sip every little bit,  not too much to fast.

[Arcey]

That's what I wear.  Long sleeve cotton over a very loosely woven sleeveless undershirt.  After a shoot on a hot day it really helps to peel that stuff off in the parking lot and pull on a dry tee shirt.

The last couple ain't been terribly hot here but what I've done is leave the shirt tail out.  Pull the gunbelt up every now and again to get some airflow going.

Something Newly mentioned, and BTW Newly, I'm older than you are, is a dry climate.  I was born and raised here in a time when houses and cars weren't air conditioned.  I've been playing in heat and humidity since I was a kid.  It doesn't make it any more comfortable or less dangerous but it does teach you how to deal with it early on.  I would imagine it's more difficult if one has been exposed to and worked or played in dryer climates.

This weekend it's supposed to be in the low 90s.  I'll go with a half dozen bottles of water, frozen, and a couple just chilled.  By the time the chilled ones are gone, the frozen ones will be thawed a bit but not so much I can gulp 'em down.  No "lunch" at the break, a can of tuna and a few saltines is all. Some times just celery spears when it gets toasty.  No soft drinks, a small bottle of V-8 vegetable juice.  Blood pressure medication for desert.  The little battery powered fan will be on the cart too.

I keep threatenin' to sew a pocket on a tee shirt.  Right chest center.  Slip a zip lock bag of ice in it.  Maybe I'll do that this week.  If I could sew..............

[Ozark Tracker]

Arcey,  you've hit on an idea,  just get one of them ammo bandeliro's and stick them little frozen packs for lunch boxes int the ammo pockets, that's bound to keep you a little cooler

[Cooper York]

Another idea you can try  (along with the others) is to keep a cold bandana around your neck. After you shoot a stage dip the bandana in the cold water that's in your ice chest, wring it out, wipe your face, and then wrap it around your neck. I shoot several clubs in the New Orleans area where heat and humidity rule and I know this helps me.

[Newly]

Thanks to Delmonico for the link and the info, I understand how that works and it worked well for me in Arizona, but here in Georgia it gets muggy and stays muggy.  what I really need is some way to get the sweat from my body to the outside of the garmet and get it to evaporate and that just doesn't seem to happen with the 100% cotton shirts (at least for me here in Georgia, it did in Arizona), fortunately when I wear just the Coolmax T Shirt when I'm doing Yard work, the shirt gets wet on the outside but doesn't stick to my body like the cotton ones do and my body seems to be able to breath a little better even though the outside of the shirt is wet to the touch, all this seems to add to my stamina as long as I KEEP hydrated.  when I wear a period correct cowboy shirt over the coolmax T shirt the cowboy shirt is soaked (and doesn't seem to breathe too well) and stays soaked until I take it off, the T Shirt is wet on the outside but seems to be dry next to my skin - how it works I don't know.  Thats why I was hoping to talk one of the clothing manufacturers into trying to make a test shirt and see if it it works in the Muggy climates, so I could remove a layer (T shirt under a Shirt) of clothing, I'm talking 85 degree weather with 80-88% humidity.  I read somewhere in a study that part of the problem with heatstroke was the skin not being able to brathe, it adds to the sapping of your stamina and that if you could stay dry and KEEP hydrating it lowered your risk of heat stroke.   

[Delmonico]

I'm going to tell you something you might not want to hear, but esp if you are taking any meds at all, you might want to talk to your doctor and find out for sure if you have a medical problem.  I am a camp cook and I deal with far more heat than most folks can imagine and the humidity and the heat you are dealing with is not that bad. 

If there are no problems then with out wantin' to sound heartless or a smart alec, it might just be something you will have to ignore and go on.  Wool might be your answer because it wicks better than cotton.  How long have you lived in Georia, it just might take you a bit of time to adjust.

[Newly]

Thank you again Delmonico, and no you are not a smart alec, I appreciate your posts, I do take meds but my Doc says they shouldn't affect me all that much ( I jog 3-4 miles 3 times a week in the heat).  I pretty much put up with it and it didn't phase me until I visited the vendors at Mule Camp this year and saw a lot of soaked shirts & pants walking around (notice I said walking and not being carried), I just thought it would be interesting to see if a Vendor/manufacturer could test the fabric (the Cool Max fabric T-Shirt looks like a regular T-shirt, no special patterns etc., it just feels softer for some reason) and see if it made a difference for some people, if they could make a semi authentic shirt out of it, it might be profitable.......and we might have some more competition during the summer months  & more money for the clubs ?), ya see out here when someone who shoots fairly regular doesn't show up, I here a lot of people talking about "fair weather shooters"  I thank all of you for your input, I am going to try the Chili Peppers (they make my Bald spot sweat and I see if that helps open my pores in the morning.   

Take Care

[Ozark Tracker]

Newly,  like Arcey, I grew up in heat and humidity, temps  high 90's to above 100, and 80 to 90 % humidity,  worked chopping cotton, soybeans, driving tractors, hauling hay, back when it was done by hand.  just always worked outside. I seen heatstroak, not me but 3 other people, in each case before it happened, these people stopped sweating, their body just stopped cooling, I've always been able to deal with the heat, but I sweat, looks like I been thrown in a lake and walked out.

with the high humidity, if your body is working right your just going to sweat, a lot.  I've seen lots of days out working when my shirt and even my levi's could have had the water wrung out of them, there's just not anything much you can do about that. the layers of clothes even though wet are better than single layer.  I think the wet cloth on the head or neck is good, and Arcey's fan is good,  but heat with hunidity is just something you have to learn to live in,  take a towel with you and use it when you can, but just remember if it were't for the sweat you couldn't be out there at all.

