by Joomy » Thu 01 Aug, 2013 12:26 am
Total nonsense re. wicking and cotton. Is he really advocating cotton underwear for hiking? Wicking doesn't occur through absorption it occurs through capillary action. Cotton (and wool) retains water and takes ages to dry out. Synthetic fibres don't retain as much water and transfer (wick) it more effectively, thus drying out faster. It's false to claim that "if you sweat into cotton underwear, you have wet cotton underwear. If you sweat into polypropylene underwear, you have wet polypropylene underwear" because anyone who has tried it knows that the polypro stays wet for a much shorter time.