As a Texan I really want to start a North African/Middle Eastern faire, since that's the latitude we're on. Fun as it is, it's so impractical to dress up like we're in Northern Europe.
I do find non-European Medieval fantasy settings interesting. Started taking an interest in Conan recently because I never considered how a bronze age setting would work.
Agreed, a fair set around the Mediterranean and Near East cultures would be really cool, something kind of like the Silk Roads, with Byzantine Empire, Persian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Spain, etc
That would be really cool. They are known for their epic bazaars anyway, which could really fit the theme! And there was trade going on depending on the time period so if people still wanted to go European that might still work. But I totally agree, for European medieval or Renaissance fairs, a lot of us are trying to wear clothing in environments and temperatures where they would never have been worn, so it's no wonder we are over heating!
Probably useful too, to research what Europeans wore during the different crusade occupations and compare that to the clothing of Southern Europe and (if you're okay with a little anachronism ;) compare to what their descendants wore in the various American frontiers/colonies (both North and South) and in India, Africa and Southeast Asia. I am also a big fan of pre-soaked pith helmets in the summer, even though I don't have a corresponding costume :)
The weave of fabric is also important! Looser weaves (also called open weave) allow for more air to flow, whereas tightly woven fabrics trap your body heat against you. A loose-fitting garment made from an open weave linen or cotton creates a very nice cooling effect when you’re moving around. Also, avoid synthetics AT ALL COSTS if it’s hot out.
I made the mistake of bringing a baseball cap to a hike and couldn't see thanks to sweat constantly running down my face... Since I didn't know in advance how hot or cold that day would get, I took a shemagh with me and improvised a turban. It was a LOT thicker than the cap, but it was COOLER! However, a straw hat would have been much better...
Synthetics are best to avoid under any circumstances. They're artificial and almost invariably poisonous, and your body absorbs that poison slowly over time through your skin. Natural fibres, while harder to find, are always your best option. So cotton, linen, real leather, wool, hemp fabrics, etc are all good options. What you choose depends on the weather conditions and the look you're wanting to go for.
Cotton should also be avoided, it has the worst thermoregulation properties out of any natural fiber. The difference to linen is especially noticeable.
I work outside, and I only recently found this out: Per OSHA, the heat index (or what we usually see as the "feels like" temp) is based on being in the shade with a light breeze. If you're in full Sun, it can add up to 13 degrees to the "feels like" temp. Be safe out there!
When I was a volunteer firefighter, heatstroke, heat stress and heat management were big topics. One important thing I'd like to correct. The idea that you lose most of your heat through your head is a myth. You vent heat from your whole body, if you are trying to cool yourself with water or wrapped icepacks or something; the amount of area you cool is more important than the location. Don't ignore cooling your arms, legs, and torso, especially if you are overheating.
@jonanderson3050 Kinda. The most commonly cited source of the myth is a test done by the US military in the fifties where they measured heat loss in different parts of the body, but they were in arctic survival suits with their heads being the only uncovered part. They measured about 40% of heat coming from the head in those conditions. I presume it got retold so many times that specifics were forgotten.
@@Deadly0Nightthis is some precious information. Thank you sir, and thank you for your work as a firefighter, I have the deepest respect for your profession
The head is an important place for cooldown since the "debuff stage" of blurry sight and fuzzy speech stems from your brain overheating. Cooling that immediately remedies the worst effects, but you're right, your core body temperature has to drop as well. The ankles, wrists and your neck are still a very effective area for cooldown because of the high blood flow and thin skin. Add some damp linen for evaporative cooling or let cold water flow on your wrists is very effective. If you're wearing short trousers, having damp wrappings around your calves or even walk through water saps body heat away really fast.
Also it is important to pre-hydrate. Over the few days leading up to activity in the sun/heat, make sure you are properly hydrated so you are not playing catch up
Not just pre, but how you hydrate for the duration once the whole thing is under way too. I live in an apartment it's hard to get mail to. And, it's in another town from where my relatives live (whose address I use as my regular mail & shipping location). But both towns are right next to eath other, separated only by a north-south running river. My apartment is all the way on the far side of my town from the river between it and the one where my relatives live. More than this, I'm in the northern part of the Sacramento Valley in California (I'm right in the middle of where all the rice fields and orchards are, so it's very humid AND hot here during the summer). So, to agree with you that pre-hydrating is a wise move, I always chug at least 40 to 60 ounces of water in one go before I embark on the hour and a half walk to my relatives to collect my mail. The walk is on average an hour and a half, across the entire northward span of my town of Marysville, then across the riverbottoms along my side of the river, then across the railroadbridge over the river into northern Yuba City, through the riverbottoms orchards on their side, over the levee and finally to their house. And during the summer, that can be a punishing foot journey for they who aren't forever acclimatized to it like I am (as a result of not only being born & raised here starting from my birth in September, but due to my U.S. Army stint in Iraq yearsd prior). But, I also carry a pair of stainless steel 1-quart mility canteens inside my backpack (concealed from the sun). Then there's the advent of walking all that way back once I have my mail in hand. So altogether, usually around a 3 to 3 and a half hour round trip on foot in northern California humid summer heat. But it can be done, and done well if well-prepared for.
Any ground that's been in the shade all day, is cooler. If it was in the sun for the first half of the day before the shadow of that tree got over there to where it is now later in the day, the ground then tends to retain warmth that robs it of the natural cooling benefit you speak of even if it's shaded currently. i.e., know your all-day shade locations in the area you're adventuring in / through, and only use those particular spots for cooling off with the help of the ground itself as you've spoken of.
Yes it's hot and humid here in Atlanta, GA. But people from other places are never quite prepared for our high pollen counts. If you need allergy meds, bring them.
Linen has been a lifesaver at hot events! California events are often hot, so linen head covering and dress have been excellent for heat management. Better than cotton.
To have an open-ended wind tent as you say, is especially beneficial if you orient it such that the open ends are facing directly into / away from the wind respectively. This creates a wind tunnel effect inside the tent, where nearly full wind is blowing through constantly for perfect natural air conditioning.
Most of the bushcraft and survival videos deal with how to survive cold weather. I'm in Texas and we have a LOT of very hot weather. Staying safe and staying comfortable in hot weather is even more important. I'm glad you did this video.
You should check out Les Stroud (AKA Survivorman), he's done Survivorman episodes in hot places like deserts and jungles and does go into how to keep cool in hot climates.
As a redhead, I can totally vouch for putting extra clothing on to stay cool. I spend my life waiting for winter so I can enjoy being outside again, and longsleeved shirts are a godsend in the summer. Especially the few UV resistant ones I've got, those are incredible and worth every penny. Once YOU start feeling hot, take a layer off. Then another. Until you're in your base layer, or further if you're in private or something. Layers of air between your layers of clothes act as a buffer to keep the hot air around you off your body.
Yes. As a transplanted Midwesterner, I'm STILL trying to wrap my head around how that works the same when trying to stay warm in the cold or cool in the heat.
I'm an Operation Iraqi Freedom Army veteran, a reinactor and a real life doomsday prepper who's training in medieval combat / living for when everyone runs out of ammo long after SHTF has come and gone. Thus my reinacting is also an integral part of my SHTF doomsday prepping too. For me, it litallry all ties together in the same bigger picture. His advice is indeed more beneficial, and in more arenas mind you, than some may be yet be aware.
Sugar requires water to break down. If hydration is a concern, also avoid sugar. For myself, I'm someone who overheats very easily. I wear a 100% cotton tunic, 100% cotton pants, and 100% cotton cloak (even in the late spring/early fall [I don't LARP in the summer]). The cloaks I wear are a single layer for a foundation with another layer for designed fabric and then we waterproof them. So, they're pretty light. I let the cloak flow loosely in the heat to block the sun but also to benefit from a breeze. When it gets cool (or rainy), I hold the cloak close to me to retain my heat (and put on extra layers if necessary). My point is, cloaks are magical and flexible. (If you're a melee fighter, though, they do have a tendency to get in your way.)
Linen breathes very well, doesn’t stick to you as much, holds less moisture, and dries fairly quickly (this all compared to basically all other fabric fibers).
As someone who wears plate mail to Ren faires and larps, it's especially helpful to have a linen base layer and drink plenty of water and electrolytes. LiquidIV is an absolute miracle product in that regard.
From 2000-2019 I volunteered for my local music festival. 18 of those 20 festivals building and tearing down tents/fences/stages in temperatures averaging 28°C/83°F. A wet handkerchief/bandana/scarf around the neck and head (under the hat) helps cool you off as it evaporates. Chugging cold water will cool your core *too* quickly and tricks your body into thinking it's experiencing hypothermia, making you suffer the worst of both worlds.
I just dress for the weather. If it's too hot I'll just have my linen tunic. When it gets cooler I add woolen hood, later woolen jacket, then just layering. Also, if you have some sort of straw hat like the peasant you are, add soaked piece of fabric under it, it keeps your head cool for a long while.
Ok, not watched yet. but linnen is the best reccomendation I have for dealing with heat in terms of clothing. avoiding leather and especially synthetic fabrics is a good idea.
Yep! There are other tips in the video too, like food intake and ways to cook down if you do over heat, in terms of clothing though, you are absolutely spot on already!
I was just watching Thrifty Operator videos on how to make chest rigs, mag pouches, etc, and I click on the notification... and I see you have your own tactical gear going on. 😂 It's always strange to make the connections between different interests.
