15 Ways of Staying Cool in the Heat

The question on everybody’s dry lips today is – How to stay cool? Well, you need to be cool in the first place (this is not the lamest joke you’ll get from my sun-fried brain today; consider this your warning, leave all hope at the door and come in for some cool lemonade). So, here we are - collecting under boob sweat while feeling the hellfire heat radiate from the pavements, tires melting, and old people still deciding to walk around in their year-round clothes despite the constant warnings not to go out. Folks audibly crackling as they pass you, waddling around in their wet crocks and improv kaftans on the verge of heat stroke, barely having enough energy to nod hello, let alone do their skincare. And yet, you have your mind set on looking fabulous even here, a half mile away from the sun's surface. Ambitions? Sure. Possible? Absolutely.  
 

As UVs try to burrow into our DNA strands, our hat-covered heads (just kidding, I have no intention of leaving my AC for as long as I have food in the house), there are (unfortunately) times that will force us to go outside and spontaneously combust. We can, of course, look like a schlumpf, a lump of overheated flesh with pit stains and hair sticking to the back of our necks, or we can try and be presentable. Not because someone is watching (no one cares, really; it’s too hot to care about others when you’re just trying to survive and avoid the emergency room), but because this is who you are. This is not just shallow vanity; you simply like to feel put together. You can think better that way. So staying cool in the heat and not looking like you feel in this weather is essential for your mental health and emotional stability (I remember it fondly).

So we’re here with some life/skincare/survival tips that may keep you looking somewhat presentable as people fry eggs in pans left in their backyards. We offer no salvation; there is pretty much diddly you can do for your aesthetic pursuits once it gets Jesus-take-the-wheel hot, but you can damn well try. If it doesn’t work, remember that fabulous is much more an attitude and a state of mind than your outfit, hair, or makeup (though these do help in first encounters or superficial celebrity signaling).
 

Clip your hair up, get yourself a nice chilled mocktail (don't drink alcohol in the heat), turn up that fan, and enjoy these 15 smart, easy, and practical ways to sweat-proof your day during a heatwave (even the word sounds moist, sticky, and disgusting).
 

1. Dress for airflow

How to keep cool in hot weather? What to wear when the only choice seems to take off a skin layer, let alone putting more fabric on. The first clothing rule is airflow. No tight fits, as they trap heat close to your skin and make you even hotter, even if they’re made from thin fabric. Choose loose-fitting clothing made from natural or moisture-wicking fabrics like linen, cotton, bamboo, or technical sports fabrics. No synthetic fabrics either.

2. Wear light colors

Have you ever been stuck in the sun a bit too long for comfort in a black T-shirt? Then you know how it feels when the sun’s radiation gets intensely absorbed into the dark color and exudes buckets of heat into your body.
 

Go for white, beige, pastel shades, and other light colors that will reflect far more sunlight than they absorb. It’s just physics and optics. Reflecting all visible wavelengths makes an object appear white, and absorbing them makes it appear black. But the thickness of the fabric weave counts too. So a dark, very light, sheer fabric might still be better than a thick white one. Use common sense.

3. Freeze a water bottle

One of my favorites is always keeping a frozen bottle(s) in the freezer. Many a day has it come in handy for a quick cooldown and has been a lifesaver in a bag when running errands. It even helps if you were wondering how to stay cool at night. Put the semi-filled (to minimize the bulk) frozen water under the pillow, and each time you feel hot, just flip the pillow over for a nice cooldown. A frozen bottle sort of acts as a cold drink, a portable ice pack, and a sleep aid in one. Make sure to use a freezer-safe bottle, as some may crack from extreme cold and ice expansion.

Tip: Never fill the bottle right to the brim. Leave a few fingers of space so the water can expand as it freezes.

4. Carry a microfiber towel

Some people sweat far more than others and have more problematic skin in summer. Under the same conditions, some may be glistening, and others will be pouring buckets and visible beads of sweat out of every pore. This is why we like microfiber. Unlike disposable tissues, a microfiber towel absorbs sweat without falling apart, takes up just a bit of space, and can be reused throughout the day. It was designed to absorb well and can be put away neatly.
 

There is also an eco-friendly, vintage handkerchief option if you’d like to go all grandma-chic with a small cotton square and some nice embroidery. You can order new ones online or go thrifting.

