The Old Days
A swim shirt was something too old to wear but too good to throw away. Swim shorts were anything you could still get into. Style was irrelevant. Fashion unknown. No body looked or cared. If you were in water deep enough to get your hair wet you were swimming. All that mattered was how loud you could yell and how much fun you could have. You were swimming! Swimming pools were few and far between in pre WWII America in large Eastern cities.
Swim Shirts
There was no beach. No sand to parade around on No way to be admired. No one thought of it. You were just plain old swimming. You were getting sun burned. It was a grand time. It bears no resemblance to how things are today. Now there must be beach to parade around and be admired on. The too old shirt and the too small pants are all thrown away. A swim shirt serves a totally different purpose. You didn’t yell and parading around on the sand was only fun if you felt admired. You really caught it at home if your came home beet red. A stylish light tan was acceptable but barely. This is where a swim shirt takes center stage. A swim shirt for either a man or a woman. Sunburn is not sexually oriented.
A New Day, A New Danger
Today the big threat is the Big C. Cancer. The lethal painful fatal result in some cases and types from sun. The wonderful sun that used to create the beet red skin color. It used to proclaim to everyone that the proud wearer had been swimming. It now proclaims that some stupid jerk was asking for a nice case of skin cancer. So swim clothing is less for beauty and more for protection. Unfortunately mankind’s existence requires a certain amount of vanity and a certain amount of daring-do so you must be able to satisfy both at the same time. Swim shirts are part of the answer.
A New Use, Protection
Where do you start protecting yourself and looking good at the same time. You can’t tell a protective shirt by just looking. You can tell a fashionable one that way however so start there. Find a good clothing store where the merchandise has a fashionable look. Look at the brand names that are on display. Some names are known to everyone. Speedo or Nike would qualify. Look at the tags on the clothes in your closet and on the backs or something that you admire on a friend. Trust yourself on this point and then trust the seller. From this point on safety is the subject. No matter how svelte you may look in that itsy-bitsy polka dot bikini being a beautiful body for a Miss Hospital Patient contest is not the goal.
For the selection of the rest of your swim shirt and pants outfit some routine and normal things are involved. Style now becomes involved. Nothing says you can’t look good while being protected. Like the design of the clothes as well as the color. Comfort is critical.Consider everything you would think about if the garment was being purchased for a special date or a job interview. If it doesn’t score high on your look good or feel great scale you are not going to wear it. Hanging in your closet it won’t do a thing about exposure to the sun’s ultra violent rays. Remember those rays that used to give you the exotic sun tan. We know through medical knowledge learned in the past few years they can kill you. You may look good but you will never hear those chilling words about “he/she looks so natural”.
The Real threat
UV are initials which were totally unknown to the buyers of swim shirts 20 years ago. Actually they were probably known to a select few who dealt with eyes. Maybe known to a few but not very many of those paid too much attention. Most everyone has purchased sun glasses from the racks in the local 5 and 10. You picked a pair you liked and put them on. With one hand trying to hold the tag out of the way you worked your way down the rack. You looked like a movie star or you didn’t. You thought that the movie stars who paid $150 for a pair or sun glasses were just showing off never trying to figure out that there must be something else involved like UV. Whatever that was. A safe bet would be that the man who sold sun glasses had to be selling something more. Something that was worth more than the two dollars you paid. Not those same looking glasses on the rack at your neighborhood 5 and 10 or pharmacy.
What was that man selling for that out outrageous price? Once the general public finally got a clue the change was amazing. The same racks were placed in the same stores in the same locations with the same sun glasses. The posters advertising the glasses had the same beautiful women and handsome men smiling down on you. The tags on the glasses were pitching a different theme. Every tag specified how they rated against UV: 50% UV or 90% U V. The higher the percentage the more your eyes were protected. The beauty of the deal was that you could see just as clearly with the 90% as with the 50% The glass was no darker or thicker. It was just more protective. Modern science came through again with just a little touch of nostalgia.
Hopefully The Happy End
Save your skin
UV is no longer a mystery to the general public. Most people know what the initials stand for and actually understand what they are and what they do. They eyes have become to media medicine as important as your appendix or your heart. Glasses have become not only a normal item in your wardrobe but in some cases an beauty additive. Time and modern medicine have teamed up to change an annoyance to a life of sunny days.