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Why is cotton "bad"?

24K views 29 replies 22 participants last post by  survivorman142 
#1 ·
Ok ive heard you guys say that for hiking, backpacking and general outdoors that cotton is really bad. Why? Ive never hiked more than a day and a half at a time and never in the snow so i may be missing on what you guys are saying. Is it because it holds on to sweat and water so much?
 
#5 ·
Because cotton holds moisture and loses its insulating properties. Cotton is worse than worthless in cooler weather.

Wool is much better for cold weather because it keeps moisture away from the skin better than cotton. The moisture is suspended in the weave of the material (away from the skin) and can absorb 35-55% of its weight before feeling cold and wet.

Cotton on the other hand is a hydrophilic fabric wich means it easily absorbs moisture , as in sweat from your body to the material itself, and is horrible for wicking it away from the skin. It just lays on you feeling cold and wet. Cotton will become damp even on humid days.

You can use this to your advantage on hot days by constantly keeping your cotton shirt and bandanna wet. This will not only keep you cooler but you'll lose less body water because you aren't sweating as much since your already "wet".
 
#6 ·
Ok.. Put a wet 100 percent cotton shirt on.. then.. go out side in the snow then take it off being naked is better then being soaked with a cotton shirt.. so if you say fell in a lake during winter got stranded had nothing go naked over wearing it.. Cotton has no insulation when wet.. Meaning get it wet and it will cool you off not keep you warm.. do that with wool it will still keep you warm soaking wet it just will be very heavy..
 
#12 ·
As everyone else said.

Cotton Kills.

And dont be under the illusion that "as long as i keep my coat on i will be fine"- you wont- you sweat more than you think.
I have had to many bad experiences to do with a simple cotton t-shirt.

Jeans also- they are doubaly bad. they restrict movement even more when wet, weigh a ton when dry and even more when wet and take years to dry.
I refuse to take people hiking if they are wearing jeans.
 
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#15 · (Edited)
some sort of synthetc 'wicking' material, it should feel light and when you take it out of the washingmachine it should feel dry.

Go into any decent outdoor shop and look for 'baselayer' stuff.

Helly Hansen do great baselayers.

http://www.hellyhansen.com/products/filter/gender=Men|activity=Outdoor|product_type=HH_Dry

synthetic or wool and in some circumstances silk are the fabrics to use.
Be careful though, some synthetic stuff holds water worse than cotton.
 
#17 ·
I used to think this "its hot, i don't need to worry", a slight wind will chill you to the bone. and what if you are caught out and have to stay out at night (isn't that what this site is all about; being prepared)
I'm glad i could help.

enjoy your hikes!
 
#22 ·
That doesent mean to stop wearing it!
I carry a cotton T to put on when around camp, if the situation allows- but for walking or any phisical activity something else goes on.
I agree, it is very much more comfortable than the stuff we recommend you wear.
 
#24 ·
The 'Guide Gear' polyester fleece long underwear from sportsmansguide.com is very nice for a base layer, in my opinion. It's nice and comfortable. I've worn it in cold weather, 20 degrees, 30 degrees. It's nice. It's not really expensive.
I think the polyester fleece is quite a bit more comfortable than polypropelene. That was my opinion anyway. I tried polypropelene before.
With polypropelene clothing, you may want to read the tags for washing instructions. Some may say to take it out of a washer and let it hang dry. If you toss some polypropelene clothes into a dryer, they can have a tendency to shrink some.
 
#25 ·
In general, synthetic clothing will keep you cooler in the heat and warmer in the cold.
The only exception I can think of is down, but don't get down wet. Down will not field dry well, and doesn't retain any heat when wet. Ask me how I know this.

Synthetic clothing is generally lighter then natural (again, the exception being down). Weight is a huge consideration for back-packing.

It's very easy to field wash and dry synthetic clothing. All you need is a stream, bar of Ivory soap and a bit of 5-50 cord. Cotton, wool and down seem to take forever to field dry. This means that you can take much less synthetic clothing on extended treks, as you can wash and dry your clothing on the trail. This makes for a lighter pack. It also means you are carrying less pack volume, which means you can use a smaller pack. The smaller pack is more comfortable and itself lighter, again reducing weight. Whoa, got on a little tangent there.

I've heard people complaining of synthetic clothing retaining an odor more than natural fibers. I disagree, finding both to stink equally well when dirty. I have noticed that my synthetic clothing seems to appear clean much longer then my cotton clothing under the same field conditions. Again, you can basically wring your synthetic shirt out a few times in a stream, put it on, and wear it dry in an hour.

Hope that helps.
 
#26 ·
My base layer in winter is silk, and in summer is synthetic. Synthetics can kill too however, I just like to throw caution to the wind. If you are around a campfire in a synthetic shirt, or hot brass, or exploding IED's (the latter two are a tad less applicable in a hiking context), synthetics will melt and stick to your body rather than just burning off or not bursting into flames.

3rd degree burns over your entire torso, and the inability to properly dress the burn because removing the clothing will open the wound and cause you to bleed to death, is very very bad. This is why the military prohibits synthetic base layers. Just some food for thought in a survival context.
 
#28 ·
I totally agree with the silk being the layer closest to the skin. It has excellent insulating properties, wicks moisture away well, and is very lightweight. Helps keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Also, it will not melt to your skin the way synthetics will. (It will also help keep your wool layer from making you itch, if you have sensitive skin, like I do.)
 
#29 ·
I am in Northern CA like the OP and have had similar thought issues when I was younger.

Cotton pants, old cotton long johns, Vietnam era cotton coat, etc.

I would trek for miles in all kinds of weather in Northern CA and have no issues.

I had a semi water resistant parka in my bag as well.

12 hours in the field with a pellet gun was about as perfect of a day as you could get.

I did not, however, stay in the field all night long after getting particularly wet or beat up. I always went home at night.

This lead to me not having a good sense of that 'next level' of being in the field. My family is from Scotland and I was given a ton of advice on clothing which I figured was outdated.

It had to be, I mean, they lived in the hills and wore dresses.

What I found later on is that 100's of years of living in terrible conditions gave those Scotsmen some good ideas.

Even though it does not snow here, even though we get low rain, even though it is pretty mild here, we are also not toughened to bad weather.

You may not need silk, you may not need a lot of extra clothing, getting a better (lightweight) base layer with some tough outer shell pants+coat is a great idea to getting through our harsh 35 degree Winters.
 
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