UKC

Hello,

I've been thinking of buy a fairly skin tight polartec power stretch top but the only thing putting me off is after a few days of hard use it starts to smell. Would putting a odour resistant (like Polartec cocona) base-layer under it prevent the layer above it smelling?

This might sound like a daft question but I'm not sure how the odour resistance works exactly, I have read up on it but still not totally clear. I think it should stop the smell as it stop the bacteria which causes it or breaks the bacteria down, in either case the other layers should be fine. I'm just hoping someone here knows more and can give me a more accurate answer.

Thanks in advance.

In reply to ElBarto: Try merino base-layers and if you want, a merino mid-layer.

In reply to ElBarto: I've found a merino t-shirt makes a huge difference to the smell whilst working just fine as a base layer. If you keep your eyes open sometime you can find them on sale for 20 quid or less. Decathlon ones are well cheap and work fine. Buy it pretty tight fitting even if normally you wouldn't go for the check-out-my-pecs!-oh-and-my-tummy-doh! look because its needs to fit well under your powerstretch top.

Thank you both for your replies, I'm going to go a head and buy that top and get a thin merino wool base-layer (which I've just purchased) to sit under it and hopefully avoid any smells, which I'm my climbing partners will appreciate.

In reply to ElBarto: Contrariwise, I find merino makes me scratch/ sweat/ smell more than most synthetics. Try scrubbing yer pits with antibacterial handwash if this is the case

In reply to ElBarto: I have a berghaus top that claims to have silver ion technology in it to kill bacteria and stop the smell. Don't know if this is true or not, but certainly much less smelly than other base layers that I own.

In reply to Phil Payne:

I'm actually wearing one of those this moment (about to cycle home). My experience is that it didn't last very long, some washes and it is no more or less smelly than any other polypro top. Merinos non-smellyness is to do with the material itself though so they never seem to get smelly.

In reply to TobyA:Merino is much greener than synthetic base layers with silver in them are too.

In reply to ElBarto: Cheers for the advice everyone, looks like the thin merino wool base layer will be best for me.

Thanks again.