I try to take inspiration from modern military and operator setups when designing the practical portions of my carry or camp kits. A lot of times the materials and aesthetic designs change, but going by the trek/scout/combat layers rule, and learning about what they carry is really helpful in a medieval "Adventuring" context. Plus it means a lot of my fantasy gear is practical enough to wear alongside my modern tactical gear. My leather baldric I'm wearing in this video even has its own primitive style of molle style webbing in the front 😅
@@LivingAnachronism The modern knowledge also helps when to purposefully NOT be historically accurate, such as behavior regarding possible unsafe sources of water like rivers/lakes that medieval travelers may not have yet been aware of.
Radiant : White Clothes that fully cover your body whether that is a robe/cape/duster or just long sleeve/pant/skirt Ambient : Shade via tree or robe/cape/duster & air flow Cloth choice is important! SILK , Linen , Wool , Cotton , man made Ice to back of neck (scuba trick petrolium jelly same place in COLD) Sun Fly from robe/cape/duster with walking stick & tie outs SALT : see gatorade , avoid alcohol & caffine
In intense sun you want dark cloth, white cloth reflects heat onto the wearer, dark cloth holds that heat and (if an outer layer) can be removed to instantly take the heat with it. White cloth remains cooler because it is shedding more heat. This is why most desert peoples wore dark robes that covered as much of their body as possible. When they got to their tents they could shed the dark robes and be instantly cooler.
@@Davmm96 silk is great for wicking away moisture and holding in a temperature. If it's hot/cold underneath, it stays hotter/colder for longer. so if you're moving from cold to hot then it's great, not so much if it's already hot and you're going out where it's still hot.
Linen is highly underrated as a durable and breathable fabric for hot sunny weather. I highly recommend it. 100% linen fabric is crazy expensive though. I invested in a linen dress and chemise and found I could layer the same chemise underneath a variety of outfits. Having a good base layer underneath everything can be a life saver! Also I appreciate this video as someone who gets easily sunburnt. Long sleeves and a good straw hat are a must for me all summer, and are probably the most natural form of sunscreen. Cotton is my #2 favorite fabric because it's a bit more cost effective, and more readily available in stores. Although it's often mixed with acrylic or spandex, which don't breathe as well, so watch out for that.
Something to add to the heat equation is the UV index. 75 with a UV of 0 feels wildly different from 75 with a UV of 9. It's on the weather app, which also a helpful tool. I'm stupidly sensitive to the heat and I use many of these tricks. I also learned a few new ones, so thank you!
Drink cool water, DON'T drink cold water! Drinking ice cold water might bring some relieve but it will quickly drop your core temperature too much, resulting in your body producing even more heat to compensate. Exactly what you do not want. Best to regularly drink small amounts. As long as you don't drink by force (e.g. drinking when your stomach indicates it's already full) it's nearly impossible to drink too much. Any excess will come out through the other end.
Spicy food also helps to cool you down a little, it causes sweating, there are reasons why pretty much every culture that formed near the equator tends to favor very spicy foods (another is that spicy foods tend to repel parasites {which tend to be more common in hot and humid environments})
Not necessarily relevant to Ren-Fair, but the best two I've found are a wet Shemagh/large Bandana or a pre-soaked Pith helmet (or both together). That's how I survive yardwork in the desert when it's over 100F. Straw hats are nice if you can justify them, but literally any hat with a very wide brim helps. If you're wearing metal armor I've *heard* that chainmail is better at radiating heat than plate (some accounts from early Virginia colony agree, but not all), but a light-weight tabard keeps the sun off of either. Loose shirts with voluminous sleeves work for a variety of costumes, but the collar needs to be open or absent.
Personal experience chain mail is far cooler then plate. I'm in Florida,the April renfair usually already in the 80s+ with like 80 percent humidity. Especially cooler if you forgo the gambison underneath. The chain draws away the heat and is open enough to feel the breeze 😊
Then the SCA events I used to attend were NC-17 or X Rated because nudity was everywhere after the public left. Of course we used to joking call it the Society for Consenting Adults for all the other activities that were happening afterwards
Modern cooling towels are my go-to 9 months a year. And they're available online in nice colors like black, gray, khaki, and forest green. As they evaporate in whatever breeze there is, the water vapor sucks heat right out. Make sure and use viscose rayon, which is like a thin sponge. Stay away from chemical construction you can't pronounce. A wide brim hat accompanies my noggin at faire. And I refill a 1 L water bottle with faucet tap water multiple times a day.
One thing people tend to forget is to have salt. It really helps the body recover from sweating. There is a reason trail mix and sports drinks have salt in them.
Good tip! Make a short sleeve inner linen layer, and wet it down and wring it out before you get dressed. This can help keep your core (where most costuming layers go) cool for hours at a time, and add those hourd to the time you can enjoy your event before you start sweating profusely and need to cool yourself.
Something I have discovered... when you're in the desert (such as in Utah, hi Kramer!), it's actually cooler to seek shade from a tree than it is to hide under a pavilion. I don't know how this compares with other areas, but it's true where I live. Edit: Also, Kramer, it'll be really cool to get some different garb advice now that you live more in my area---I wouldn't dare to use hoodies as costume pieces here, except during late Fall through early Spring. Edit 2: Kerchief around the neck is a life saver! Mine has only needed to get wet once; most of its value comes in soaking up sweat and keeping the sun off my neck. For head coverings, I like my big Western hat for days when I'm likely to get sunburned, and a kerchief over my hair for days when the ambient heat is stronger than the sunlight, to keep my hair off my neck (so I'll use a kerchief around my neck and the hat for really sunny days, and the kerchief over my hair for cloudy-but-hot days, in general). Edit 3: Consider spicy foods! I've heard that eating spicy food will help keep you cool because, since it makes your body think it's overheating, it can help stimulate the body's cooling response of sweating and sending blood to the skin to lose its heat. Edit 4: At this point, I've quit saying, "I'm hot." Now I say, "I'm over-warm." If it's really bad, I'll say, "I'm *extremely* over-warm." Edit 5: Laying on the ground is only cooler on certain surfaces. Grass, yes. Bare soil or concrete? Very much no! I don't want to go into the details on why this happens, so just look up Allan Savory's TED talk about greening the earth.
@jonanderson3050 Also, there's ambient moisture that trees aspirate - sometimes you can actually see them dripping sap in intense heat, depending on the tree - and it acts like a natural swamp cooler.
If only this was out when I took my family to the West Virginia Renaissance Fair - it's my favorite one I've ever attended, this year had record-breaking heat and we had a three-month-old (stroller fans are worth their weight in gold).
Advice for females at a ren faire get a bodice cooler from the glass blowing booth. It is a hollow cone of glass that you wear against your sternum between your breasts and braced by a bodice. It is worn open side up and filled with ice. It is amazing how much it helps keep you cool. You can top up the ice from any drink stall. Just be aware you might spill cold water if you bend down.
Not if you use a little creative enginuity and come up with a press-in cap of some kind with air holes in it so it traps in the ice without trapping in heat from the sun. Just some food for thought.
There are some that come with a cork top to keep the cold water from spilling out. Mine is metal, so I don't have to worry about the glass breaking. It's wonderful.
I create custom clothing and one of my clients is working on turning the majority of his wardrobe medieval so your channel is a great resource for me. We're aiming for a balance of historical accuracy and modern functionality (and the Godsent blessing of an electric sewing machine), and being able to hear you talk about what you've learned by actually testing linen, wool, leather, etc. out in your own clothing is tremendously helpful. Thank you!
This is excellent information. Thank you for making this video. I belong to a historical fencing school, and occasionally, we are asked to present a pavilion at our local Renaissance and Celtic festivals. We attend these in garb, and dealing with heat has been a consistent challenge. Bravo!
@@thatHARVguy Most of the ones I have found look either too loose or too tight, so my current plan is to buy one of the looser options and then weave straw, grass, etc. into the brim to give me good shade but with a crown that should vent well.
Now that you are in southern Utah, you have to deal with the high desert. The sun is brutal in July/August and you have to get in the shade. Due to the lower humidity, being in the shade feels about 10 degrees cooler. I lived in Vegas at one point and I never went outside in the dog days if I could help it. That's why you want to go to fairs that are held in moderate temperature months.
Pickles. Southern heat, triple digits, 12 hour days on baseball fields with no escape from the heat, a stadium pickle can be quite literally a life saver, honestly, a chilled (not ice cold) bottle of water half filled with pickle juice is better than Gatorade for me, i know pickles aren't for everyone, but if you can, try it, i promise a pickle juice electrolyte drink is amazing for avoiding heat stress❤
I went to my first medieval market today while I'm in Germany. It was my first real "event" and I was able to make a kit following up to your step 3 in your costume for beginners. Now I will say it was pretty hot out there in joggers and a few layers, but I still felt it was worth it to look semi-cool. Thank you for your videos and tips!
I knew most of these tips but having them broken down like this it's very useful. Thanks for the great job as always. These help me comprehend the issue better and I will definitely use it on my daily life.