5. Use blotting papers

They remove sweat and excess oil without disturbing sunscreen or makeup. This is for you who’ve chosen to put on makeup in this Heliopolis. If you’ve got makeup on, you may not go around smearing it with a microfiber cloth or a handkerchief. As you sweat, you’ll also excrete some natural sebum that will be a perfect oil-based makeup remover if you start rubbing with a tissue. So don’t rub but blot, if you choose to add some decorative cosmetics to your daily summer skincare.

6. Antiperspirant at night

Antiperspirant lives more in a prevention universe. If you’re already sweaty and starting to get a bit ripe, applying some might help dampen the BO for a while, but people often don't realize that antiperspirants need time to work. Ideally you’d go to bed clean and showered, and apply it to dry skin before bed so it has time to form plugs in the sweat glands while you sleep.

If you like to sleep all-natural, take another minute-long shower in the morning, soaping up just your most sweat-prone areas, dry off well, apply antiperspirant to fresh, fragrant armpit skin, and let it sink in and do its job.

7. Keep neck and wrists cool

There are some areas of the body where the larger blood vessels are closer to the skin's surface and will therefore respond better to external cooling. The best fast-cooling points include your wrists, neck, groin, and the backs of your knees.

Use your cold bottle, a damp cloth or a towel you’ve put in the freezer for a bit, cooling gels, or anything else you’re into. These can help lower your perceived body temperature and make you feel better almost instantly. Your actual body temperature hasn't changed much because the body tightly regulates it, but you’ll feel like it has.

8. Eat lighter meals

Have you noticed your appetite dropping as the temperatures climb? This is a normal metabolic reaction by the body trying to self-regulate its heat. The heavier the food we eat, the more energy we need to expend to digest it and, in the process, create heat. So, large, heavy meals directly increase your body's heat production.
 

One of the best things to do in the heat is rein in your eating habits and stick to light foods like salads, fruit, soups (yes, cold ones too), yogurt, and grilled (not charred) proteins or plant proteins, which are easier on your system in extreme heat. Stay away from ultra-processed, carb-heavy food, alcohol, excessive caffeine, and sugar, and add some supplements if you really aren’t eating enough fruit and veg, but remember that a supergreens supplement won’t replace a wholefood diet, but it can replace a meal here and there as a chilled shake if you can’t be bothered to chew.

9. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty

Ha! Something that I learned way too late in life. If you wait until you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated, and thirst is your body’s warning signal overriding all else you’re doing to get some hydration in you, because most bodily processes cannot function properly in the absence of hydration.
 

So don’t wait until you’re parched, but sip water, broth, or unsweetened (ice) tea consistently throughout the day instead of drinking a large amount all at once. There is such a thing as drinking too much water, which can lead to electrolyte imbalances and serious medical side effects, but this is at the extreme, like drinking a liter an hour for a few consecutive hours.

10. A "heatwave survival kit"

If you simply must go out of the house because the stupid adulting demands you to keep your word and fulfill your responsibilities, throw a few of these heatwave essentials in your bag:

• Reusable water bottle
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Mini fan
• Blotting papers
• Hair tie or claw clip
• Lip balm with SPF
• Deodorant
• Electrolyte packets for very hot days (or just skip the price tag and put a pinch of pink salt into your water bottle)

11. Hair up

I know, I know, but it is the only way. And for you ladies who love your wigs, this is not the time. Do some braids, a bun, ponytails. If you’re bored with the regular ones, there are so many online resources where people teach you new and interesting updos.

If you do decide to be all brave and let your hair down, keep a claw clip, hair pin, or a hair tie in your bag. Even if you think you won’t need it as you’re getting ready in your air conditioned place, throw one in there just in case, because keeping hair off your neck and reduce the feeling of overheating and may be a quick help if you start to melt into a puddle If you’re in a humid climate, pulling your hair up will also reduce humidity-induced frizz better than wearing your hair down.

12. Timing

Everything in life is timing. Have you noticed? From meeting your person or baking perfect brownies to the right dirty word at the right moment. Staying cool in the heat wave also means you make some smart choices. If possible, avoid going outdoors between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., when UV radiation and temperatures are often at their highest, but if it is unavoidable, revert to our previous advice. If possible, explain to people that you plan on being perpetually melancholic until you see the first leaf fall, and refuse all plans, but that’s the introvert’s solution to surviving summer. You may be different.

