Surviving Winter 101

To be frank, I hate winter. Growing up where the temperature was never below 28 degrees really did a number on me. Being my fourth year in university, you’d think I was a pro at surviving winter. I’ve perfected a few things over the years, but I still have a lot to learn. 

1. Invest in a good (NOT CHEAP) winter jacket

Winter jackets can be really expensive, but trust me when I say it is very important to wear a good jacket. When you cheap out, no matter how much you layer (because you still layer with a good jacket), you will absolutely freeze. Especially if you take the bus, buses are always getting delayed during winter if there’s a lot of snow outside. You will become an icicle. Just suck it up and buy a really good jacket. Thank me later.

2. Switch up your skin care routine

In summer, the moisturizers you use are typically not very heavy because you’ll just sweat it all off. But when the temperatures drop, your skin gets drier and drier. It’s best to invest in heavier moisturizers and add serums to your routine if you can. Lotion is the absolute GOAT during winter, if you hate the feel of lotion….get used to it. Okay, it won’t be that bad. There are lotions out there that won’t feel heavy or greasy. Aveeno or Lubriderm are two of my favourites that are moisturizing but don’t leave you feeling greasy. Another thing that I love using since I don’t really like the feel of lotion is in-shower body lotion. You just apply it after your shower (still in the shower) and it soaks right into your skin.

3. Protective styling for POC

To be very blunt and to the point, if you have straight hair, some of these styles will not work for you. Protective styling is something that black girls have been using for decades and it helps to protect their natural curls and coils against the harsh drying weather. These styles tend to be very low maintenance and are always super cute. They are ‘protective styles’ because they prevent your natural hair from being constantly manipulated, which in the winter months will cause your hair to break and become brittle. But, if you have naturally very straight hair, the box braids for example will just slip out and not protect your hair in the slightest bit but actually cause breakage and damage.

Image source: https://www.essence.com/hair/best-protective-styles-box-braids-twists-natural-hair/.

4. Mini heaters for your bedroom

If the people that you live with like it a little colder than most of us do, it may help you to get a mini heater for your bedroom. Trust me when I say, it literally will save your toes if you’re like me and for some reason always have freezing fingers and toes. Most of them have a pretty smart feature on them too, where they will turn off automatically if it thinks that the environment is getting too hot to prevent a fire. They’re typically pretty cheap, so you won’t need to sell your kidney to get one ;)

• winter