[Delmonico]

I  don't want to say anything bad about any of the clothing companies, but at the level I deal with them I can tell you, your chance of them listening to me, let alone you is about nill.  Your idea is not bad, but I wouldn't hold my breath for it to happen.  I've made many suggestions less radical and I don't hold my breath for them to happen.

[Camille Eonich]

I've started wearing a 100% cotton t-shirt under my blouse and my vest in the summer.  Yes, I layer in the summer more so than I do in the winter.  Keep yourself covered and keep the sun off of you and you will stay cooler.  May sound backwards but it's the truth.  You can drink too much water.  As a runner you probably already know that electrolytes and water have to be balanced and if you drink to much water without replacing the electrolytes you can become sick.

Drinking too much water can lead to a condition known as water intoxication and to a related problem resulting from the dilution of sodium in the body, hyponatremia.

When too much water enters the body's cells, the tissues swell with the excess fluid. Your cells maintain a specific concentration gradient, so excess water outside the cells (the serum) draws sodium from within the cells out into the serum in an attempt to re-establish the necessary concentration. As more water accumulates, the serum sodium concentration drops -- a condition known as hyponatremia. The other way cells try to regain the electrolyte balance is for water outside the cells to rush into the cells via osmosis. The movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from higher to lower concentration is called osmosis. Although electrolytes are more concentrated inside the cells than outside, the water outside the cells is 'more concentrated' or 'less dilute' since it contains fewer electrolytes. Both electrolytes and water move across the cell membrane in an effort to balance concentration. Theoretically, cells could swell to the point of bursting.

By the way this quote just mentions sodium but maganese, magnesium and potassium are other important electrolytes.

[Lucky Irish Tom]

Cammie's right, my skin is not real tolerant of the Sun and some of the meds I take make me less receptive to its rays.  I have found that layering my clothing and balancing my water intake with an occassional sport drink to replace electrolytes actually keeps me cooler than some of the supposedly cooler clothing I have worn when I ride.  If you wear clothing that wicks the sweat away to the extent you are talking about you could become dehydrated much more quickly than you think.  You also have to judge the overall climate, if it's 85 - 90 degrees and low humidity you are going to feel less heat because your sweat is wicking away and drying to cool your body when its 90% humidity there is no where for the moisture to go so the sweat is going to stay on your body longer making you feel hot and sticky instead of cooled, hate to tell you this pard, but it seems to get worse with age.  There's has been a lot of good advice on this page, one thing you might want to do is consult a physician, if you're like me there are times, like this time of year, when he will caution you to limit your outdoor exposure.  Getting older might mean you have more time to do what you want, you just might not be able to do as much of it as you could when you were younger. 

[Curley Cole]

I don't mind the heat, but the humidity just kills me. Our last shoot with the Cowboys was a hot one and of course the humidity was up there. I Wore a red undershirt and a vest which I shucked even before the salute started. Me and Old Top had 2 canteens going and still bought 3-4 bottles of water. I sweat like a hog. In fact when I got home, I looked in the mirror and there were white spots all over my shirt where the sweat dried and left the salt. I thought it would be cool to leave it that way for the look, but the smell probably would be unpleasant in a bit.

My uncle was a geologist/miner in Arizona and he always wore a long sleeved cotton shirt. So, guess the old timers knew how to take the heat

The one thing the white spots on my shirt did point out to me was the loss of salt. I may add a bit of gatoraide to my drinking to keep the electrolites balanced out..

cc

[Delmonico]

One mistake many make is they run the air in their car when going to a shoot or ren-actment event.  Most run the air lower in a car than at home and you are right in the air stream, they step from cold to hot, never good.  Only run the air on the way home to cool yourself, you'll do much better.

I often do 3 day events where I cook in up to 100+, when I make a grocery run I always get my arse in and out as fast as I can, too long will make it harder when I get back to camp.

[Major 2]

I'm gonna throw something in here...
When I was reenacting (mounted Horse cavalry) which meant wool uniforms with a wool Military vest w/brushed cotton backs, cotton or linen shirts.... in other words layers.
I wore silk long johns I bought from Cabela's , they come in black or natural =white, in two piece.
The silk would wick away the perspiration and stays dry,  the wool breaths.  I still do at shoots but now period western wear.

I'm from Florida (a native cracker), home of heat and humidity , if it ain't 96 deg. & 96% humility it's one more % and raining 

I went to look up the Cat # for the silks (DG- 90-1491 top & DG-90-1493 drawers ) and found Cabel's offers Heatgear (TM) ( may be the the Cool Max fabric that Newly spoke of ) .
I have not tried Heatgear (TM), but the Silks worked great and are a natural period correct fabric.

No Brokeback comments 

[Silver_Rings]

I agree with what has been posted here, however my solution is moving to a cooler climate once I find it.    I don't like the cold but I can put more layers on.

I even made a new gun belt and shotgun belt that I can wear over my winter coat so I don't even have to take my coat off to shoot.

SR

[kitdalton]

During the Dog Days of Summer, One or more clubs in Texas allow shorts, short sleeve shirts, hats optional, etc.  It ain't cowboy but it beats heat disabilities.  Around 98 I stayed out too long in the sun over several days of shooting and came down with heat related problems.  Used sun block and still got sunburn.  Used deets for the mosquitos.  Can't say for sure what caused it but after sunburn cleared I was left with little or no skin pigment on both arms and top of hands. Now I can't stand any sun on those areas without serious burn. When in the sun I wear soft cotton gloves.