13. Clean your face

Oh, woe is you if you don’t cleanse your face properly during this mercury uprising. This applies to all seasons, of course, but summer heat is especially unforgivable, and will mostly punish the owners of oily, breakout-prone skin for every half-hearted cleansing, or those who destroy the skin barrier by over-scrubbing, confusing sweat with dirt. Sweat is not dirt; sometimes you can freshen up with just cool water and no soap. 
 

If you’re literally squeaking after washing your face, your soap is too harsh, and you’ve stripped the natural protection - the skin barrier - off. We suggest getting yourself a nice plush silicone facial cleansing brush that is gentle enough to keep the skin barrier intact yet strong enough to remove dirt, sebum, makeup, and SPF residue from deep within the pores, something like LUNA™ 4, or any of the previous generation of the world’s 1st sonic silicone facial cleansing brush. 

And always, always, choose a gentle facial cleanser, like the LUNA™ Micro-Foam Cleanser 2.0, a lightweight cream that, used with LUNA™ facial brushes, creates tiny microbubbles to deeply cleanse and remove 99% of impurities in 1 minute. It is designed for all skin types and features Chameleon plant & Vitamin E, soothing Cica (Centella Asiatica), and skin microbiome-balancing Pullulan & Prebiotics, to protect as it cleans.

A gentle cleanser is especially important with oily skin. If you strip everything off the skin, the skin will try to protect itself (it doesn't like being exposed to the elements, and we’re all a bit waterproof when the barrier is healthy). To replace the lost lipid barrier, the skin will overproduce sebum, which is a very bad deal in a heat wave. If you throw in some comedogenic skincare, makeup, and dirty makeup brushes into the mix, you’ve got yourself a perfect storm for a nice acne party. If this does happen, please don’t pick at it; instead, treat it with non-invasive blue light therapy and a topical with strong anti-inflammatory and exfoliating properties, such as the one from the ESPADA™ collection.

14. Slow down

Sometimes staying cool in the heat simply means doing less. We do take some perverse joy in the premises of hustle culture and confuse being busy with being productive. If we do more than X, we’re better than them, right?
 

The planet won’t fall out of orbit if you take a breather and slow down. Just don’t do as much, as fast, because heat is not neutral on our systems. A heatwave is a real stressor on the body that produces real physiological reactions and depletes resources. If you're going to be exercising, gardening, or sightseeing, take regular breaks in the shade or air conditioning instead of pushing through. And remember the early morning and late afternoon hours are a better choice for any physical exertion, even if it is just walking. Each summer ERs are full of people who are convinced they didn’t overdo it or that they don’t need a hat.

15. Get shady!

Speaking of hats, find a style that fits your face and aesthetics and wear it. Never leave home without it if you’re going to be in direct sunlight. Shade is the first global SPF that made a difference between survival and death from exposure for our ancestors. It is not primitive; it is smart and intuitive, and even a mindless beast understands the importance of hiding from direct sunlight. If you’re not into a wide-brimmed hat, get a parasol or just your regular umbrella, find tree cover if possible, sit inside or on covered terraces. When it gets tough, all of these can make you feel several degrees cooler by reducing direct sun exposure and protecting you from UV rays.

Bonus tips and tricks

• Get yourself a good face mist or thermal water spray, and keep it in the fridge to grab before leaving home. Don’t freeze, especially not if it is a pressurized aerosolized can; the fridge will be enough.
• Store moisturizer or aloe vera gel (or all the cosmetics you regularly use) in the refrigerator for a cooling effect.
• Wear sunglasses to reduce squinting and eye strain from sun reflections everywhere. You’ll also be grateful for wearing sunglasses when you’re older, and the crows decide to stomp their feet around your periocular area. Preemptive eye care is soooo much more effective than trying to fix the damage.
• If you'll be outside all day, especially if there will be some physical work involved, bring a spare thin cotton T-shirt. You'll feel instantly refreshed after changing into dry clothes, and it will prevent the smells from bacteria forming on the shirt you’ve been sweating in all day. Clean sweat does not smell; the byproducts of the bacteria munching the sweat do.
• Put on less makeup but more deliberately. Like a good statement lipstick, some light foundation or toned SPF, and maybe a mascara.
• Use jewelry to elevate your style; big earrings go great with hair pinned up.