Having done my fair share of Ren Faires too (specifically in Az, where the temp is 80-90 in Feb!) Ambient heat is also helped along by the body heat of everyone around you DX That said, this is all great advice! I'm in Tx now, where the faire in Nov is more likely to be cool than hot (last year the kids spent the whole time bundled in blankets lol) but if its gonna be warmer, this is all wonderful advice to have
One thing i haven’t heard you say is colours, darker colours absorb heat, so trying to say away from them will help as well, dark coloured clothes will get warm faster than white shirts which will reflect light from the sun away. So this is for when the sun is really strong
need to be careful there, white clothes do reflect the heat better, but that means more reflected heat onto your skin that is showing. In intense sun dark cloth holds the heat, but can also be removed to instantly take that heat away when you get somewhere cooler.
@@littlekong7685 I wonder if this is why the Bedouin peoples often wear heavy black wool clothing---besides the design of the clothing, the darker color has some benefits of its own.
@@littlekong7685 At body temperature thermal radiation is actually fairly weak. Heat transfer around the Earth's surface is heavily dominated by convection and water phase change.
@@littlekong7685 I would be careful with that if you're not in a dry/desert climate. Black fabric only draws even more heat when you're in a humid climate. Loose, light clothes are recommended for these climates because the ambient temperature is far closer to the sunlight temperature, so you need to regulate your personal temperature as top priority. People who live near the ocean tend to wear loose shirts and pants in light/bright colours because that's what is comfortable. Dress for the climate is what I'm saying.
The solar radiation in Arizona is enough to give you heat stroke but a good way to mitigate it is a light cloak (thin as a sheet made of cotton) as it keeps the sun off you while catching the wind to help cool you down. Leather and tight fitting clothing are something you want to avoid.
Thank you for this very timely video! I'm preparing to go to my first fair in a couple weeks and I've been worrying about how hot it might get and how best to manage the heat. The explanation of the different types of heat is very helpful.
"Always cooler on the ground" says the guy who clearly hasn't spent time in the desert. 105 degrees with no humidity feels pretty good. Your sweat dries instantly. But you can fry an egg on the hood of your car, or any kind of hard surface. That includes sand. Get into shade. And if you can't feel sweat under your arms, between your cheeks and at your junk, you should be worried. "But it's a dry heat" is an ambush. If you are dripping with sweat, that is a sign your body can thermoregulate, and if you stop, panic. When you aren't sweating normally, except maybe your feet in your boots, you've lost a warning sign. I'm actually going to argue in favor of wool socks and light boots. Sweaty feet, you can deal with the heat; feet are dry, you're gunna die.
Not even just "desert." I grew up in Nebraska panhandle, and high plains, over through Wyoming, isn't desert-dry, but a little breeze, and low enough humidity that sweat evaporates without you noticing the sweating, and you can find yourself deeply dehydrated in even moderate heat
Sometimes I wish we could see those video game style health bars. I imagine my heat bar got to the red flashing stage the other day when the temperature outside was close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. In the hot sun in an open parking lot. Luckily I got my AC running in my car and got home out of the heat.
Some great points! Interesting anecdote about long sleeves, in the australian army we were not allowed to roll our sleeves up whereas in the uk rolled sleeves are the norm, as it seems in the us too (at least from an outsiders perspective, ive seen a bunch of videos of american soldiers with cuffs rolled right up).
Don't bash yourself for the accidental compliment. If you can say something nice about yourself, you _should_ do it. As often as possible, and make sure to remind yourself if you forget. Too many people treat our more self-deprecating society like being the same thing as humility. It can be on a very light level, but very easily crosses into a more cruel self effacing territory that is never actually as okay as we've allowed it to be. We all have things we dislike about ourselves, but we're going to have a lot more energy to do something about it if we remember to empower ourselves about the things we _do_ like. Make sure to remind yourself, and those you care about, of the things you like about you, and about them. All very sound advice. In our AC loving parts of the world it's real easy to forget how spoiled we are, and how that affects our built-in defenses. 😅 (Until you hear about how some Americans are coping with the heat in the France games, and just... 74 Fahrenheit is perfectly adequate. 60F is genuinely way too cold for anywhere with 90+ weather right now...)
Humidity is a major thing for beyond just how hot it gets, mitigation methods vary heavily there though some things do still apply. For example, there are different things needed between Florida and Arizona. A more arid environment actually is one where loose, flowing clothes helps a lot, managing airflow as you move while covering more up. Shift to a more humid environment, and, well, that becomes a moisture trap that doesn't help that much and won't end well for you. More direct moisture wicking and similar helps more there in comparison.
Ergodine makes an evaporative cooling vest you can wear under your clothes. Soak it in ice water, wring it out, and put it on over an undershirt. Once you wring it out, it is dry. It will maintain that cool temperature for 3 hours. Once it warms back up, just soak it again. I work in the Occupational Safety field, and I used to purchase these vests for our welders who were working in hot areas with temperatures over 100 degrees.
Conduction (contacting hot surfaces and liquids), convection (contacting hot fluids; hot environment), radiation (non-contact exposure to heated objects). Exothermy (body-generated heat). Having hot gasses contact you is convective but they can then condense on you (like water vapour) causing conductive burns.
Similarly, evaporate liquid from your skin, skin contact with cool surfaces, blow cool gasses over your skin, exposing skin to a non-radiative environment (like a cloudless sky at night, or even during the day).
We had ice sheet when i was in the army. I took that logic and got a greyish linen cloak that reflects a decent amount of sun, but on those real hot days i dunk it in water (wring it out so im not dripping) and let it evaporate to pull the heat away from me. That doesnt work very well in very humid environments, but its done wonders for me so far.
Our local Ren Faire lasts for around 9 weekends, rain or shine. Best time I ever had was when a rain squall ran through soaking the place. I was plenty warm with 20 pounds of wool on, the rain got rid of all the dust, and half the crowd left so it was busy but not elbow to elbow. Otherwise, I simply try to go as early in the season as I can, because it sucks being dressed for Northern England when it's 100+ in Arizona.
Sunlight is pleasant in modest amounts; part of our association with it as pleasant is social conditioning. Tanning of the skin is actually cell damage and contributes to cancer. Sunscreen is actually period! albeit using materials I strongly recommend against (white lead). Textile material matters a lot. Synthetics do not breathe and retain a lot of heat. Linen, hemp, and nettle are hollow and breathe well and are also anti-microbial, which makes them excellent for base layers. Cotton is generally on the high end of medium for heat retention and lower end for breathability, although there is variance. For hydration, also keep in mind electrolytes. It can be easy to get an electrolyte imbalance when sweating and drinking relatively pure water. Scarf yes. I have been pairing a linen ascot (or cravat) with a hat for sun protection.
I just rediscovered your channel after switching devices. Since I didn't have a yt account until recently, I actually only subscribed today. However, I have been loving your content for a couple of years. Keep up the good work, and keep improving your excellent production quality!
Then it's decided: I'm going on an event in September, and considering the weather, I rather make a new 18th century style of stays, and make a pocket in it big enough for an ice battery.
As a renfaire performer of 27+ years, and a safety and security professional for 16+ years I’ve had my fair share of summer festival heat, and had to help with those who got into trouble managing it. There are a few things I’d offer for consideration. 0. Educate yourself first. Learn what the stages of dehydration and heat stress are before you go to your event. Learn what the symptoms are, and what they feel like ahead of time. Dehydration can cause migraine type headaches but that’s not always universal. Heat stress can mean slurred speech, but not always. Both can show up as lightheadedness, again your mileage may vary. Be aware of how your body responds to heat stress. I know several performers who cannot sweat the way others do. They have to take special precautions when in the heat normally; being in garb just adds more to their preparations. 1. Give yourself breaks, it’s okay to go off stage or behind the scenes take a few layers of garb off, hydrate, and get your mind right between shows, demonstrations, and events. 2. Consider heat and cold in garb design and choices, often our period garb may not allow for body heat to escape, or sweat to evaporate in the breeze. Think Elizabethan ruffs/collars, tied about the neck, or the full slashed doublet sleeves that laced to the main body at the shoulder, these were removable/openable on purpose. It is in no way farby to not be in full napoleonic dress uniform with leather neck stocks on, 24 hours. A uniform shirt, and the tunic on a dressed dummy/wooden valet is acceptable to demonstrate for the public. 3. Try to dress in layers and switch out sweaty/wet saturated layers for dry alternatives both on the body and your feet as soon as possible (again maybe during those bts breaks). If your under layers are soaked, your sweat has nowhere to go and you’ve doubled the problem, the wet layer can hold onto a lot of heat, and your natural cooling mechanism can’t do its job. Cotton is nice until it’s wet. 4. Eat food, even if it’s served hot, or cold, the temperature of the food itself will equalize with your internal temp regardless of the serving temperature. Cold food/treats may feel good temporarily but don’t do much to move the body temp needle. But your body needs fuel to run everything including your cooling mechanisms, and the big grey matter that tracks your wellbeing. 5. Sports drinks (the electrolytes they contain) watered down to half strength can help your hydration be more effective and keep your other body functions deal with the heat better. 6. If you think you are suffering acute heat stress, packing the major joints with ice/cold materials can help rapidly lower the core body temp (it is possible to go too far with this). Underarms, back of the neck, in the groin/perineum. Yes it’s an intimate area so you may want to be off stage, and it may be very unpleasant temporarily, but it is better than heat stroke and the hospital, or worse. 7. It is possible (admittedly rare) to swing to the other extreme and have hypothermia even in summer. Wet layers next to skin and wind will cool the body, as will packing ice. But these should be stopped when the patient feels better like they do when they are comfortable at home. 8. If you are doing physical activity, buffer/hema/SCA fighting, Highland Games, drill or skills demonstrations etc., all of the above apply, but even more so. It is easy to forget to take care of ourselves if we’re having fun, competing, or performing. Keep any eye on your fellow participants and patrons too. Thanks for attending my ted talk.
