To wonder why more adults don't wear rash vests

[Hardingham291]

On holiday in Greece, it's 41 degrees and rising. I'm wearing my long sleeved rash vest in the pool. It's so easy, don't have to worry about how long I've been in the water for or re applying the sun cream all over my body. Its also great for keeping cool if you leave it on after a swim.

A few kids are wearing them but I'm the only adults. So many burnt shoulders here. Why aren't they a 'thing'?

@Hardingham291 totally agree with you - both me and DH wear them all the time now. Can't be bothered applying sun cream all the time and I've given up tanning as just go pink and freckle. So easy not worrying about burning. Really can't understand why more adults don't wear them.

No idea. I’m in a country that has one of the highest rates of skin cancer worldwide, so admittedly a lot of people do wear rashes BUT short sleeve ones. Everyone sticks kids in long sleeved ones but then as adults most wear short sleeved ones like somehow their lower arms are immune to skin cancer. It’s weird.

Because most adults' last experience of going to a pool is where you could only wear a standard swimming costume/trunks and nothing else?

I'm a little torn on this, obviously no one should allow their skin to burn but we absolutely do need vitamin D - I take a daily supplement as we just don't get enough in the UK. If my kids are playing outside in the pool or with the sprinkler I will put their long sleeve rash vest on to prevent burning as they're in the water.

Does your husband want one? Can he not pick for himself what he wants to wear and it’s his body to worry about sunscreen?

I have very pale skin and neither me nor my kids would cope with a summer holiday in Europe… Our bodies are certainly not designed for it!

we generally go on holiday in March/April and I always take my rash vest but find I don’t need it every day as the sun is less aggressive. If I was in the pool / sea / sun for more that 30 mins at a time even in spring I’d def want to cover my shoulders with more than suncream. Plus I’m too prone to missing a square inch (or maybe I should blame my partner for the bits I can’t reach) and getting that bit burnt to a crisp if I’m in a bikini. The rash tops are way more reliable. I treat them same as I do bikinis and get changed straight away into a dry one as I hate sitting in soggy bottoms.

as a child my mum would generally make me swim in a cotton tshirt. I guess rash tops weren’t as readily available back then. It was swimming cossie on, suncream on, then tshirt on during 12-3pm. I still got some horrific burn on occasion and I remember it being so painful I never want my kids to experience that (or myself ever again)

Because there is an excellent alternative called suncream. Never worn a rash vest, neither have my kids, we are blond, although mixed European blond, rather than British blond, so we do tan quite well. Never got burnt. But also don't spend all day in the sun, don't spend more than 10 mins in the pool or sea, spend some time in the shade. What you will quite often see, is redness from heat though. I can go bright red if I get really hot. Pop inside with some air con, and it disappears. It really depends on what kind of skin you have.

Most non-Brit Europeans wouldn't wear a rash vest for relaxing on a beach or by the pool, unless for medical reasons.

aussie friends wear them all the time. 10-20 mins in the sun and then put a rash vest on to enjoy rest of day at pool or beach. I wouldn’t be without it now and still manage to tan, but just gradually without burning.

I wear one if I'm sailing, windsurfing, or doing a long sea swim. I don't tend to wear them in the pool, because I'll be in it for about twenty minutes and then back in the shade. I don't sunbathe ever, I have no interest in damaging my skin unnecessarily.

I prefer to wear suncream and to seek shade. These days I would also avoid going somewhere where it's likely to get very hot. If I wanted to go to Greece I'd go at Easter or October.

I bought one to wear on holiday in Greece this year after burning last year for the first time in years - but that was mostly down to discovering snorkeling which massively increased my time in the sun/water. I wore it in the sea but not the pool, where I tend to only have a quick dip anyway and then run back to some shade. I'm ginger and freckly so don't really do sunbathing!
I also often get a nasty heat rash in high temps which oily sunscreen makes worse, so it was nice to be able to take a break from the sunscreen and still swim.

I wear a Roxy long sleeve one piece, have done for years. Sunscreen to me is an unpleasant necessary evil. Nothing worse than swimming in a pool with a greasy slick of sunscreen floating on top, annd it’s not great for the environment. It’s amazing to me how so many people just don’t care about the risk of skin cancer.

Because they don't want to and, as adults, they get to make their own choices.

I had a short sleeved one but didn't like the tightness around my armpits (given it's hot so more sweaty). I didn't like the feel.of it wet after getting out the pool. Also didn't like I had to wear a bikini top under it so 2 layers/sweaty/hotter. I might try again though if I can find a different style.

Aren't they unbearably hot? They look really uncomfortable. I just stay in the shade.

DH always wears one, in the sun or in the pool. He prefers to be a bit more covered up and he is always holding a small child and says it's easier/more comfortable to hold them with it on.

I got one for the first time last year and love it.

Humans evolved to be outdoors most of the time and for their skin to naturally tan/darken as the weather got hotter in summer. Very gradual process. Not to be mostly indoors in a cooler country and then suddenly outdoors and with a lot more exposed skin in a hotter country for a week or two. The sudden change isn't good for skin.

I find with suncream it doesn't go on evenly or I have a handprint on my back and red around it, even with the 'help' of others.

I don't go in the sun anymore anyway, except for 10/15 min to get the good Vit D and that's it.

I do wonder why people wear skimpy clothes in the sun when they have to then cover themselves in sticky sun cream, but it is their choice!

I wear one at the beach. Both my mother and grandmother had skin cancer so I’m very careful of the sun.

I rarely spend long enough in the pool to warrant a rash vest. But like you im surprised that more people don’t - the number of lobster red shoulders and backs at the average holiday resort is horrifying.

I wear an SPF 50 long sleeve swim top so same thing, however it is less comfortable than bare skin and it was expensive. Worth it to me though.

I also have a J crew one. They have some in gorgeous colours.

I used to get the DC ones from landsend.

They look very sweaty and awfully uncomfortable. Maybe if I had 90% less body fat. Makes me panic imagining trying to get a wet rash vest off over my long wet tangle hair omg panic attack incoming! I’m rarely out of the shade though as the sun makes me ill.

I wear just my swimsuit to swim early morning or evening, then put a zip up rash vest and a hat on to swim in the middle of the day. I love it, and have an autoimmune disease that means I shouldn't be in the sun so it works well for me. I do tan easily though, and find I go home tanned anyway just from a morning swim.

Yes they can be, I wouldn't lie in the sun wearing it, I take it off once I'm out of the pool. But it does help in the water.

I don't actually lay in the sun and try to tan...I sit in the shade. But I absolutely love to swim on holiday and can spend hours in the pool and sea. Constantly having to get out and reapply sunscreen and hope I haven't missed a bit is a pain.