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It’s the beginning of August and, after a brief period of cold, stormy weather, the mercury is back on the rise. We’ve already had two heatwaves this year, with June’s heatwave closely followed July’s, particularly in the South of England.
Given it looks like we’re in for a hot August, it’s worth arming yourself with a gadget or two to help keep yourself cool, particularly if you’ve found the summer uncomfortably hot so far.
The items we list below are well researched and have been recommended to us by friends and family, to both help you stay safe in the sun and keep cool around the clock.
We aren’t being paid to recommend these products, we’re not even earning a commission – these are purely just things we reckon will help you out. So, now that’s out of the way, let’s get on with it.
Cooling items: Quick look
SLEEP:
DAYTIME:
There are quite a few items available to buy that can help you cool down, and our list doesn’t even scratch the surface.
At Simple & Homely, we’re sometimes completely broke, sometimes just plain old poor, so we won’t be suggesting you go out and buy a £500+ cool gel mattress. While most product reviewers claim they help make sleeping in the heat less sticky, it’s a massive expense for something you’ll only feel the advantage of a few months of the year… if that.
But, we also won’t be suggesting you go out and buy cheap tat. A small investment, we think, is justifiable, especially if it’s something you can use in more than one setting. A neck or handheld fan, for example, will be useful year round for London Underground users or gym goers. A cooling mist or an ice towel can be used in the same situations. Fans can double as dehumidifiers to blow air out of a windowless bathroom, or to rid the kitchen of bacon smoke.
Sleep
Cooling pillows
For some relief overnight, you can swap your regular pillow for a cooling one. You’d be forgiven for being sceptical – we were – but after trying some out in showrooms and hearing from friends who own one, we’re converts.
Cooling pillows have a cooling gel inside that absorbs heat produced by your head and neck, which is then dispersed elsewhere. While cooling pillows don’t actively lower your body temperature, the method of moving heat away from your body does help to reduce that hot, sweaty, and clammy feeling.
Handily, the Silentnight Airmax pillow is an affordable option, at £14 each on Amazon. It’s reviewed by many experts and publications as being the best value pillow on the market.
Cold effect lightweight blanket
Cold effect lightweight blankets are either made with advanced cooling fabric or bamboo. These materials are designed to increase ventilation and wick moisture away from your skin. It’s reported that bamboo’s temperature regulating properties keep body temperature an average of 3C lower than cotton.
Again, another Silentnight product has been recommended to us. The Restore by Silentnight cooling blanket is made with a mix of “innovative cooling fabric” and cotton. While sold as a blanket, it can also be used as a throw, keeping bums and backs from dripping sweat while watching Pointless. You can pick up a medium size for £35, which will be big enough for two people who really like each other to share.
Cooling mat for adults
If anyone has a furry friend, you’ve probably seen an advert for a cooling mat. We had one for our old dog. She wasn’t much of a fan, but we could feel the coldness of the surface whenever we touched it. If we’d known about cooling mats for adults back then, we wouldn’t have taken it in turn to use the dog’s one.
Since the heatwave, stock of adult size cooling mats has disappeared – well come back and update this page when one comes back into stock.
Cooling gel mattress topper
A cooling mattress topper works just the same way as a cooling pillow, mat, and mattress. A cooling mattress topper will keep yourself and your bed mate cool, resulting in a slightly higher price than a single person mat. Most importantly, a mattress topper can also improve the comfort of your mattress, making it a multipurpose purchase, even more so if you’re a naturally hot sleeper anyway.
Significantly cheaper than a new mattress, a cooling topper offers more portability (you can take it on holiday with you), less finality (you can take it off when the temperature drops, you’re stuck with a cooling mattress year round), individual bed side control (fold it and one side of the bed can stay warm).
While more expensive than the other Sleep options on this list, cooling mattress toppers do offer you a fair bit more. Dumelm’s Fogarty Cool Sleep Mattress Topper is one such option, costing £44 for a double.
Daytime
Neck air conditioner
Combining a fan with a cooling element, personal neck air conditioners are a great way of keeping your face and neck cool and comfortable.
We advise going to a shop to try some out before buying, as some neck fans can be quite loud and aren’t suitable for situations where you’ll be fanning yourself while chatting. Once you’ve made sure the noise is manageable for you, you’ll find that neck air conditioners work wonders at creating a lovely little bubble of cold air, just for you.
The ChillGo Portable Fan, £32 on Amazon, has good reviews, but there are plenty of other options out there.
Cooling face and body mist
We like cooling face mists: a quick spritz gives you momentary relief from hot and stuffy air. They’re small, lightweight, and easy to slip in your handbag or backpack.
As with most cooling things, these mist products won’t lower your body temperature, so aren’t to be used in place of staying safe in the sun, but the quick rest bite can be all you need to take your mind off overheating. And, reflecting their short term effects, cooling mist sprays are cheap to buy. You can buy a pack of three for less than a tenner.
Cold towels
Cold towels are a quick and easy homemade solution to combat hot weather. Soak a flannel or small towel in cold or icy water, wring them out (shake a few times to prevent drip trails), then use. You can wear your cold towel round your neck after the gym, while you’re doing housework or DIY, or you can lay it across your pillow at night. Just be aware that the water can soak into your pillow, so you’ll need to hang your pillow up and air it out in the morning to prevent damp, mould, and bad smells.
You can do the same with your t-shirt, pyjamas, underwear, socks, etc. But if you are worried about causing damp furniture or beds, you can just stick clothing in a plastic bag in the freezer for an hour or so to create the same effect. Doing this, however, doesn’t provide a cooling effect as long as a cold water soak would.
You can also buy a pack of three dedicated, microfibre cooling towels for around £8, which dry a lot quicker than your regular bathroom towels.
Fans
The humble fan. You can buy so many different ones at a wide range of prices, it’s more about finding the right one for your needs and budget. If you want to cool a whole room, you’ll need a bigger fan than if you just wanted to give yourself a breeze while sitting at a desk.
The cheapest fans tend to be handheld, all the way up to fan, air purifier, and air conditioner combo units, like models from Dyson.
Hitting up Facebook marketplace, Gumtree, or eBay can get you a better quality fan for a lower price, but make sure you research the model first and then ask the seller questions before committing. Importantly, make sure the fan works before you take it home.
Portable air conditioners
At Simple & Homely, portable air conditioners are out of our budgets. Cherie has had the same big fan for almost 30 years, while I take the European approach of closing curtains and doors during the day and only opening them when the sun has gone off.
But, if you have the money, a portable air conditioner is a worthwhile investment, especially considering that UK summers are only going to get longer and hotter.
Starting at £350 in Argos, you know you’ll need to make an effort to save up before buying.
For most portable air conditioners, you’ll need to be able to put a vent out of the window, and you’ll need to keep your windows and doors closed to feel the benefits. You’ll also have to factor the running costs into your budget.
Before you buy anything, though, do your homework to find out what weather a PAC is best for you, or whether one of the other, cheaper options will make the heat bearable enough.