Putting something cold my wrists or jugular really helps cool down the parts that are the most hot anyways. Tams or bonnets are good too because you can adjust the whole hat to keep the sun out of your face. Kilts always feel wonderful when there's a breeze.
In regards to you mentioning drinking alcohol, yes it does make you *feel* warmer it actually lowers your body temperature overall. This is not to say you can or should drink it to cool off (it still does dehydrate you) but not to drink it to warm up in an emergency.
100% linen and cotton in light colors are your friends ! cover your head with a straw hat ! I camped with 95F and 65 %humidity with linen undergarments and light weight cotton or linen over layers I stayed under tent fly's and trees and didn't overheat. sure I sweated but I stayed hydrated and adjusted
Direct sun light is also not a joke, especially on the head, if your planning to stay under the sun for a lot of time, wear some sort oh head protection, it can be an helmet, hat, coif, hood, bandana and so on. You don't wanna pass out in the middle of a field under the hot sun😅
As someone who has been snowmobiling, I can attest that ambient heat and radiant heat are realities. Just because it is 0 deg temperatures outside doesn't mean you can't overheat if you are caught out in the sun with no cover.
in the sun heat, dress like the beduins. or just imagine how silkroad merchant in the desert area dressed like. i think in modern days that would be light linen long sleeve top, having that as the base and just layered over them your other costumes as much as you can to acheave the look that you aim for. at your suggestion, im kinda shudderd imagine to wear gambeson out in the sun, the weight and the heat would make me uncomfy. here in the equator we do cover most of our skin as much as we can when were outdoor, but i guess the wisdom of the old is kinda forgotten here, and most use synthetic western clothes.
night hawk in light has been working on cold packs that last longer than ice and fabrics that cool you down. The fabrics dont work yet but the cold packs do. He shows how to make them in his videos so some of them might be usable for costumers.
It was discussed at a fursuit construction panel that ice packs placed on the torso can cause pneumonia, due to hot sweaty air condensing in the lungs. I don't have the medical training to say if this is credible or not, but it's something I don't do myself. Race car drivers sometimes and space/high altitude suits commonly use a tube-filled shirt that runs cold water through it from an ice chest (the cold is spread out more than an ice pack would be), and this can be made into a backpack, but I'm not sure if that would ruin immersion.
I have a big woolen greatcoat and people ask me if i am hot in it. And it comes down to this: I can barely feel the heat of the sun through it. It is loose fitting so air flow is good, even when buttoned up. Unbuttoned airflow and venting is excellent. Wool is a good insulant but breathes and does not generate heat like synthetic fibres tend to.
I live in Alabama. Earlier this week it was 98 degrees F and 99% humidity. Really. It is currently 77 degrees with a 75% humidity - at midnight. I used to be in the SCA. We learned fast about linen, cotton and lightweight wool, shade and water.
I find it easier to dress for cold than for heat. You can always add a layer of clothing but at some point you can't remove more. I prefer linnen and wool cloth for most dresses. Linnen can keep you cool while protecting from the sun while wool can keep you warm even when wet and as loden is also quite rain resistant. Also both don't begin to smell bad from transpiration as fast as other fabrics.
If ambient temperature goes above a certain level you'll want to be insulated, wear fully covering clothes, possibly even woolen. That's the case woth traditional woolen clothes
Quite thorough and analytic. Nicely done. I have also found that it is nice to carry a shemag (that is probably spelled wrong. Pronounce Sh-i-maw-g) which is basically a large scarf/ giant handkerchief made preferably out of a linen type material that I can get wet and drape over my shoulders or wrap around my head. Which can both serve as a part of my kit / costume, and help cool me off both with the water, but also sheilding from the sun and wicking moisture away from my body as it (the cloth) dries.
An extra note on linen next to the skin, assuming everything else about the fabrics are identical, linen will keep your skin five degrees cooler than cotton.
Loose linen layers. Also mint water on your skin in combo with the fan or a breeze helps evaporation. I always wet down my bandana and twirtl it around realy fast so it cools down and use it to pat my pulse points, face and back of neck.
I live in Wisconsin and while we have Bristol and Shakopee as well as Ren in the Glen nearby, I would love to do a Winter's Faire. Something primarily indoors and very Celtic, Norse, and Slav focused. There is missed oppertunity in cold weather. As for beating the heat in summer, I just layer like crazy. It sounds counter intuitive, but my triple layered outfit had me comfortable yesterday where as a lot of shift and corset only peasants were franticly fanning themselves all day. Other great tricks are to choose lighter colors, use only natural fibers especially as your foundation layer (that is the layer closest to your skin) as they wick excess moisture away and allow greater airflow, stick to the shade when possible this includes wearing a wide brimmed hat, drink twice as much room temperature water as you think you need and half as much alcohol, and don't be afraid to set a spell. If you reach the point of headache and/or nausea immediately seek medical attention! The last trick is to skirt, kilt, toga, and tunic your look (preferably with period appropriate underwear). Pants, sloops, trousers, breeches, anything that fully covers each individual leg are much warmer than the wide hemlines of a single "dress" which can be fluffed by a breeze. Honestly, I've never understood why only women are supposed to wear skirts when it is the men who would benefit more from the additional airflow. The only reason I can imagine that clothing evolved the way it did is because a codpiece is easier to attach to a split leg garment; however, indulge my insantiy for a moment and considet how much more endowed a cod piece would make a fellow appear if a bulge could be seen with a proper farthingale were worn.
A modern understanding of how the human body handles heat management helps. The average human generates about a hundred watts of heat *at rest*. That can jump to several hundred watts during exertion (trained athletes can sustain more than one horsepower which is about seven hundred watts). The brain alone accounts for twenty percent of that total. That’s why we have “emissary veins” that lead from the brain through the skull to the forehead where abundant sweat glands produce a lot of moisture to carry heat away by evaporation. Wearing hats can block sunlight but interfere with that built in air conditioning. Hence the salt accumulation on your hat. Point being if you’re overheating and you’re wearing a hat, a good first step is to shed the hat. Pretty much any places clothing gets sweat stains are where your body wants to shed heat, so try to wear clothing that lets air flow over those places. Having had heatstroke once I can verify that it’s no fun. Thirty years of living in Arizona taught me the lessons on heat management you covered so nicely. I want to accentuate what you said about ice water. It drops your core temperature too quickly if you chug it. Sips are much better.
"The heat from the sun is never really hot enough to raise your body temperature" That depends on where you are. Where I live, it's almost ENTIRELY the sun. Shade feels nice, but direct sunlight could boil the oil on your skin.
The most important is using the correct materials for your garments. Avoid artificial and cotton at all cost, stick to linen, light wool and silk. (Possibly viscose mixes of these.) Even a relatively thick arming doublet made like that stays comfy.
Went to the fair yesterday, and my wife fainted on the ferris wheel.
Don't worry, she's slowly coming around.
Wakka Wakka.... I see what you did there. lol
Ka-pow!
Had us in the first half, ngl
I know it's a joke, but I think I'm missing it...
...Oh.
that was a terrible pun!
As a Texan I really want to start a North African/Middle Eastern faire, since that's the latitude we're on. Fun as it is, it's so impractical to dress up like we're in Northern Europe.
I do find non-European Medieval fantasy settings interesting. Started taking an interest in Conan recently because I never considered how a bronze age setting would work.
Agreed, a fair set around the Mediterranean and Near East cultures would be really cool, something kind of like the Silk Roads, with Byzantine Empire, Persian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Spain, etc
@@TheAsylumCatI been dabbling a little in the Bronze Age, that would be such a cool time period to have a fair or LARP set in.
That would be really cool. They are known for their epic bazaars anyway, which could really fit the theme! And there was trade going on depending on the time period so if people still wanted to go European that might still work. But I totally agree, for European medieval or Renaissance fairs, a lot of us are trying to wear clothing in environments and temperatures where they would never have been worn, so it's no wonder we are over heating!
Probably useful too, to research what Europeans wore during the different crusade occupations and compare that to the clothing of Southern Europe and (if you're okay with a little anachronism ;) compare to what their descendants wore in the various American frontiers/colonies (both North and South) and in India, Africa and Southeast Asia.
I am also a big fan of pre-soaked pith helmets in the summer, even though I don't have a corresponding costume :)
The weave of fabric is also important! Looser weaves (also called open weave) allow for more air to flow, whereas tightly woven fabrics trap your body heat against you. A loose-fitting garment made from an open weave linen or cotton creates a very nice cooling effect when you’re moving around. Also, avoid synthetics AT ALL COSTS if it’s hot out.
I made the mistake of bringing a baseball cap to a hike and couldn't see thanks to sweat constantly running down my face...
Since I didn't know in advance how hot or cold that day would get, I took a shemagh with me and improvised a turban. It was a LOT thicker than the cap, but it was COOLER!
However, a straw hat would have been much better...
this !!
