This $2 Trick Keeps You Cool Without Air Conditioning

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Photo: Getty Images/ Mladen Sladojevic
We’ve officially reached the “it’s too hot to go outside” point of the summer. With temperatures on the East Coast approaching triple digits, it’s never been more appealing to park yourself in front of the air conditioning. But how do you stay cool if you don't have air conditioning? Luckily, there’s an easy $2 trick that helps to keep you from sweating yourself into oblivion while working from home.

Experts In This Article
  • Joshua Zeichner, MD, director of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology and associate professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital

While working in your underwear and jumping into a cold shower between meetings is certainly one way to do it (and I know this because I’ve done it), the only thing you really need to stay cool all day is a headband, a refrigerator, and a dream.

All summer long, I've been cooling myself off with a wet, refrigerated headband, and according to board-certified dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD, there's a scientific reason why it works so efficiently. "All of our body's organs are sensitive to temperature, however, our brain is perhaps the most sensitive," he says. "An overly hot environment, especially around our heads, will trigger a response in our bodies to cool down, mainly through sweating.  Cooling down your head, with a cold pack or headband, may be enough to give your a sensation of being cooled overall because it initially affects the brain."

Wet a cotton or spandex headband with cold water, then throw it into the fridge for a few minutes to give it a chance to get nice and chilly.

Scunci 5-pack Basic Headwraps, $7

Since these headbands come in multi-packs, you can even pop a few in there at once and keep them on rotation so that you’ll always have a fresh, cold one available.

Shop now: Scunci 5-pack Basic Headwraps, $7

Once it's chilled, all you have to do is throw it on your head—and, bonus: it will help hide your day-three head grease (...and six-month root overgrowth), too. It's great for wearing while you WFH, workout, or run outside. The end result? You’ve never looked—or at the very least, felt—so cool.

 

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