Myths of the Outdoors
Myth No 4 - Wicking baselayer stops your clothing becoming damp and sweaty
When you are working hard your body produces perspiration to help you keep cool.
This will normally evaporate from the surface or be absorbed into the first layer of absorbent clothing.
Most absorbent clothing becomes damp and cold next to the skin, particularly if you stop working hard and start to cool down.
The job of a wicking garment is to pass the perspiration through to the next clothing layer. It only passes it to it's own outer surface. Each layer must do it's own job of passing on the perspiration to the next layer untill it eventually gets to the outer surface and is passed into the atmosphere. If one of these intermediate layers is absorbent it will absorb the perspiration as well as passing it on.
Thus you can have the situation of wearing high performance wicking underwear giving you a dry comfortable skin but your cotton sweatshirt is very damp under your breathable jacket.
For maximum performance wicking underwear requires a middle layer which will wick at a similar rate and an outer layer capable of passing the perspiration rapidly to the atmosphere.
