Staying warm....
Jan. 7th, 2014 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1Once again, the weather turns cold and snowy. Last month, I was surprised that one of my friends, who works as a remodeling contractor, hadn't heard of these tips. And so I mentally went back to my past, and recounted some of the tips and tricks I learned through my time in Boy Scouts, and my camping experiences.
The first thing I learned was to dress in layers. It's tougher for wind to penetrate through layers of clothing. Plus, if you sweat, you can swap out the inner layer (once you're inside, of course). A great example of this is when I put a denim jacket over an old Boy scout wool coat. That was the warmest coat I ever had.
Wool is a great material to wear when it's cold. If it gets wet, it will still keep you warm.
Other tips:
* Head: Heat rises, and most body heat is lost through the head. Wear a nice, warm hat. Don't pay any attention as to how it looks. If it does the job,it's a good hat.
* Shirts: In cold weather, I like to wear long-sleeved T-shirts. I'll wear these under sweatshirts, or thick buttoned shirts.
* Pants: Thermal underwear, aka "long johns", are an old standby. While there are good ones made of cotton, there are some that are made of silk, and thinner than cotton. I also like flannel-lined jeans or pants.
* Feet: Wool socks are always a good idea. Even better is adding a pair of liner socks, worn inside the outer sock. They wick away moisture from the foot into the outer sock, keeping the feet dry. And boots with a semi-permeable membrane (e.g. Gore-Tex) are also good. They let water vapor escape, but doesn't let water in. An alternative is to use bread bags on the foot to form a water barrier between the soclk and the boot. I know my mom used this method when I was younger.
The first thing I learned was to dress in layers. It's tougher for wind to penetrate through layers of clothing. Plus, if you sweat, you can swap out the inner layer (once you're inside, of course). A great example of this is when I put a denim jacket over an old Boy scout wool coat. That was the warmest coat I ever had.
Wool is a great material to wear when it's cold. If it gets wet, it will still keep you warm.
Other tips:
* Head: Heat rises, and most body heat is lost through the head. Wear a nice, warm hat. Don't pay any attention as to how it looks. If it does the job,it's a good hat.
* Shirts: In cold weather, I like to wear long-sleeved T-shirts. I'll wear these under sweatshirts, or thick buttoned shirts.
* Pants: Thermal underwear, aka "long johns", are an old standby. While there are good ones made of cotton, there are some that are made of silk, and thinner than cotton. I also like flannel-lined jeans or pants.
* Feet: Wool socks are always a good idea. Even better is adding a pair of liner socks, worn inside the outer sock. They wick away moisture from the foot into the outer sock, keeping the feet dry. And boots with a semi-permeable membrane (e.g. Gore-Tex) are also good. They let water vapor escape, but doesn't let water in. An alternative is to use bread bags on the foot to form a water barrier between the soclk and the boot. I know my mom used this method when I was younger.