Synthetics are best to avoid under any circumstances. They're artificial and almost invariably poisonous, and your body absorbs that poison slowly over time through your skin. Natural fibres, while harder to find, are always your best option. So cotton, linen, real leather, wool, hemp fabrics, etc are all good options. What you choose depends on the weather conditions and the look you're wanting to go for.
Cotton should also be avoided, it has the worst thermoregulation properties out of any natural fiber. The difference to linen is especially noticeable.
@@redanthalas8830 I didn't know that. I considered both as cellulose fibers. Just that linen is of better quality (tougher) .
I work outside, and I only recently found this out: Per OSHA, the heat index (or what we usually see as the "feels like" temp) is based on being in the shade with a light breeze. If you're in full Sun, it can add up to 13 degrees to the "feels like" temp. Be safe out there!
When I was a volunteer firefighter, heatstroke, heat stress and heat management were big topics.
One important thing I'd like to correct. The idea that you lose most of your heat through your head is a myth. You vent heat from your whole body, if you are trying to cool yourself with water or wrapped icepacks or something; the amount of area you cool is more important than the location.
Don't ignore cooling your arms, legs, and torso, especially if you are overheating.
@jonanderson3050 Kinda. The most commonly cited source of the myth is a test done by the US military in the fifties where they measured heat loss in different parts of the body, but they were in arctic survival suits with their heads being the only uncovered part. They measured about 40% of heat coming from the head in those conditions. I presume it got retold so many times that specifics were forgotten.
@@Deadly0Nightthis is some precious information. Thank you sir, and thank you for your work as a firefighter, I have the deepest respect for your profession
The head is an important place for cooldown since the "debuff stage" of blurry sight and fuzzy speech stems from your brain overheating. Cooling that immediately remedies the worst effects, but you're right, your core body temperature has to drop as well. The ankles, wrists and your neck are still a very effective area for cooldown because of the high blood flow and thin skin.
Add some damp linen for evaporative cooling or let cold water flow on your wrists is very effective.
If you're wearing short trousers, having damp wrappings around your calves or even walk through water saps body heat away really fast.
Also it is important to pre-hydrate. Over the few days leading up to activity in the sun/heat, make sure you are properly hydrated so you are not playing catch up
Not just pre, but how you hydrate for the duration once the whole thing is under way too. I live in an apartment it's hard to get mail to. And, it's in another town from where my relatives live (whose address I use as my regular mail & shipping location). But both towns are right next to eath other, separated only by a north-south running river. My apartment is all the way on the far side of my town from the river between it and the one where my relatives live.
More than this, I'm in the northern part of the Sacramento Valley in California (I'm right in the middle of where all the rice fields and orchards are, so it's very humid AND hot here during the summer).
So, to agree with you that pre-hydrating is a wise move, I always chug at least 40 to 60 ounces of water in one go before I embark on the hour and a half walk to my relatives to collect my mail. The walk is on average an hour and a half, across the entire northward span of my town of Marysville, then across the riverbottoms along my side of the river, then across the railroadbridge over the river into northern Yuba City, through the riverbottoms orchards on their side, over the levee and finally to their house.
And during the summer, that can be a punishing foot journey for they who aren't forever acclimatized to it like I am (as a result of not only being born & raised here starting from my birth in September, but due to my U.S. Army stint in Iraq yearsd prior).
But, I also carry a pair of stainless steel 1-quart mility canteens inside my backpack (concealed from the sun).
Then there's the advent of walking all that way back once I have my mail in hand.
So altogether, usually around a 3 to 3 and a half hour round trip on foot in northern California humid summer heat.
But it can be done, and done well if well-prepared for.
Don't fight a 2hr siege at Melbourne Quest in full plate in the beginning of an Australian summer
Generally works pretty well as a preventative method
Something else with understanding that the ground is cooler, sitting for a bit before lying down helps with the slowly cooling
Any ground that's been in the shade all day, is cooler. If it was in the sun for the first half of the day before the shadow of that tree got over there to where it is now later in the day, the ground then tends to retain warmth that robs it of the natural cooling benefit you speak of even if it's shaded currently.
i.e., know your all-day shade locations in the area you're adventuring in / through, and only use those particular spots for cooling off with the help of the ground itself as you've spoken of.
Yes it's hot and humid here in Atlanta, GA. But people from other places are never quite prepared for our high pollen counts. If you need allergy meds, bring them.
Highly underrated advice
Be aware though that allergy meds can dehydrate quicker
Apparently most medieval tournaments were held in the spring or fall, so I guess that's one method...
Linen has been a lifesaver at hot events! California events are often hot, so linen head covering and dress have been excellent for heat management. Better than cotton.
I second. It’s been a journey trying to find the best hot-weather fabric, and the answer is LINEN. And avoid synthetic fibers at all costs.
Big White Tent, with good air flow(EG. in one end, out the other.) Almost any shade is good as long as it's not caused by Arrows.
To be fair, if it is caused by arrows, you won't be suffering the heat much longer.
*laughs from under Spartan shield*
To have an open-ended wind tent as you say, is especially beneficial if you orient it such that the open ends are facing directly into / away from the wind respectively. This creates a wind tunnel effect inside the tent, where nearly full wind is blowing through constantly for perfect natural air conditioning.
Most of the bushcraft and survival videos deal with how to survive cold weather. I'm in Texas and we have a LOT of very hot weather. Staying safe and staying comfortable in hot weather is even more important. I'm glad you did this video.
You should check out Les Stroud (AKA Survivorman), he's done Survivorman episodes in hot places like deserts and jungles and does go into how to keep cool in hot climates.
As a redhead, I can totally vouch for putting extra clothing on to stay cool. I spend my life waiting for winter so I can enjoy being outside again, and longsleeved shirts are a godsend in the summer. Especially the few UV resistant ones I've got, those are incredible and worth every penny. Once YOU start feeling hot, take a layer off. Then another. Until you're in your base layer, or further if you're in private or something. Layers of air between your layers of clothes act as a buffer to keep the hot air around you off your body.
Yes. As a transplanted Midwesterner, I'm STILL trying to wrap my head around how that works the same when trying to stay warm in the cold or cool in the heat.
This is good advice. I'm an Army veteran and longtime reenactor. I wish more people knew this stuff. Good work spreading this information.
I'm an Operation Iraqi Freedom Army veteran, a reinactor and a real life doomsday prepper who's training in medieval combat / living for when everyone runs out of ammo long after SHTF has come and gone. Thus my reinacting is also an integral part of my SHTF doomsday prepping too. For me, it litallry all ties together in the same bigger picture.
His advice is indeed more beneficial, and in more arenas mind you, than some may be yet be aware.
Sugar requires water to break down. If hydration is a concern, also avoid sugar.
For myself, I'm someone who overheats very easily. I wear a 100% cotton tunic, 100% cotton pants, and 100% cotton cloak (even in the late spring/early fall [I don't LARP in the summer]). The cloaks I wear are a single layer for a foundation with another layer for designed fabric and then we waterproof them. So, they're pretty light. I let the cloak flow loosely in the heat to block the sun but also to benefit from a breeze. When it gets cool (or rainy), I hold the cloak close to me to retain my heat (and put on extra layers if necessary). My point is, cloaks are magical and flexible. (If you're a melee fighter, though, they do have a tendency to get in your way.)
Preach. I wear chapans of different weights all year long, for regular life or otherwise.
Linen breathes very well, doesn’t stick to you as much, holds less moisture, and dries fairly quickly (this all compared to basically all other fabric fibers).
As someone who wears plate mail to Ren faires and larps, it's especially helpful to have a linen base layer and drink plenty of water and electrolytes. LiquidIV is an absolute miracle product in that regard.
From 2000-2019 I volunteered for my local music festival. 18 of those 20 festivals building and tearing down tents/fences/stages in temperatures averaging 28°C/83°F.
A wet handkerchief/bandana/scarf around the neck and head (under the hat) helps cool you off as it evaporates.
Chugging cold water will cool your core *too* quickly and tricks your body into thinking it's experiencing hypothermia, making you suffer the worst of both worlds.
I just dress for the weather.
If it's too hot I'll just have my linen tunic. When it gets cooler I add woolen hood, later woolen jacket, then just layering.
Also, if you have some sort of straw hat like the peasant you are, add soaked piece of fabric under it, it keeps your head cool for a long while.
I use a serape to help reduce direct Sun effects
Sux when you LARP where you need armour
Ok, not watched yet.
but linnen is the best reccomendation I have for dealing with heat in terms of clothing. avoiding leather and especially synthetic fabrics is a good idea.
Yep! There are other tips in the video too, like food intake and ways to cook down if you do over heat, in terms of clothing though, you are absolutely spot on already!
I started wearing mundane linen clothes after having worn them for re enactment/SCA. I live in Florida where it's hot as hell and really humid.
I was just watching Thrifty Operator videos on how to make chest rigs, mag pouches, etc, and I click on the notification... and I see you have your own tactical gear going on. 😂
It's always strange to make the connections between different interests.
I try to take inspiration from modern military and operator setups when designing the practical portions of my carry or camp kits. A lot of times the materials and aesthetic designs change, but going by the trek/scout/combat layers rule, and learning about what they carry is really helpful in a medieval "Adventuring" context. Plus it means a lot of my fantasy gear is practical enough to wear alongside my modern tactical gear. My leather baldric I'm wearing in this video even has its own primitive style of molle style webbing in the front 😅
@@LivingAnachronism The modern knowledge also helps when to purposefully NOT be historically accurate, such as behavior regarding possible unsafe sources of water like rivers/lakes that medieval travelers may not have yet been aware of.
