Being particularly confident in my appearance, the thought of wearing a shirt over my swimsuit had never occurred to me until I found myself at a lake outing with my close friend, his younger brothers, and several kid-cousins. I loved my swimsuit, but it was more revealing than I was comfortable wearing in front of my friend’s young family members. I decided that the easiest remedy for my problem was to simply leave my long t-shirt on over my bikini. In doing so, I discovered three important things about swimming with a shirt on.

The first was that swimming in a wet shirt was surprisingly non-intrusive to my day. Even drenched, the lightweight t-shirt was not heavy, and I did not feel weighed down by its wetness. Although it did drip more after coming out of the water than a swimsuit would, it was easy to wring out and fast drying. Overall, swimming in a shirt did not feel much different than just swimming in my swimsuit. 

The second was that a dark colored t-shirt, despite being quite thin and breathable, protected my shoulders from the sun better than sunblock ever had. Being very fair-skinned, even a thick layer of sunscreen, constantly reapplied, couldn’t keep me from getting large, blistering sunburns over my shoulders and back after several hours in the sun, but, even though the sun still slightly burned my delicate skin, I was completely free of those large, painful burns over my shoulders and back. This was a huge weight off of me, not only because I was spared the pain of a substantial sunburn. I was also spared the fear of potential long-term effects, especially considering that sun exposure is the leading cause of skin cancer, which is the most common cancer in the United States (Cleveland Clinic).

The third was that I could do this whenever I wanted to. This was an easy and accessible way for me to cover up whenever I felt the need to, without having to pay for an entire other swimsuit for when I wanted to dress more modestly. I could also easily switch to something lighter, if I was feeling bogged down in my current shirt, or I could switch to something heavier and darker, if I wanted more sun protection. 

Swimming with a shirt on has gotten a bad reputation, being associated with low confidence and negative body image, but it is an undeserved one. Swimming with a shirt on has a number of great benefits, especially to the health of your skin, and I highly recommend adding a lightweight t-shirt or two to your rotation of swimwear, to use as a cover-up, and while swimming.