I wouldn’t make an assumption about why someone is wearing long sleeves because there are too many plausible explanations (as this thread shows). However, guessing it’s to hide evidence of cutting or track marks would be way way waaaaay down the list for me, if those potential reasons even got a look-in at all.
FWIW, I’ve been known to wear long sleeves all year round (yes, in Australia). It’s due to a combination of factors, including feeling cold all the time thanks to some of my health problems and wanting to keep as much of my body out of the sun as possible (all those warnings about skin cancer worked on me). I have a mole on the top of one arm that I was always concerned about exposing to the sun. To a lesser degree, there were body image issues too, but mostly it was that - even if I didn’t feel cold in the summer - I still felt cool enough to be comfortable in long sleeves so that’s what I wore.
Some of the body temperature problems I’ve had have started to ease in the last few years, and so I finally own singlet tops! It’s the first time in my life I’ve regularly worn clothing without sleeves.
Very few of my work attire worthy shirts are short sleeved, so my co-workers see me in long sleeves 99% of the time. No track marks, no issues over my hairy arms, No scars, I’m not cold. The short sleeves come out in the summer, on fridays, sometimes. I’m also the odd duck that thinks wearing an undershirt in the summer traps cooler air next to your body. Must have been a Bedouin in my past life.
Oh, but air conditioning can be brutal for us thin-blooded types. In the summer, I always take a long sleaved shrit if I’ll be indoors for more that 30 minutes, so that includes restaurants, offices, movies, and malls. I’ll usually have short sleaved shirt on underneath, but if I’m not outside for very long I might not bother to take the top layer off.
I wouldn’t assume anything actually. I don’t care enough to spend much time thinking about it.
But, I can say that for me, there are a couple reasons.
When I was younger, my mom bought me mostly long sleeved shirts because I am a very pale redhead and I burn very easily. I got used to it. Even now, I will wear long sleeves and not feel any noticable temperature difference from short sleeves.
Another reason is one of my two tattoos. They are both on my left arm. One (the little one) is on the top of my wrist. The other is on my forearm and covers from about 1" above my wrist to about 1-1/2" below the crook. I don’t have to cover my tats at work but it can be disruptive when I’m trying to ask a customer lots of questions and we keep getting held up as they as me stupid questions about the big one. So I usually just cover it up. I didn’t get it for the enjoyment of other people anyway so I don’t care if they miss out on seeing it, and I’m comfortable in long or short sleeves. So, when I get dressed in the morning, I wear whatever is clean.
But if I did or if someone asked me, my first assumption about a stranger would be “cold”
About certain friends of mine, I’d suspect cuts.
I wouldn’t even think about hairy arms or track marks.
If they were very thin, I might assume they wanted to be covered up because people stare.
I wear them because I’m always cold and because people stare less if I’m all covered up. Plus my arms are just ugly.
I tend to assume it’s a mix of cold despite the season, being careful about over-exposure to UV (especially here in summer), being formal, or just being part of the generation that wears woolly long-sleeved cardies all year round. Depending on the person, their age, etc.
I wear long sleeves at least to work year round. Why? Short sleeve dress shirts are geeky.
I have no tattoos, no drug tracks, no nuthin’ to hide.
I do have a history of skin cancer & the doc recommends limiting sun exposure, so that’s another reason to generally wear long.
I also get cold easily & really, really hate the over-airconditioning so common in the summer.
My Bottom Line: It is ignorant to assume someone who wears long sleeves is hiding something. Of 1000 people wearing long sleeves in a typical city on a typical day, one might be doing it to hide something. The other 999 are doing it for some personal legitimate reason that is innocuous and, more importantly, irrelevant to you.
My first assumption would be religious issues, and my second would be some reason they don’t want to show their arms - scarring, feel like they’re “too fat”, something like that. Honestly, unless I knew the person had a troubled history, cutting or track marks wouldn’t even occur to me. Unfortunate tattoo choice, maybe.
I don’t generally pay attention to what people wear unless it’s an outrageous style/color/fabric or extreme for the situation (for example, a tube top at a funeral.) However, being someone who is often cold, I try to keep a long-sleeved garment at hand. As was mentioned above, some places go crazy with air-conditioning, and I can freeze in the summer if I’m seated under a vent or a fan. I keep a sweater/jacket thing at work for just that reason, and I’ll usually take a coverup to a restaurant or theater with me for self-preservation.
Although, now that I think of it, I do notice people in short sleeves or T-shirts when I’m bundled in fleece. How are they *NOT * freezing??
The first statement is my assumption at work. For me, the second statement is true - I’ve already had one “precancerous” lesion removed so I avoid the sun as much as possible, try to remember to use sunscreen year-round, and keep covered up. Plus my office is freezing in summertime (stupid AC), so I’ll often wear long sleeves year-round just so I can function indoors.
D: Developed a complex for thin arms during my teens.
Stupid, yes. Today I outgrown that complex, but now I feel sorta naked with t-shirt and shorts, and I being a working class background type of fellow amongst upper middle classed fellows, I have a new complex making me wanna be well dressed. That might be stupid too. Perhaps one day I will become a free man, but until then, I wear my long sleeves.
My top two theories would be religious issues (which would be confirmed or busted by other things I knew about the person) or psoriasis/port wine stain/burn scars. The way the summers are around here, nobody can stand to wear long sleeves outside unless there is a very, very good reason.