Radiant :
White Clothes that fully cover your body whether that is a robe/cape/duster or just long sleeve/pant/skirt
Ambient :
Shade via tree or robe/cape/duster & air flow
Cloth choice is important!
SILK , Linen , Wool , Cotton , man made
Ice to back of neck (scuba trick petrolium jelly same place in COLD)
Sun Fly from robe/cape/duster with walking stick & tie outs
SALT : see gatorade , avoid alcohol & caffine
In intense sun you want dark cloth, white cloth reflects heat onto the wearer, dark cloth holds that heat and (if an outer layer) can be removed to instantly take the heat with it. White cloth remains cooler because it is shedding more heat. This is why most desert peoples wore dark robes that covered as much of their body as possible. When they got to their tents they could shed the dark robes and be instantly cooler.
@@littlekong7685definitely no dark clothing in humidity at all, light colour clothing is the best protection and most comfortable.
silk? u crazy, yeah it's natural but that fabric is hell for hot weather.
@@Davmm96 silk is great for wicking away moisture and holding in a temperature. If it's hot/cold underneath, it stays hotter/colder for longer. so if you're moving from cold to hot then it's great, not so much if it's already hot and you're going out where it's still hot.
Linen is highly underrated as a durable and breathable fabric for hot sunny weather. I highly recommend it. 100% linen fabric is crazy expensive though. I invested in a linen dress and chemise and found I could layer the same chemise underneath a variety of outfits. Having a good base layer underneath everything can be a life saver! Also I appreciate this video as someone who gets easily sunburnt. Long sleeves and a good straw hat are a must for me all summer, and are probably the most natural form of sunscreen. Cotton is my #2 favorite fabric because it's a bit more cost effective, and more readily available in stores. Although it's often mixed with acrylic or spandex, which don't breathe as well, so watch out for that.
14:11 with the hat you look like Zorro in my opinion. Which is AWESOME!
Something to add to the heat equation is the UV index. 75 with a UV of 0 feels wildly different from 75 with a UV of 9. It's on the weather app, which also a helpful tool. I'm stupidly sensitive to the heat and I use many of these tricks. I also learned a few new ones, so thank you!
This is good advice for heat-sensitivity. I have lupus so staying out of direct sunlight and regulation of body temperature is a must!
Drink cool water, DON'T drink cold water!
Drinking ice cold water might bring some relieve but it will quickly drop your core temperature too much, resulting in your body producing even more heat to compensate. Exactly what you do not want.
Best to regularly drink small amounts. As long as you don't drink by force (e.g. drinking when your stomach indicates it's already full) it's nearly impossible to drink too much. Any excess will come out through the other end.
Uh, about that drinking too much water...
Several people have died from drinking (way) too much water
@@steyn1775 True. But they were forcefully drinking.
Spicy food also helps to cool you down a little, it causes sweating, there are reasons why pretty much every culture that formed near the equator tends to favor very spicy foods (another is that spicy foods tend to repel parasites {which tend to be more common in hot and humid environments})
Amazingly thorough. You not only give advice but explain why it makes sense.
Not necessarily relevant to Ren-Fair, but the best two I've found are a wet Shemagh/large Bandana or a pre-soaked Pith helmet (or both together). That's how I survive yardwork in the desert when it's over 100F.
Straw hats are nice if you can justify them, but literally any hat with a very wide brim helps.
If you're wearing metal armor I've *heard* that chainmail is better at radiating heat than plate (some accounts from early Virginia colony agree, but not all), but a light-weight tabard keeps the sun off of either.
Loose shirts with voluminous sleeves work for a variety of costumes, but the collar needs to be open or absent.
Straw hats of one sort or another can be period for medieval and Renaissance Europe
Personal experience chain mail is far cooler then plate. I'm in Florida,the April renfair usually already in the 80s+ with like 80 percent humidity. Especially cooler if you forgo the gambison underneath. The chain draws away the heat and is open enough to feel the breeze 😊
Now we know why Reckoning is rated R. Kramer running around naked after the battle.
Bawdy bard!
Then the SCA events I used to attend were NC-17 or X Rated because nudity was everywhere after the public left. Of course we used to joking call it the Society for Consenting Adults for all the other activities that were happening afterwards
Modern cooling towels are my go-to 9 months a year. And they're available online in nice colors like black, gray, khaki, and forest green. As they evaporate in whatever breeze there is, the water vapor sucks heat right out. Make sure and use viscose rayon, which is like a thin sponge. Stay away from chemical construction you can't pronounce.
A wide brim hat accompanies my noggin at faire.
And I refill a 1 L water bottle with faucet tap water multiple times a day.
One thing people tend to forget is to have salt. It really helps the body recover from sweating. There is a reason trail mix and sports drinks have salt in them.
Good tip! Make a short sleeve inner linen layer, and wet it down and wring it out before you get dressed. This can help keep your core (where most costuming layers go) cool for hours at a time, and add those hourd to the time you can enjoy your event before you start sweating profusely and need to cool yourself.
Something I have discovered... when you're in the desert (such as in Utah, hi Kramer!), it's actually cooler to seek shade from a tree than it is to hide under a pavilion. I don't know how this compares with other areas, but it's true where I live.
Edit: Also, Kramer, it'll be really cool to get some different garb advice now that you live more in my area---I wouldn't dare to use hoodies as costume pieces here, except during late Fall through early Spring.
Edit 2: Kerchief around the neck is a life saver! Mine has only needed to get wet once; most of its value comes in soaking up sweat and keeping the sun off my neck. For head coverings, I like my big Western hat for days when I'm likely to get sunburned, and a kerchief over my hair for days when the ambient heat is stronger than the sunlight, to keep my hair off my neck (so I'll use a kerchief around my neck and the hat for really sunny days, and the kerchief over my hair for cloudy-but-hot days, in general).
Edit 3: Consider spicy foods! I've heard that eating spicy food will help keep you cool because, since it makes your body think it's overheating, it can help stimulate the body's cooling response of sweating and sending blood to the skin to lose its heat.
Edit 4: At this point, I've quit saying, "I'm hot." Now I say, "I'm over-warm." If it's really bad, I'll say, "I'm *extremely* over-warm."
Edit 5: Laying on the ground is only cooler on certain surfaces. Grass, yes. Bare soil or concrete? Very much no! I don't want to go into the details on why this happens, so just look up Allan Savory's TED talk about greening the earth.
@jonanderson3050 Thank you for the science! I knew it from observation, but it's super cool to know why!
@jonanderson3050 Also, there's ambient moisture that trees aspirate - sometimes you can actually see them dripping sap in intense heat, depending on the tree - and it acts like a natural swamp cooler.
2:00 Thanks for the compliment! ;)
If only this was out when I took my family to the West Virginia Renaissance Fair - it's my favorite one I've ever attended, this year had record-breaking heat and we had a three-month-old (stroller fans are worth their weight in gold).
Glad to see another fan of the wv ren fair hear . 😀😃
Advice for females at a ren faire get a bodice cooler from the glass blowing booth. It is a hollow cone of glass that you wear against your sternum between your breasts and braced by a bodice. It is worn open side up and filled with ice. It is amazing how much it helps keep you cool. You can top up the ice from any drink stall. Just be aware you might spill cold water if you bend down.
Not if you use a little creative enginuity and come up with a press-in cap of some kind with air holes in it so it traps in the ice without trapping in heat from the sun.
Just some food for thought.
There are some that come with a cork top to keep the cold water from spilling out. Mine is metal, so I don't have to worry about the glass breaking. It's wonderful.
I create custom clothing and one of my clients is working on turning the majority of his wardrobe medieval so your channel is a great resource for me. We're aiming for a balance of historical accuracy and modern functionality (and the Godsent blessing of an electric sewing machine), and being able to hear you talk about what you've learned by actually testing linen, wool, leather, etc. out in your own clothing is tremendously helpful. Thank you!
This is excellent information. Thank you for making this video. I belong to a historical fencing school, and occasionally, we are asked to present a pavilion at our local Renaissance and Celtic festivals. We attend these in garb, and dealing with heat has been a consistent challenge.
Bravo!
This is a timely and informative video! Everyone who LARPs or RenFaires should watch it!
Great stuff. A straw hat (similar to many modern women's sun hats) is fairly historical, and something that I think most rangers would want.
Find/make one with woven holes for venting.
@@thatHARVguy Most of the ones I have found look either too loose or too tight, so my current plan is to buy one of the looser options and then weave straw, grass, etc. into the brim to give me good shade but with a crown that should vent well.
Now that you are in southern Utah, you have to deal with the high desert. The sun is brutal in July/August and you have to get in the shade. Due to the lower humidity, being in the shade feels about 10 degrees cooler. I lived in Vegas at one point and I never went outside in the dog days if I could help it. That's why you want to go to fairs that are held in moderate temperature months.
Pickles. Southern heat, triple digits, 12 hour days on baseball fields with no escape from the heat, a stadium pickle can be quite literally a life saver, honestly, a chilled (not ice cold) bottle of water half filled with pickle juice is better than Gatorade for me, i know pickles aren't for everyone, but if you can, try it, i promise a pickle juice electrolyte drink is amazing for avoiding heat stress❤
Some really cool advice in this video.
