Sweating & dehydration - Wick away or not?

[Rich_AR]

Excess sweating and dehydration are related,this is very simple. But what is the best way to manage it and what clothing is the best to managed it?

Situation: It's a very hot climate (80%+ humidity, 35degs+, little wind), you're sweating lots and have limited water. So which items of clothing are the better option:-

a) Less breathable clothes, which contains your sweat but keeps you hot.

Or

b) Meshed clothes, very breathable, wicks sweat away.


So which is better? Does containing the sweat prevent sweating more, since the sweat is kept within the clothes and little evaporation (and less dehydration) or does wicking away the sweat, keeping you cooler but in return does the body actually continues to sweat more (since it wicks away) but actually increases dehydration.

Thoughts?

[Disastrous]

Good question. As a supplemental question, I've never really 'got' wicking layers.

Let's say I'm doing a spot where I wear layers and sweat heavily (skiing, for example).

I understand that the wicking base layer, wicks the sweat away from my skin, but to where? My mid layer, presumably, which is why I end up with a sweat soaked fleece...I think the idea is that from there it can evaporate through a breathable shell but surely anyone sweating produces more than the rate of evaporation, even to open air? Also, a soaking wet undershirt is easier to bung in the wash than all your layers.

How is it meant to work? I really can't spot a difference between an expensive base layer and a cotton undershirt.

[Hugo a Gogo]

if you sweat and it doesn't wick away or evaporate, you are still hot so you will sweat more, no?

[AngryPartsBloke]

I only ever worried about a wicking layer when it was hot in the day and then cold at night. If the Sweat didn't wick away come nightful you'd be wearing a freezing cold wet base layer.

[Disastrous]

Hugo a Gogo said:

if you sweat and it doesn't wick away or evaporate, you are still hot so you will sweat more, no?

You still are anyway though, as where does the sweat that's wicked away go except for one layer up? It can't evaporate as fast as you produce it!

[Hugo a Gogo]

just stops you being wet against your skin, causing chafing etc

[Disastrous]

Hugo a Gogo said:

just stops you being wet against your skin, causing chafing etc

Yeah, that seems to be all they do for me, which I can live without really (for the ease of washing reason above)...Hmm, may go back to cotton T-shirts.

[Hoofy]

Disastrous said:

Hugo a Gogo said:

if you sweat and it doesn't wick away or evaporate, you are still hot so you will sweat more, no?

You still are anyway though, as where does the sweat that's wicked away go except for one layer up? It can't evaporate as fast as you produce it!

Your original post made a good point but perhaps this reply will give you an idea of what goes on:

I've been playing tennis during winter and sweating like a bh. I have been wearing a wicking layer under a fleece. And a windproof and waterproof shell on top of that. Now, if I were to play for 2 hours with that all zipped up, I'd probably pass out from the heat but as the session progresses, I unzip layers to vent which means my fleece isn't soaked in sweat.

[Rich_AR]

Chaffing or being cold at night isn't a concern here. It's more around excess sweating and dehydration.

So basically do you sweat more in a well brenched sweated attire or a vented holey wicking type stuff?

Bit more backgroud to why I am asking; I ride enduro bikes in South East Asia. Humid as hell in the jungle and trails. Some guys wear vented clothing, some wear normal stuff. We all sweat masssively and I for one will nail 3L of water in less than 2 hours of riding if not more. So which attire is more effective on the body?

Thanks for the replies so far though!

[Disastrous]

Hoofy said:

Disastrous said:

Hugo a Gogo said:

if you sweat and it doesn't wick away or evaporate, you are still hot so you will sweat more, no?

You still are anyway though, as where does the sweat that's wicked away go except for one layer up? It can't evaporate as fast as you produce it!

Your original post made a good point but perhaps this reply will give you an idea of what goes on:

I've been playing tennis during winter and sweating like a bh. I have been wearing a wicking layer under a fleece. And a windproof and waterproof shell on top of that. Now, if I were to play for 2 hours with that all zipped up, I'd probably pass out from the heat but as the session progresses, I unzip layers to vent which means my fleece isn't soaked in sweat.

