Cool Threads

(Image from crookedbrains.net)

While we’re talking about preparing for extreme summer heat, what about portable coolness?

There are lots of products for portable cooling, especially little fans or miniature coolers that run or batteries or plug into a power point or USB port. But there are other products you may not be aware of. I would like to help you shake your mind loose so you can think along unusual lines if you need to prepare for going out in more heat than you can handle. Can you wear cool threads not so much in a fashion sense, but to combat the heat if you have to go out?

My reason for posting about this starts with a longtime good friend who has multiple sclerosis. For MS patients, air conditioning failure on a hot day is an emergency. Remember, the “hot bath test” is still one of the earliest clues that a person might have MS. If they take a hot bath, it is so devastating for their energy and strength that they can’t get out of the bathtub. Being in too much heat puts my friend in a medical crisis.

Many people cannot tolerate heat that most people can handle. They can’t all stay at home in front of a fan or evaporative cooler for days upon days. They need to be able to go out and buy groceries, attend medical appointments, pick up prescriptions, etc.

Cooling Vests

In climates with heat that is not too intense and humidity that is not too high, you can get vests made to be wetted with water and worn for cooling from evaporation. Click here to see an example in the UK.

Note: None of the links in this post are affiliate links, and none of the links should be regarded as recommendations. They are only examples. I have not surveyed the market to see which items are best in their category.

Firefighters can wear cooling vests under their heavy gear in hot summer weather. A few have battery powered fans to help sweat evaporate inside their suits, but that may not be enough. Another option? Vests with pockets to hold cold packs. The packs may be frozen beforehand or may contain a substance that becomes cold when you do something to them that triggers a phase change reaction to make them cold. Click here to see a USA example. For obvious reasons, these tend to be made of fire-resistant materials and are not cheap.

Twenty years or so ago, it wasn’t easy to find affordable cooling vests for the rest of us that hold cold packs from a freezer. Now, plenty of them are available online from places like Amazon or eBay. Some are available that cost much less than twenty years ago.

Making Your Own

Not everyone can afford even the lowest-priced versions of cooling vests. What can you do then?

Easy initial options will only go so far, things like soaking a bandana and draping it over the back of your neck and shoulders. On one of my wife’s summer visits in the States, we put frozen cold packs into a little rucksack that she wore so she had that cold against her upper back to go out.

But you can make your own cooling vest. It won’t be a fashion statement, but it can work.

To do this, you need

• a vest from a thrift (charity) shop that fits you loosely enough for you to line it with cold packs

• some fabric

• supplies to use your fabric to sew pockets into the vest (sewing needle, thread, scissors)

• a way to close the pockets (hook and loop fasteners, snaps or buttons)

• several small cold packs like what you would use to pack a lunch or picnic; or alternatively zip-seal plastic bags (smallish ones), rubbing alcohol (surgical spirit) or dishwashing liquid soap (such as Dawn) or salt, and water.

First, if you don’t have any cold packs, make some. Decide how many you will be able to position on the vest somewhere and make that many. If what you have is rubbing alcohol, fill one bag for each pack you want to have with 3 parts water and 1 part rubbing alcohol. If what you have is dishwashing liquid, fill those bags with the liquid. If you don’t have enough rubbing alcohol or dishwashing soap, you can use salt water at a ratio of 1 tablespoon of salt per cup of water. Seal the bags carefully, then put each bag inside a second empty bag and seal the second bag. The second bag is a layer of protection in case the first one leaks. Seal in as little extra air as possible.

Whether you’re using standard cold packs or homemade ones, lay them out on your vest and mark where you want them to be when you are wearing the vest. Put the pockets on the inside of the vest. This way, whatever fabric you use for the pockets and whether your sewing skills look good won’t matter. Remember to allow a little extra space in the pockets in case some of your cold packs freeze in a less than ideal shape.

Put your cold packs in the freezer. They are reusable. You can refreeze them and use them over and over again.

Make pockets on the inside of the vest to hold your cold packs.

When you load the pockets with your cold packs and wear it, you may not look fashionable, but you will have some relief from the heat until the packs fully melt. It’s enough for you to pick up your prescriptions, buy produce at the local farmers’ market, or whatever else you need to go out to do.

Pets Need Cooling Too

Many pets have a harder time with heat than humans do. Our dogs are very British. As the weather warms, they start to wilt even before human Britons do.

We haven’t found a cooling vest for our dogs, except the Ruffwear “swamp cooler” coat which may not be enough. Our summers are getting hotter. I’ll let you know if my wife designs and makes a more ambitious cooling vest for our dogs. She sews some amazing things. (Even with a way to cool off the dogs, they can’t go for a walk whenever holding a hand on the pavement for more than 5 seconds is uncomfortably hot because hot pavement burns paws.)

Your Ideas

I’m sure there are other ways to go out and about in more heat than we can handle. What are your ideas?