I went to my first medieval market today while I'm in Germany. It was my first real "event" and I was able to make a kit following up to your step 3 in your costume for beginners. Now I will say it was pretty hot out there in joggers and a few layers, but I still felt it was worth it to look semi-cool. Thank you for your videos and tips!
I knew most of these tips but having them broken down like this it's very useful. Thanks for the great job as always. These help me comprehend the issue better and I will definitely use it on my daily life.
Having done my fair share of Ren Faires too (specifically in Az, where the temp is 80-90 in Feb!) Ambient heat is also helped along by the body heat of everyone around you DX
That said, this is all great advice! I'm in Tx now, where the faire in Nov is more likely to be cool than hot (last year the kids spent the whole time bundled in blankets lol) but if its gonna be warmer, this is all wonderful advice to have
One thing i haven’t heard you say is colours, darker colours absorb heat, so trying to say away from them will help as well, dark coloured clothes will get warm faster than white shirts which will reflect light from the sun away. So this is for when the sun is really strong
need to be careful there, white clothes do reflect the heat better, but that means more reflected heat onto your skin that is showing. In intense sun dark cloth holds the heat, but can also be removed to instantly take that heat away when you get somewhere cooler.
@@littlekong7685 I wonder if this is why the Bedouin peoples often wear heavy black wool clothing---besides the design of the clothing, the darker color has some benefits of its own.
@@littlekong7685 At body temperature thermal radiation is actually fairly weak. Heat transfer around the Earth's surface is heavily dominated by convection and water phase change.
@@littlekong7685 I would be careful with that if you're not in a dry/desert climate. Black fabric only draws even more heat when you're in a humid climate. Loose, light clothes are recommended for these climates because the ambient temperature is far closer to the sunlight temperature, so you need to regulate your personal temperature as top priority. People who live near the ocean tend to wear loose shirts and pants in light/bright colours because that's what is comfortable. Dress for the climate is what I'm saying.
I live in western Canada, so it gets really hot and really cold. It's really a challenge to make one costume work in both environments.
Layers and accessories are your friends.
The solar radiation in Arizona is enough to give you heat stroke but a good way to mitigate it is a light cloak (thin as a sheet made of cotton) as it keeps the sun off you while catching the wind to help cool you down. Leather and tight fitting clothing are something you want to avoid.
I have two different costumes. One that’s warm weather and one for the cold. I just wish I lived where it was cold so I could wear the second one 😂
Thank you for this very timely video! I'm preparing to go to my first fair in a couple weeks and I've been worrying about how hot it might get and how best to manage the heat. The explanation of the different types of heat is very helpful.
"Always cooler on the ground" says the guy who clearly hasn't spent time in the desert. 105 degrees with no humidity feels pretty good. Your sweat dries instantly. But you can fry an egg on the hood of your car, or any kind of hard surface. That includes sand. Get into shade. And if you can't feel sweat under your arms, between your cheeks and at your junk, you should be worried. "But it's a dry heat" is an ambush. If you are dripping with sweat, that is a sign your body can thermoregulate, and if you stop, panic. When you aren't sweating normally, except maybe your feet in your boots, you've lost a warning sign. I'm actually going to argue in favor of wool socks and light boots. Sweaty feet, you can deal with the heat; feet are dry, you're gunna die.
Good to know! I live in the desert and I still didn't know this.
Not even just "desert." I grew up in Nebraska panhandle, and high plains, over through Wyoming, isn't desert-dry, but a little breeze, and low enough humidity that sweat evaporates without you noticing the sweating, and you can find yourself deeply dehydrated in even moderate heat
Sometimes I wish we could see those video game style health bars. I imagine my heat bar got to the red flashing stage the other day when the temperature outside was close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. In the hot sun in an open parking lot. Luckily I got my AC running in my car and got home out of the heat.
Some great points! Interesting anecdote about long sleeves, in the australian army we were not allowed to roll our sleeves up whereas in the uk rolled sleeves are the norm, as it seems in the us too (at least from an outsiders perspective, ive seen a bunch of videos of american soldiers with cuffs rolled right up).
Don't bash yourself for the accidental compliment. If you can say something nice about yourself, you _should_ do it. As often as possible, and make sure to remind yourself if you forget. Too many people treat our more self-deprecating society like being the same thing as humility. It can be on a very light level, but very easily crosses into a more cruel self effacing territory that is never actually as okay as we've allowed it to be. We all have things we dislike about ourselves, but we're going to have a lot more energy to do something about it if we remember to empower ourselves about the things we _do_ like. Make sure to remind yourself, and those you care about, of the things you like about you, and about them.
All very sound advice. In our AC loving parts of the world it's real easy to forget how spoiled we are, and how that affects our built-in defenses. 😅 (Until you hear about how some Americans are coping with the heat in the France games, and just... 74 Fahrenheit is perfectly adequate. 60F is genuinely way too cold for anywhere with 90+ weather right now...)
Planning on going to a Ren Faire this month where it averages about 90° F. This video helps me plan on my garb a little bit better
Humidity is a major thing for beyond just how hot it gets, mitigation methods vary heavily there though some things do still apply.
For example, there are different things needed between Florida and Arizona.
A more arid environment actually is one where loose, flowing clothes helps a lot, managing airflow as you move while covering more up.
Shift to a more humid environment, and, well, that becomes a moisture trap that doesn't help that much and won't end well for you. More direct moisture wicking and similar helps more there in comparison.
2:00 - Start with this to make your day better. 😃 Thanks mate!
Ergodine makes an evaporative cooling vest you can wear under your clothes. Soak it in ice water, wring it out, and put it on over an undershirt. Once you wring it out, it is dry. It will maintain that cool temperature for 3 hours. Once it warms back up, just soak it again. I work in the Occupational Safety field, and I used to purchase these vests for our welders who were working in hot areas with temperatures over 100 degrees.
Conduction (contacting hot surfaces and liquids), convection (contacting hot fluids; hot environment), radiation (non-contact exposure to heated objects). Exothermy (body-generated heat). Having hot gasses contact you is convective but they can then condense on you (like water vapour) causing conductive burns.
That is the order of decreasing thermal transfer efficiency: conduction, convection, radiation.
Similarly, evaporate liquid from your skin, skin contact with cool surfaces, blow cool gasses over your skin, exposing skin to a non-radiative environment (like a cloudless sky at night, or even during the day).
Minimal exertion.
We had ice sheet when i was in the army. I took that logic and got a greyish linen cloak that reflects a decent amount of sun, but on those real hot days i dunk it in water (wring it out so im not dripping) and let it evaporate to pull the heat away from me. That doesnt work very well in very humid environments, but its done wonders for me so far.
Our local Ren Faire lasts for around 9 weekends, rain or shine. Best time I ever had was when a rain squall ran through soaking the place. I was plenty warm with 20 pounds of wool on, the rain got rid of all the dust, and half the crowd left so it was busy but not elbow to elbow.
Otherwise, I simply try to go as early in the season as I can, because it sucks being dressed for Northern England when it's 100+ in Arizona.
Sunlight is pleasant in modest amounts; part of our association with it as pleasant is social conditioning. Tanning of the skin is actually cell damage and contributes to cancer. Sunscreen is actually period! albeit using materials I strongly recommend against (white lead).
Textile material matters a lot. Synthetics do not breathe and retain a lot of heat. Linen, hemp, and nettle are hollow and breathe well and are also anti-microbial, which makes them excellent for base layers. Cotton is generally on the high end of medium for heat retention and lower end for breathability, although there is variance.
For hydration, also keep in mind electrolytes. It can be easy to get an electrolyte imbalance when sweating and drinking relatively pure water.
Scarf yes. I have been pairing a linen ascot (or cravat) with a hat for sun protection.
I just rediscovered your channel after switching devices. Since I didn't have a yt account until recently, I actually only subscribed today. However, I have been loving your content for a couple of years. Keep up the good work, and keep improving your excellent production quality!
Then it's decided:
I'm going on an event in September, and considering the weather, I rather make a new 18th century style of stays, and make a pocket in it big enough for an ice battery.
As a renfaire performer of 27+ years, and a safety and security professional for 16+ years I’ve had my fair share of summer festival heat, and had to help with those who got into trouble managing it. There are a few things I’d offer for consideration.
0. Educate yourself first. Learn what the stages of dehydration and heat stress are before you go to your event. Learn what the symptoms are, and what they feel like ahead of time. Dehydration can cause migraine type headaches but that’s not always universal. Heat stress can mean slurred speech, but not always. Both can show up as lightheadedness, again your mileage may vary. Be aware of how your body responds to heat stress. I know several performers who cannot sweat the way others do. They have to take special precautions when in the heat normally; being in garb just adds more to their preparations.
1. Give yourself breaks, it’s okay to go off stage or behind the scenes take a few layers of garb off, hydrate, and get your mind right between shows, demonstrations, and events.
2. Consider heat and cold in garb design and choices, often our period garb may not allow for body heat to escape, or sweat to evaporate in the breeze. Think Elizabethan ruffs/collars, tied about the neck, or the full slashed doublet sleeves that laced to the main body at the shoulder, these were removable/openable on purpose. It is in no way farby to not be in full napoleonic dress uniform with leather neck stocks on, 24 hours. A uniform shirt, and the tunic on a dressed dummy/wooden valet is acceptable to demonstrate for the public.