Fair one. I tend to be 'hot' most of the time so Winter tennis is played in shorts and t shirt with a hoody for the 1st 5 minutes until I warm up, regardless of weather, which seems to work fine. Skiing is trickier as you can't really be whipping things on and off as you heat up and cool down. I like to get my kit on, ski, and not worry about it again until I stop for booze.

[Hoofy]

Disastrous said:

Hoofy said:

Disastrous said:

Hugo a Gogo said:

if you sweat and it doesn't wick away or evaporate, you are still hot so you will sweat more, no?

You still are anyway though, as where does the sweat that's wicked away go except for one layer up? It can't evaporate as fast as you produce it!

Your original post made a good point but perhaps this reply will give you an idea of what goes on:

I've been playing tennis during winter and sweating like a bh. I have been wearing a wicking layer under a fleece. And a windproof and waterproof shell on top of that. Now, if I were to play for 2 hours with that all zipped up, I'd probably pass out from the heat but as the session progresses, I unzip layers to vent which means my fleece isn't soaked in sweat.

Fair one. I tend to be 'hot' most of the time so Winter tennis is played in shorts and t shirt with a hoody for the 1st 5 minutes until I warm up, regardless of weather, which seems to work fine. Skiing is trickier as you can't really be whipping things on and off as you heat up and cool down. I like to get my kit on, ski, and not worry about it again until I stop for booze.

Well, by vent, I don't mean remove but unzip. My fleece (Polartec) and shell will have full length zips.

TBH If you're skiing, then just wear a wicking layer and shell. At speed, the air should remove excess water vapour as your coat won't be hermetically sealed.

[Disastrous]

I actually steam when I'm skiing. Comes up from my chest/neck in clouds!

Often just wear a t shirt with nothing on top tbh. Chuck a jacket on for the chairlift but once I'm moving, I've not found a 'technical garment' that can keep up.

[Hoofy]

Disastrous said:

I actually steam when I'm skiing. Comes up from my chest/neck in clouds!

Often just wear a t shirt with nothing on top tbh. Chuck a jacket on for the chairlift but once I'm moving, I've not found a 'technical garment' that can keep up.

Right, well, how about a Montane Pertex like this: http://amzn.to/1hlJbrg

I wear a longer Montane Velo shell over the Polartec when playing tennis in winter as when I get really hot, I stuff the shell in a pocket! I will continue to wear the fleece zipped down to my abs.

[RizzoTheRat]

Hugo a Gogo said:

if you sweat and it doesn't wick away or evaporate, you are still hot so you will sweat more, no?

I'd go with this.

I assume from the OP's later comment he's talking about wearing some form of protective kit over the top of his base layer?

A non wicking base layer will get damp with sweat, which will then evaporate off in the breeze, cooling the remaining moisture in the clothes and therefore cooling the rider and hopefully reducing the .

A wicking layer means the swat moves away from the skin before it evaporates, so doesn't cool the skin as much.

IMO

[Disastrous]

Hoofy said:

Disastrous said:

I actually steam when I'm skiing. Comes up from my chest/neck in clouds!

Often just wear a t shirt with nothing on top tbh. Chuck a jacket on for the chairlift but once I'm moving, I've not found a 'technical garment' that can keep up.

Right, well, how about a Montane Pertex like this: http://amzn.to/1hlJbrg

I wear a longer Montane Velo shell over the Polartec when playing tennis in winter as when I get really hot, I stuff the shell in a pocket! I will continue to wear the fleece zipped down to my abs.

That looks good - I rate Montane pretty highly. Perfect for winter tennis, I'd have thought.

I spent a fortune on a Salomon 2 in 1 thing, that consists of a synthetic down layer that sits inside a Goretex shell but it's absolutely roasting! The problem is, when the weather closes in, nobody's superhuman enough to not need something warm, so I'd always want to have something like that to hand in the rucksack, just in case. We had a day like that in Austria a fortnight ago. Sunny at the lodge but when the chair went over a ridge and exposed itself, you wouldn't have been able to take your gloves off for more than about 5 minutes. Biting cold wind. I'd have looked pretty daft in a t shirt then! By the time, I'd reached the bottom though, I had literally sluiced myself out