Why do dark-colored clothes protect better against UV light despite dark colors absorbing more heat?

Question

[https://www.cancer.org/healthy/be-safe-in-sun/uv-protection.html](https://www.cancer.org/healthy/be-safe-in-sun/uv-protection.html)

In: 3

Answer 1

Well, on an ELI5 level, UV radiation absorbed by the clothing isn’t being absorbed by the skin.

On an ELI10 level, a lot of the time the coloring used to create black tends to be less transparent at UV wavelengths than the whites, iirc, so white clothes simply interfere less with passage of UV.