Try Thermal Underwear

Treat your hands to a pair of thermal gloves

Alex Jones — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:02:50 +0000

This diagram shows the many different layers utilized in a Gore-tex thermal glove

A good pair of thermal gloves is absolutely essential if you enjoy skiing, bush walking, or engaging in any outdoor activity that puts you out in the cold. As anybody who spends time outdoors knows, there is nothing worse than being unable to get warm -and besides comfort, you need to seriously consider your safety. In winter time, hypothermia is a reality that is dangerous to forget.

Thermal gloves consists of several layers: at the very least there will be an outer layer and an inner layer. The outer layer (or layers as it may be) are there to prevent cold air

from moving through the fabric of the gloves, to carry away precious warmth. Some thermal gloves may also have a waterproof layer, while others still may have a hybrid layer such as Gore-Tex which will repel water but still allow your skin to breathe. The inner layer(s) of the glove serve to keep your fingers comfortable and trap as much heat as possible in the fabric. In some cases, this fabric maybe acrylic, although top-quality thermal gloves still consist of superfine wool or even silk.

There are many different types of thermal gloves, ranging from very thin light ones (you would never know that they are anything more than thin cotton gloves) to massive, the clubs like the sort you see worn by polar explorers. There is a thermal club for every situation-a lightweight glove that you can wear when you’re walking to work in the winter time, thermal gloves with removable fingertips which you can wear when you are hunting, and thermal gloves especially designed for motorbike or pushbike riding.

Thin and comfortable thermal gloves like these are essential if you are working in a cold environment

How much should you pay for a good set of thermal gloves? This is a fairly open question, because you can usually pay as much or as little as you want to. Generally speaking, you can get a good basic pair for about $20 from most camping or army surplus stores, and gloves like this will be fine for bush walking or similar activities. However, if for example you are going skiing or will be spending time in extremely low-temperature environments, you’re best off buying purpose specific thermal gloves which may then cost a bit more.

Who uses thermal gloves? Thermal gloves are very common these days, and are often issued to military personnel and law enforcement officers as standard equipment. They are also essential gear for explorers or adventurers, and you will even find highly specialized thermal gloves being worn by astronauts! usually they are worn alongside long thermal underwear as well, for all round comfort in cold conditions.

Buying a good pair of thermal gloves is an excellent investment, and you will not regret your choice the first time you are outside and the temperature drops. As we move towards Christmas time in winter, don’t forget that a pair of thermal gloves were also make an excellent present for somebody in your family!

Different Fabrics for Staying Warm in Cold Weather; Thermal Underwear and More!

Alex Jones — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:45:49 +0000

We all know the signs of the changing seasons. We begin to dig out the thermal underwear, sweaters and winter coats from the depths of the closet. We start to put away our flip flops and shorts, some of us a little more begrudgingly than others. If you are someone that likes the cold weather then this is a happy time for you but if you are someone who would prefer to be on sunny sandy beaches at all times then this is not a happy time at all. Either way we must be sure we can stay comfortable in the colder weather.

Thermal underwear is a great weapon in your cold weather armory. It is a little more complicated than we give it credit for. The thermals work by performing two main functions to keep you warm. First thermal underwear traps and retains more body heat than regular cotton based clothing. This keeps the heat closer to your skin and in essence, keeps your body warmer. It is works very hard by keeping sweat and moisture away from your skin. This keeps you dry and allows you body to stay warmer. Many thermal undergarments are made up of a two-ply polypropylene fabric that breathes easier than regular clothing and is able to perform the essential functions mentioned above.

Another fabric that can keep you warm in the colder months is cashmere. This fabric comes from the fur of goats raised in the Gobi desert. We usually consider the desert to be a hot place but in the night time the temperatures can drop below freezing. The fur takes four years to grow to a useable length and is then hand sheared and hand processed. It is then made into luxury items such a women’s cashmere coat and men’s cashmere sweaters. These articles of clothing are very soft and plush. Since they are made from cashmere which is designed to keep the goats warm it works very well to keep people warm in colder temperatures.

It is also very important to remember to keep your hands and head covered in cold weather. These are the areas of your body that lose the most body heat. A good winter hat and a pair of gloves are essential. Remember to wear your thermal underwear, spoil yourself with some cashmere clothing and get out there and enjoy the wonderful winter!

Thanks to Violetwired for the image.

