White or black clothes in the sunlight? I am confused

[kenny1999]

Without doubt, white color should reflect sunlight while black color should absorb it. It's cooler to wear white clothes. How about protection against sunlight? It's said black is better because more sunlight is absorbed so that it won't reach our skin. I am confused, white color should reflect sunlight away from our skin, isn't it better?

[Genady]

7 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

Without doubt, white color should reflect sunlight while black color should absorb it. It's cooler to wear white clothes. How about protection against sunlight? It's said black is better because more sunlight is absorbed so that it won't reach our skin. I am confused, white color should reflect sunlight away from our skin, isn't it better?

What damages the skin is UV, while white cloth reflects a visible light, not necessarily UV. 

Wear black under white, like polar bears.

 

[Lorentz Jr]

Dark skin contains more melanin (I almost wrote "melatonin"! 😲), which protects the skin against UV, but I would imagine it must be warmer.

Even in cold weather, it can be better to wear light-colored clothing with extra insulation, because dark clothing will heat up and cool down as you go between sunlit areas and shaded areas. With light colors, your temperature will be more even.

[mistermack]

9 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

Without doubt, white color should reflect sunlight while black color should absorb it. It's cooler to wear white clothes. How about protection against sunlight? It's said black is better because more sunlight is absorbed so that it won't reach our skin. I am confused, white color should reflect sunlight away from our skin, isn't it better?

I think you would need figures on how much harmful radiation gets through clothing to give a meaningful opinion. I know that if you hold up a white shirt against the sun, more light gets through than for a black one of similar thickness. But that's visible light, you need figures for the harmful UV wavelengths.

It doesn't appear to be critical. Other factors come into the picture. White clothes quickly get grubby. Not a problem for affluent people who live in areas with plenty of water. But not so good for Bedouins in the Sahara. Also, it may be that some cultures value a paler skin so they don't want to get tanned.

[kenny1999]

Hi all. In a conclusion, white color reflects more visible light while dark color absorbs more lights that include other frequency ranges so it is hotter but most harmful lights are absorbed so that not much reaches our skin.

White color reflects most visible lights but there are a lot of other harmful lights are not reflected but reaches our skin

Is that right?

[studiot]

On 12/15/2022 at 1:26 PM, kenny1999 said:

Without doubt, white color should reflect sunlight while black color should absorb it. It's cooler to wear white clothes. How about protection against sunlight? It's said black is better because more sunlight is absorbed so that it won't reach our skin. I am confused, white color should reflect sunlight away from our skin, isn't it better?

 

1 hour ago, kenny1999 said:

Hi all. In a conclusion, white color reflects more visible light while dark color absorbs more lights that include other frequency ranges so it is hotter but most harmful lights are absorbed so that not much reaches our skin.

White color reflects most visible lights but there are a lot of other harmful lights are not reflected but reaches our skin

Is that right?

The second statement is more nearly correct but it is far from complete as there are other eqyally important considerations.

Western people tend to wear more tightly fitting clothes than other cultures from hot countries.

Both the men who wear white and the women who wear black in arab countries wear long very loose garments that have a layer of air between the clothing an most of the body.
This layer is very important in keeping things cool.