3. Try to dress in layers and switch out sweaty/wet saturated layers for dry alternatives both on the body and your feet as soon as possible (again maybe during those bts breaks). If your under layers are soaked, your sweat has nowhere to go and you’ve doubled the problem, the wet layer can hold onto a lot of heat, and your natural cooling mechanism can’t do its job. Cotton is nice until it’s wet.
4. Eat food, even if it’s served hot, or cold, the temperature of the food itself will equalize with your internal temp regardless of the serving temperature. Cold food/treats may feel good temporarily but don’t do much to move the body temp needle. But your body needs fuel to run everything including your cooling mechanisms, and the big grey matter that tracks your wellbeing.
5. Sports drinks (the electrolytes they contain) watered down to half strength can help your hydration be more effective and keep your other body functions deal with the heat better.
6. If you think you are suffering acute heat stress, packing the major joints with ice/cold materials can help rapidly lower the core body temp (it is possible to go too far with this). Underarms, back of the neck, in the groin/perineum. Yes it’s an intimate area so you may want to be off stage, and it may be very unpleasant temporarily, but it is better than heat stroke and the hospital, or worse.
7. It is possible (admittedly rare) to swing to the other extreme and have hypothermia even in summer. Wet layers next to skin and wind will cool the body, as will packing ice. But these should be stopped when the patient feels better like they do when they are comfortable at home.
8. If you are doing physical activity, buffer/hema/SCA fighting, Highland Games, drill or skills demonstrations etc., all of the above apply, but even more so. It is easy to forget to take care of ourselves if we’re having fun, competing, or performing. Keep any eye on your fellow participants and patrons too.
Thanks for attending my ted talk.
Putting something cold my wrists or jugular really helps cool down the parts that are the most hot anyways. Tams or bonnets are good too because you can adjust the whole hat to keep the sun out of your face. Kilts always feel wonderful when there's a breeze.
In regards to you mentioning drinking alcohol, yes it does make you *feel* warmer it actually lowers your body temperature overall. This is not to say you can or should drink it to cool off (it still does dehydrate you) but not to drink it to warm up in an emergency.
100% linen and cotton in light colors are your friends ! cover your head with a straw hat ! I camped with 95F and 65 %humidity with linen undergarments and light weight cotton or linen over layers I stayed under tent fly's and trees and didn't overheat. sure I sweated but I stayed hydrated and adjusted
Direct sun light is also not a joke, especially on the head, if your planning to stay under the sun for a lot of time, wear some sort oh head protection, it can be an helmet, hat, coif, hood, bandana and so on. You don't wanna pass out in the middle of a field under the hot sun😅
As someone who has been snowmobiling, I can attest that ambient heat and radiant heat are realities. Just because it is 0 deg temperatures outside doesn't mean you can't overheat if you are caught out in the sun with no cover.
I like the idea if a neckerchief, I must get one.
in the sun heat, dress like the beduins. or just imagine how silkroad merchant in the desert area dressed like.
i think in modern days that would be light linen long sleeve top, having that as the base and just layered over them your other costumes as much as you can to acheave the look that you aim for.
at your suggestion, im kinda shudderd imagine to wear gambeson out in the sun, the weight and the heat would make me uncomfy.
here in the equator we do cover most of our skin as much as we can when were outdoor, but i guess the wisdom of the old is kinda forgotten here, and most use synthetic western clothes.
Sun screen helps a lot with radiant actually, not as good as a nice layer of thin white linen, but still helps.
Useful. A good tight weave Panama hat is light, gives sun protection and breathes.
Found your channel today - loving it! Its a treasure trove.
Thank you so much!
night hawk in light has been working on cold packs that last longer than ice and fabrics that cool you down. The fabrics dont work yet but the cold packs do. He shows how to make them in his videos so some of them might be usable for costumers.
It was discussed at a fursuit construction panel that ice packs placed on the torso can cause pneumonia, due to hot sweaty air condensing in the lungs.
I don't have the medical training to say if this is credible or not, but it's something I don't do myself.
Race car drivers sometimes and space/high altitude suits commonly use a tube-filled shirt that runs cold water through it from an ice chest (the cold is spread out more than an ice pack would be), and this can be made into a backpack, but I'm not sure if that would ruin immersion.
I have a big woolen greatcoat and people ask me if i am hot in it. And it comes down to this:
I can barely feel the heat of the sun through it.
It is loose fitting so air flow is good, even when buttoned up. Unbuttoned airflow and venting is excellent.
Wool is a good insulant but breathes and does not generate heat like synthetic fibres tend to.
I live in Alabama. Earlier this week it was 98 degrees F and 99% humidity. Really. It is currently 77 degrees with a 75% humidity - at midnight. I used to be in the SCA. We learned fast about linen, cotton and lightweight wool, shade and water.
I find it easier to dress for cold than for heat. You can always add a layer of clothing but at some point you can't remove more.
I prefer linnen and wool cloth for most dresses. Linnen can keep you cool while protecting from the sun while wool can keep you warm even when wet and as loden is also quite rain resistant. Also both don't begin to smell bad from transpiration as fast as other fabrics.
This was very informative! Thank you!
Love the new intro!
“I’m hot” vs. “It’s hot”: perfectly said. You should lead with that.
If ambient temperature goes above a certain level you'll want to be insulated, wear fully covering clothes, possibly even woolen. That's the case woth traditional woolen clothes
Quite thorough and analytic. Nicely done. I have also found that it is nice to carry a shemag (that is probably spelled wrong. Pronounce Sh-i-maw-g) which is basically a large scarf/ giant handkerchief made preferably out of a linen type material that I can get wet and drape over my shoulders or wrap around my head. Which can both serve as a part of my kit / costume, and help cool me off both with the water, but also sheilding from the sun and wicking moisture away from my body as it (the cloth) dries.
An extra note on linen next to the skin, assuming everything else about the fabrics are identical, linen will keep your skin five degrees cooler than cotton.
Adventurer kits designed for the desert would be fun to try!
Loose linen layers. Also mint water on your skin in combo with the fan or a breeze helps evaporation. I always wet down my bandana and twirtl it around realy fast so it cools down and use it to pat my pulse points, face and back of neck.
I live in Wisconsin and while we have Bristol and Shakopee as well as Ren in the Glen nearby, I would love to do a Winter's Faire. Something primarily indoors and very Celtic, Norse, and Slav focused. There is missed oppertunity in cold weather.
As for beating the heat in summer, I just layer like crazy. It sounds counter intuitive, but my triple layered outfit had me comfortable yesterday where as a lot of shift and corset only peasants were franticly fanning themselves all day. Other great tricks are to choose lighter colors, use only natural fibers especially as your foundation layer (that is the layer closest to your skin) as they wick excess moisture away and allow greater airflow, stick to the shade when possible this includes wearing a wide brimmed hat, drink twice as much room temperature water as you think you need and half as much alcohol, and don't be afraid to set a spell. If you reach the point of headache and/or nausea immediately seek medical attention!
The last trick is to skirt, kilt, toga, and tunic your look (preferably with period appropriate underwear). Pants, sloops, trousers, breeches, anything that fully covers each individual leg are much warmer than the wide hemlines of a single "dress" which can be fluffed by a breeze.
Honestly, I've never understood why only women are supposed to wear skirts when it is the men who would benefit more from the additional airflow. The only reason I can imagine that clothing evolved the way it did is because a codpiece is easier to attach to a split leg garment; however, indulge my insantiy for a moment and considet how much more endowed a cod piece would make a fellow appear if a bulge could be seen with a proper farthingale were worn.
A modern understanding of how the human body handles heat management helps. The average human generates about a hundred watts of heat *at rest*. That can jump to several hundred watts during exertion (trained athletes can sustain more than one horsepower which is about seven hundred watts). The brain alone accounts for twenty percent of that total. That’s why we have “emissary veins” that lead from the brain through the skull to the forehead where abundant sweat glands produce a lot of moisture to carry heat away by evaporation. Wearing hats can block sunlight but interfere with that built in air conditioning. Hence the salt accumulation on your hat. Point being if you’re overheating and you’re wearing a hat, a good first step is to shed the hat. Pretty much any places clothing gets sweat stains are where your body wants to shed heat, so try to wear clothing that lets air flow over those places.
Having had heatstroke once I can verify that it’s no fun. Thirty years of living in Arizona taught me the lessons on heat management you covered so nicely. I want to accentuate what you said about ice water. It drops your core temperature too quickly if you chug it. Sips are much better.
Love your intro song! Glad you havent changed it.
"The heat from the sun is never really hot enough to raise your body temperature" That depends on where you are. Where I live, it's almost ENTIRELY the sun. Shade feels nice, but direct sunlight could boil the oil on your skin.
Man, wish I had this vid before Pennsic lmao
Two weeks of medieval camping.
Wish i had this before this weekend 😂 i just finished my larp weekend and couldve done better with the heat
The most important is using the correct materials for your garments. Avoid artificial and cotton at all cost, stick to linen, light wool and silk. (Possibly viscose mixes of these.) Even a relatively thick arming doublet made like that stays comfy.
When I worked fast food in the grill area, the a/c died in August. We found many ways to wear ice packs under our uniform.
Can you do an in depth video on how a Knight or man at arms carries a lot of gear, like armor, food, or even enyertainment