Pushing water sports into winter with Thermals

Alex Jones — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:10:43 +0000

Well guys, winter is coming on strong in Australia now, and we all know what that means. As you I love being outdoors, but like most everyone else I always end up with a cold or flu within a week of the weather turning nasty. It doesn’t help that I’ve just bought myself a Canadian canoe to add to my menagerie of outdoor hobby horses (as if the bikes etc weren’t enough). So I’ve taken the little boat on a few trips on local rivers, and while it’s great it brings home just how cold it gets on the water. Nothing breaks the wind at all, and I got pretty chilled last time despite it being a reasonable day.
I find it really awkward paddling in bulky garments, and even avoid life jackets unless I’m in fast or choppy water. I find that coats or jumpers ride up and end up chafing your underarms and torso after an hour or so of paddling, plus I am a bit phobic of falling in the water and being weighed down with baggy clothes.
My solution is the same as for my other outdoor activities, thermal underwear of course. it fits the bill perfectly. It’s light weight, doesn’t rub or chafe like a baggy jacket, and you don’t get your fingers caught up in loose material (this always happens with jacket, your thumbs catch on the drawstrings or zip pockets). It makes me feel a lot safer to, in terms of swimming if I have to. I admit I have not tried swimming in thermals, but it is actually on my list – I will try it soon and post about it! Leggings and tops are so light and close fitting they don’t feel like they would drag me down though. The good thing is I can wear shorts and a T shirt over the tops and bottoms, which gives easy free movement. What I do is roll up the legs and arms so as not to look like too much of a weirdo, but this is up to you of course!
No more excuses for colds and flu’s now. Water sports can be pushed right into the colder months as long as you keep that body heat in. Just wear thermals instead of those summertime mens swimming trunks! ;)

Thanks to alexgoodey for the image!

How to manage a household’s worth of thermal underwear and other cold weather clothing

Alex Jones — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:13:33 +0000

Hanging on the line to dry!

Winter, the time of the year when thermal undergarments are most likely to be worn, can be a hard time to get everything washed, dried and put away before it’s required for wear again. Too often (at least in personal experience) baskets of clothes start stacking up and it can be quite overwhelming when you have a few of these around, all at various stages of washing, drying and putting away.

One of the things you can do to reduce this stress on you and your washing machine can be to make sure you buy the optimal amount of clothing. Too much and your wardrobe will overflow, and it will be tempting to just pull another clean item out of the closet rather than making sure that the worn ones are washed again, thus making your end-pile of washing bigger than ever. By the same token, you don’t want so few items of clothing that you are washing like mad just to keep up with your wearing. Especially in the case of children or anyone in your family, buy extras of the same item that are used frequently – things like thermal underwear, thermal socks, woollens which take longer to wash and dry, etc.

If your children are old enough, get them to put the clothes that are ready to wash in a designated place. If you have a large family or a chaotic lifestyle (and let’s face it, most of us do have at least whole weeks like this, if not constantly!) make a place near the front door or in the bathroom where dirty clothing can be dumped straight away. This will save you from finding your family’s odd socks, thermals, singlets, and other random pieces of clothing strewn about the house. Also, when your kids are old enough, you can teach them to start taking loads of this dirty washing to the laundry, and loading it into the washer.

In the case of thermal underwear, how often should you wash it? Well, for starters remember that thermals are usually wicking, which means that they draw moisture away from the skin. So, even if they smell clean (and it’s okay, we all smell clothes from time to time to decide when to wash them – it’s not just you!!) they will need regular laundering to keep them fresh and to retain their wicking properties. Even a modern synthetic wicking fabric will not work as well when it starts to get dirty.

Make sure that your family knows how to wear layers of clothing to get the best effect and to prolong the life and wear of each garment. For instance, thermal underwear is obviously not designed to take a beating from, let’s say for instance, children’s food messes. Get your kids to wear their day clothes or PJ’s over their thermals and if your children are only little, put smocks, aprons or bibs on them to save their outer garments from wearing too fast too.

Thermals and other undergarments designed for warmth are not generally designed to keep out the weather (!) like a good coat or jacket will do. Remember, each layer has a different purpose, for instance the outer layer is designed to cope with the wind and other elements when skiing. Getting everyone to wear appropriate outer clothing will save the lifespan of your thermal underwear and also make it work more effectively.

If there are wool garments or silk garments )silk is sometimes blended into thermal garments for its superior properties in just about everything), ensure that they are washed in a gentle washing powder or liquid designed for that kind of fabric. Just throwing silk or woollen thermals into the wash with everything else will make them wear out a lot faster, pill and become uncomfortable to wear, stretch out of shape and possibly discolour too. Try hanging thermals on Joy Mangano Huggable Hangers instead of bunching them up in your drawers, it will help them keep their shape.

