During the colder months, any temperature lower than about 70 degrees will result in me feeling cold. The majority of this cold is in my extremities – my hands and feet.  My hands and feet become stiff, painful, and feel like ice to others.

Solutions:

• Keep temperatures around 68-70 degrees at the very least during the colder months.
• Exercise daily to get your heart pumping and to supply warm blood all areas of the body.
• Expose yourself a little bit each day to colder temperatures to reduce intolerance and to prevent increased intolerance (a drop of 5-10 degrees for an hour or so).
• Wear a hat, beanie, or some other type of warm, but light and loose fitted, headwear to keep heat from escaping through your head. It should have at least 10% wool or cashmere in it.
• If you keep your torso warm you’re more likely to keep your hands warm. Wool sweaters, thin or thick, especial merino wool, are excellent in keeping you warm. If you get overheated easy in wool, consider switching to cashmere, which seems to help me regulate heat more efficiently, will keep you warmer than wool, and it is much softer to the touch so it’s ideal for those with sensitivities to scratchy and itchy clothing. If wool and cashmere sweaters are far outside of your budget, consider shopping at a thrift store BEFORE it starts getting cold out. This is when you will have the best selection to work with, even in the south. Aim for several and larger thrift stores. Thrift store cashmere can be the difference of $5 and $200. If you are allergic to wool, try cashmere. This change worked for me. If you are allergic to both, consider Under Armour thermal wear or basic long-johns (tops, bottoms, or both).
  • Wash your cashmere and wool by hand in the kitchen sink with warm water and vinegar (about 1 cup of vinegar for a full sink basin). Squeeze the sweaters, don’t ring, and let them soak. Put them in the spin cycle in the washing machine ONLY to reduce moisture. Lay them on the floor and gently stretch them appropriately. Hang them on clothes hangers in open areas to dry overnight. This will not only clean your sweaters, but reduce allergens and get that pesky and smelly thrift store delousing smell off of them.
• If you keep your legs warm, you’re more likely to keep your feet warm. Go shopping for some fleece leggings to wear alone at home, or under pants. Again, Under Armour or long-johns are also an option.
• Purchase a bunch of thermal socks. I pick of a couple packs at Marshall’s every year. They are usually under $10 a pack. Thermal socks are labeled as such. They may have some type of wool or cashmere in them. Wool is more durable than cashmere, but cashmere is much softer. Wear them around the house, outside the house, and even in bed to keep them toasty warm overnight.
• Purchase some soft, but warm slippers. These can be any slippers that you feel good in that seem fairly warm to you. Wear them with your thermal socks. If your thermal socks are thick, be sure to go up a size in slippers. Some awesome sippers I recommend are made by Tempur-Pedic, and are super soft and warm.
• Purchase some Ugg Boots, or knock–offs to wear out of the house. Wear them with the thermal socks too. But again, make sure to go up a size to account for the socks.
  • You can also stretch these boot by wetting them slightly, putting on a few pairs of sock over each other, inserting your foot into the boot, using a blow dryer on low to dry the boot, and then taking your foot out of the boot. Repeat this process until you have plenty enough space standing and sitting down with 1 pair of thermal socks on.