 The best strategy isn't trying to stop sweating, as you might find in some delulu influencing. This is, first, not possible, and, second, not healthy. Sweating is a part of a natural extension pack of our bodies, including very tight body temperature regulation - you sweat when you’re hot so that the air evaporates the liquid and dissipates some body heat with it, and get goose bumps or shiver when you’re cold to produce more heat and trap it next to the skin.

Sweat is also one of the ways our bodies cleanse themselves, which is part of why you feel so good after a sauna. But in this context, sweat is helping your body stay cool. But what happens if all our inside-and-outside plans for staying cool fail? We start drifting towards a very unpleasant experience of heat stroke. We’re not into fear mongering, but rather information that might help you in a pinch or help save someone else. So what is heat stroke and what are its symptoms?

Heat stroke symptoms & aid

Heat stroke is not just a harmless unpleasantness and yet another reason to hate summer (I need no more reasons; mosquitoes and stickiness are quite enough, thank you), but a serious and immediate medical emergency. As you know, the body is very serious about tightly regulating things like temperature, blood pressure, and blood glucose. All of these are vital bodily functions.

Heat stroke occurs when the body's temperature regulation fails due to overexposure, when we overload the system with heat faster than it can dispose of it. In heat stroke, core body temperature rises, typically above 40°C (104°F), potentially causing damage to the brain and other organs as protein structures (from which our body is built) start to degrade at these temperatures. You need to seek help fast because heat stroke can be life-threatening. Early warning signs to keep an eye out for are:

• Heavy sweating (though this may stop later as heat stroke develops further)
• Intense thirst
• Muscle cramps
• Unexplained fatigue or unusual onset of weakness
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Headache
• Nausea or vomiting
• Cool, pale, clammy skin (more typical of heat exhaustion)

As the condition worsens, symptoms of heat stroke may include:

• Body temperature of 40°C (104°F) or higher
• Hot skin (which may be dry or still sweaty, especially if the heat stroke occurred during exercise)
• Confusion, disorientation, or difficulty speaking
• Irritability or unusual behavior
• Severe headache
• Rapid heartbeat
• Rapid, shallow breathing
• Loss of coordination or stumbling
• Fainting
• Seizures
• Loss of consciousness or coma

One of the hallmark features of a full-blown heat stroke is a change in mental status. If someone is confused, acting strangely, or becomes unresponsive in the heat, heat stroke is your best bet. In this case:

• Call emergency services immediately. Really, don’t wait or brush this off.
• Move the person to a cool, shaded, or air-conditioned location.
• Remove excess clothing.
• Cool them rapidly:
• Cold or cool water over the body
• Ice packs on the neck, armpits, and groin
• Wet towels with fanning
• A cool bath, if safe and possible
• If they are unconscious, confused, or vomiting, do not give them food or drink due to the risk of choking.
   

Conclusion 

When there is no escape from heat, we don’t fight physical reality (if you do in any area of life, it will end badly because reality always wins). Our goal is to survive the heat with grace, accepting that perfection is impossible, and feeling good and strong matters more than a matte face finish or controlling that frizz.
 

No amount of linen pants, blotting papers, frozen water bottles, or sitting in the shade can work forever. The body is vulnerable to prolonged heat. At some point, the heat will win a round, your carefully styled hair will flop and stick to your clammy forehead, and you'll discover sweat in places you didn't know could perspire (unless you’ve already gone through menopause, then you know). That's just summer, being summer, creating perfect conditions for the fall cornucopia, not really caring that your favorite flirty blouse is a polyester blend.


But there's a difference between melting like the Wicked Witch of the West and staying safe and chic, just riding the wave. Looking put together in a heatwave isn't about pretending you're not hot. Pretending sure takes a lot of energy that you could use better to cool off. It's about making smart choices that help you feel a little more comfortable, confident, and a lot less likely to drivel incoherent nonsense as an extra in your private version of Gray’s Anatomy.
 

So wear the hat. Reapply that sunscreen. Sip water all day long before the official “thirst” complaint, and cancel any unnecessary plans. Your eyeliner, your productivity, and Karen's judging whether you're "making the most of summer" can all survive a little disappointment.
 

And if all else fails? Remember that everybody else is sweating too. The effortlessly chic stranger you just walked past is certainly walking around with back sweat, but has learned to use loose fit, color, and fabric to make it invisible. We are, quite literally, all in this together.

Until the first crisp morning arrives and our minds are erased of all the complaining from the summer before, stay shady, curious, cool, and hydrated; be kind to yourself, and enjoy living in your (sticky) skin.