Hopefully you can take some of these tips and implement them in your household if you are keen to find more ways to manage your household’s cold weather clothing. It’s not easy to run a household, but remember – you are already doing a great job!

Compelling reasons for having thermal underwear in your wardrobe

Alex Jones — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:48:12 +0000

You are probably now aware that for skiing and for looking great yet feeling warm in winter, thermal underwear is THE way to go. However, I bet that some of these reasons are likely to surprise you. It’s always good to look at things from a different perspective.

Wear it…

to prevent hypothermia if you are camping in a sub zero conditions
when the zombies attack – you will be sleeping out in the cold at least some nights
to wick moisture away if you’re sweating from hiking in cold conditions
to save on heating costs if you’re trying to save money, for instance if you are a student or are on a pension
to celebrate National Thermals Celebration Day – okay I made that one up
to be very cool like me and Count Rumford who invented thermal underwear (internal link here)
to keep warm at Christmas
for men shorts are an ideal bottom half if mobility is required for instance with running in winter, but they can be worn with a thermal top
to feel like a snake that can sked its skin (when you take off your thermals)
to wear less bulky clothing in winter and still keep toasty and warm
ever considered getting thermal underwear to wear under an evening dress? Don’t laugh – it can be done – some thermals are made to only go around your middle, thus not showing anything away yet keeping you warmer than the other fashiona gals Fashion and women’s clothes can be made warmer by thermals underneath and nobody will need to know.
to go with your groovy comfy cashmere socks
when you go motorcycle riding, generally an activity where you want plenty of insulation in layers
survival skills if the world comes down with a case on early-onset apocalyptica and you have to run away to the country and live in a handmade hut with no way to make fire
to survive if peak oil and rising fuel prices affects your city (it may well do)

Ladies, yes you can get pretty thermals!

And which kind of thermal underwear is right for which occasion?

That’s right folks there is more than one kind. If you read my article, the history of thermal underwear [internal link here] you will know that it works its magic by trapping air and thus your own body heat. So, you can get different types made from different kinds of fabric. Here are some examples of the kinds that you can get.

You can get it made from cotton, best for lazing around at home and keeping snug on cold winter days. Cotton is not so good for any occasion where you might sweat because cotton does not wick moisture away fromy our skin, it lets it stay there so you would probably just get clammy and cold, defeating the purpose of wearing thermals.

You can get it made from wool. Arguably the best sort, and there are varying grades of wool, probably the top kind being Merino wool, almost always from Australian or New Zealand Merino sheep. Some of the best thermals are made from a blend of polypropylene and Merino wool. They are soft, thin, light and warm. Wool does not wick moisture like synthetic fibres; it’s different – wool can hold about 33% moisture without feeling damp. Of course if you are out running in winter or you are running on an electric treadmill on a cold day, you will want wicking so you might want to go for the synthetic… There are many kinds of synthetic (man-made) fabrics now used to make thermals. You may automatically go for a natural fibre but remember that synthetic fabrics generally have better wicking properties than natural fibres. Sometimes you can get clothing made from fabrics which are natural, with a thin layer of sythetic bonded to them or sewn over so that you get the best of both worlds. One kind of synthetic fabric used for making thermal underwear is polypropylene.

Can you tell me about the history of thermal underwear?

Alex Jones — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:38:00 +0000

Tell me about the history of thermal underwear? OK.

So you want to know about the history of my favourite kind of heat-holding undergarment, thermal underwear! It’s actually quite an interesting little story.

It’s about Benjamin Thompson, who directed a cannon factory in Bavaria. This was back in 1753 and the guy was actually born in Massachusetts, but he left there quickly after choosing the “wrong side” of the Revolutionary War. He was a smart and empathic fellow who tried to improve the lives of the poor in Munich, Germany, inventing drip coffeepots (everyone knows you need them for quality of life – of course!) – fitted kitchens, kinds of stove… anyway he was a bit of an inventor in terms of ideas and he was always coming up with new things. He studied the speed of bullets and the dampness of gunpowder and he also ended up inventing how to make bread ovens out of tombstones when army soldiers were stuck for other materials. As you can see, he was quite involved in the activites of the military, and he was eventually assigned the feeding and clothing of the army in Munich. Being the practical man he was, he had some experiments run on the heat transfer of different kinds of fabrics, and found out that air trapped in fabric was the most important factor in heat insulation. And so, he invented thermal underwear. As you can see, being a sympathetic guy and inventing cool useful things like thermal underwear can get you a fantastic new title, the title of count, and that’s exactly what happened. He became Count Rumford.

