Wearing tzitzit, staying cool

30th Jul 2019

I know, I know, it's getting hot. So what's the ideal way to keep the mitzvah of wearing tzitzit, without getting overheated?

I'm going to start out with some remarks some readers are likely going to reject, but keep reading.

I wear a wool tallit katan most of the year. I maintain that if I were to wear three layers of cotton, it would be hotter than wearing cotton-wool-cotton (cotton undershirt, wool tallit katan, cotton shirt) because cotton absorbs cotton, not wicking it away as well as wool, so you wind up getting soaked and clammy in your three layers of cotton.

Many people solve the issue by wearing a tzitzit undershirt. Personally I haven't worn one for years. I always assumed cutting down a layer would pretty much do away with the problem, but today I saw this product review one of our customers wrote after ordering a traditional cotton tallit katan and a mesh one.

I've been purchasing Perfzits for several years now, due to the year-round heat and humidity in my area. This year I decided to try a couple of both the Traditional Tallit Katans and the Mesh versions. For me, the size chart was a little short but not enough to take away from my satisfaction with both products. The Traditional Tallit Katan was thin, lightweight, and comfortable. With a thin undershirt it felt as if I wasn't wearing the tallit at all. Very comfortable and highly recommended. - Aryeh

During the peak summer months, I wear a tank top and a traditional cotton tallit katan under my shirt. The only reason I switch to cotton is to enable me to wear a tank top. I find even the super soft wool of our wool undershirt-style tallit katan products (Wool Comfort and Noam Tzitzit) is still itchy without a sleeved undershirt.

For hiking and sports, you might want to go with a TzitzShirt, to cut the layers down to one.