What clothes can I wear to reduce sweating while doing contra dance?

December 23, 2010 10:18 PM

What clothes can I wear to reduce sweating while doing contra dance? I've considered wicking shirts, but I thought that they might cause the sweat to simply end up on the shirt's surface of my shoulder where my dance partner holds me. Does that make sense? I want to minimize sweat there. It would be really helpful if you could be very specific, to the point of links to products.
posted by rwatson to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (6 answers total)

One guy's secret: multiple t-shirts. Change between songs when you get too sweaty.
Oh and lots of spray on deodorant.
posted by chrisinseoul at 2:40 AM on December 24, 2010

Seconding multiple t-shirts. I tend to get quite, um, dewy, and it's really best if I can change at the break in the middle. Nothing wrong with a quick change more often, either.

I would say, too, don't switch to undershirts/sleeveless shirts; it just means that your skin is wet and clammy instead of a slightly damp/sweat-soaked t-shirt. I'd rather be touching the t-shirt, frankly.
posted by kalimac at 6:40 AM on December 24, 2010

I have this kind of shirt, where the fabric is so thin and breathable that it's hard to even get sweaty. It's great for hiking and I bet would work for dancing too. The link is to something that looks similar to mine, but I'm sure anything you found that's intended for hiking or running would work. It should feel sort of like nylon and have tiny holes in it, if that makes sense.
posted by Margalo Epps at 9:07 AM on December 24, 2010

Performers sweat under the arms and want to avoid visible sweat stains, so wardrobe staff sew dress shields into their clothing. Putting one on your shoulder might work.

They come in two shapes: some are kind of 3-dimensional in a crescent shape designed to fit over the seam of the armpit (you can attach them with tiny safety pins, or a stitch or two at each inner shirt seam). This kind is great in the armpits as it doesn't slide around too much.

The other kind is flat, usually disposable, and designed to kind of fold in half and stick on with adhesive. This type is more annoying in the armpit as they tend to unfold, but they'd probably work perfectly on your shoulder. If you're wearing something sleeveless, you can also cut these in half and stick them inside the arm hole, then carefully trim so the edge doesn't show.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 12:08 PM on December 24, 2010

Different situation, but possibly helpful: I was having a miserable problem with night sweats, and have been delighted to find that wearing silk pajamas is an almost magical solution. Perhaps you could try silk clothing (silk/rayon or silk/linen blend seems to work as well). Wintersilks has lots of choices; the sale section is where I look. And silk would look and feel awesome for dancing. Although lots of silk is labelled "dry clean," it generally washes fine in cold water, gently.
posted by Corvid at 3:17 PM on December 24, 2010

Oh yay a contradancer! My husband wears wicking type shirts (Coolmax and other brands) and finds that the sweat evaporates so quickly that he stays very comfortable. I don't mind touching his back at all while he is wearing this type of shirt - he always feel much dryer than the other guys who are wearing cotton tee shirts or other sorts of shirts. If he knows it's going to be a cool evening, and that he's not going to sweat as much as usual, he will wear an undershirt and then a short sleeved cotton or rayon shirt over that and change that over shirt at the break if he needs to. He's also taken to wearing lightweight nylon hiking pants while dancing.
posted by jvilter at 10:48 PM on December 24, 2010