He went on to contribute to physics by studying heat and came up with the Rumford’s Theory of Heat. He also married a widow (whose husband has been beheaded a few years prior) in 1805. Apparently the marriage didn’t go too well. Maybe she refused to wear thermal underwear in winter, thinking it wasn’t popular enough for her to wear. You know better than her, though!

Always take thermal underwear when going skiing!

Alex Jones — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:29:34 +0000

Most people who go skiing know about thermal underwear. I learnt about thermals the hard way in high school when we all went on a skiing trip. My family never went on skiing trips so we didn’t have any cold weather clothes, but a lot of the kids from school often went with their families, so my mother borrowed some ski clothes off a friend of hers and she put the bag in my bedroom. When I opened it I was horrified, these stretchy pale woollen stocking things that I was suppose to wear under my clothes? No way hosea! Extreme uncoolness was registering in my teenage brain! I stubbornly refused to wear those silly looking things which my mother told me were thermal underwear, instead opting for some big bulky coats which actually looked warm.

Well when I got to the school that morning I could see that I was already sticking out. The others looked neat and tidy and collected in their slim line clothing, and I though to myself, haha, those fools, they are gonna get so cold when we get up to the snow. And sure enough true to form it’s me who starts to shiver once we’re at the mountain and we start going out into the snow, and I start to wonder if maybe my mother’s dorky thermal underclothing might have been a good idea after all. I’m wearing this enormous coat that is too hard to move in, and everyone else is getting their ski hire and I’m just fumbling around with my gazillion layers of cotton clothing and jumpers and coats… in the end I actually gave up on the skiing thing, I was so bulky I could barely move properly to get going. A friend and I, both having not taken thermals on this camp, felt thoroughly stupid with ourselves and decided to go and make snowmen instead.

So I have officially not been skiing, and all because of not taking my mother’s advice and wearing the thermals! Who knows I might have been a pro at it from the start and been world famous skiing on all the pretty white slopes by now, and instead I am here blogging about thermals, lol.

(Actually it’s not like I’ve given up completely… I will take my thermals along some time and actually go skiing… I look forward to it. :))

My friend, who goes skiing a lot, has given me a few tips about what to take, aside from the obligatory thermals. A ski jacket, ski trousers, ski gloves, ski goggles and sunglasses, she says, sound like a lot but will really make the experience enjoyable. She adds that you would probably also want a woollen hat or cap and thermal socks. And just before I sign off on this post I will remind you all again in case my silly little story hasn’t burned it into your memory forever…. always take thermal underwear when skiing! ;)

Thanks to wfyurasko for the image.

What’s all this about thermal underwear?

Alex Jones — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:27:55 +0000

Sure, I know, you are thinking, what a kooky thing to do… try thermal underwear…? Who wears that kind of thing these days? Well you are quite right in thinking that is is an old-fashioned thing, and people have been wearing thermals for a long time, and it’s not a modern thing. So we can kind of establish that it’s not the most cool thing to have popped onto the market just recently. But wait! That doesn’t make it useless or too uncool to try for yourself… just look at leather jackets and hemp fabric and overalls and nursing bras and, even stuff like patchwork, I mean, all these things keep coming round again and again in different forms and sometimes it’s for fashion and sometimes it’s for practicality. And obviously when we’re talking thermals we are going for the practicality aspect, because I doubt you’re going to want to display your underwear to everyone when you walk down the street. :D But basically what I’m saying is that you will keep finding thermals being used for many reasons by many different sorts of people because, they just has so many benefits. Let me just outline some of these benefits to you so that you can get an idea of what has made me interested enough in this kooky kind of clothing that I want to tell the whole world about it! And soon maybe you will even be thinking that is is not kooky at all, even if you thought that in the beginning. And some of you are just reading along here and thinking, “Hey, did I ever say thermal underwear was kooky?” ’cause you have already used it before in the past, or you have come looking online trying to find a good place to buy it.

A little list extolling the thermals!:

you can get it in natural fibres, often fine Merino wool
it is very light
it fits like a second skin, like a glove so is comfortable
you can wear it on ski trips
you can wear it to save money on heating at home
you can wear it to help slim your figure
you can go all-out on practicality when buying it because obviously colours and fashions aren’t going to matter
you can wear fewer layers of clothing in winter and still stay war,
it insulates so that you stay warm by your own body heat
it breathes

That’s just the start of the many ways you can use thermal underwear to improve your life.