Analysis of Skin Protection from the Dangers of Sun Exposure Using Color Variations and Types of Cotton Fabrics

Abstract

Cotton fabric is a comfortable clothing material to wear in tropical climates. In addition to the comfort aspect, cotton fabricis expected to protect the skin from the dangers of sun exposure. This research was conducted to know the optimum amount of protection produced by cotton fabrics, to determinethe most effective type and color of cotton fabrics as a protector, and to know the SPF (sun protection factor) valuescategory based on the type and color of cotton fabrics. This study used three types of cotton fabrics, each consisting of four colors, and theDigital Environment Multimeter which was used to measure the intensity of sunlight in units of lux. The protection value is obtained by comparing the intensity of sunlight without a cotton fabricsprotector (lux) with the intensity of sunlight using a cotton fabricsprotector (lux). The results obtained show that the most optimum protection value is found in black Toyobo cotton fabricswith an SPF value of 54.4 and a transmittance of 1.8%. The cotton fabrics whichprovided the most effective protection based on type and color areToyobo, Medina,and Japanese type with black and blue ones.Based on the SPF valuesobtained, it can be seen thattheblackToyobo,the blue Toyobo,and the black Medinacotton fabrics have an excellent protection category. The black Japanese,the blue Japanese,andthe blue Medinatype, have a good protection category, while the orange Toyobo cotton fabrics hasa sufficient protection category.