For GQ, by Stephen J. Praetorius.
With August’s ridiculous heat and humidity, it can be almost impossible to make it through a whole day this time of year without feeling like a gross, sticky mess by the time 5 o’clock rolls around. It’s just one of those unfortunate truths of summer, like sunburn and sandals at inappropriate moments—sincerely unpleasant, yet not enough so that you’re going to cut short your thorough enjoyment of the season.
There is hope, though. While the inherent sweat and grease of the season may be unavoidable, forcing any unclothed skin to adhere to chairs, leather and, well, other swaths of open skin, there do exist legitimate means to keep yourself feeling fresh and stick-free as the day progresses. The most effective of which being the practice of taking cool showers regularly throughout the day. Now, bear with us for a moment. Because while sure, this may seem like wasteful, simplistic solution to the season’s grease issue, rinsing off two-to-three times per sun cycle actually does have benefits that go beyond immediately ridding the body of that icky feeling you just can’t seem to shake. And they all boil down to managing a little something called sweat.
You see, sweat is the body’s natural response to heat, chilling you out when it notices your internal temperature swinging a tad too high. Which, unfortunately, is an occurrence all too common during these scalding August days. Enter: the frequent cool shower. By dousing your body with less-than-warm water on the regular, you’ll effectively lower your body temperature below neutral, decreasing the body’s predilection towards sweat, at least for a period. This, in turn, will help with tempering daily grease and odor, as well as more long term maladies like summer-induced acne. You see? Not so simple after all.
Okay, now time to address the bitter conservationists in the room. To start, let us acknowledge that rinsing off at regular intervals throughout the day will probably use more water than showering once before work and leaving it at that. But that’s an easily remediable issue. By cutting back on bathtime by a factor of how often you see yourself under the showerhead per 24-hour period, you can easily balance the budget when it comes to gallons used. Add to that the fact that you’ll be saving energy by forsaking the water heater, and the actual environmental impact of your newly increased shower frequency shouldn’t really be all that bad.
That said, there will no doubt come a time this month when rinsing off to start from scratch just won’t be an option, either because your plans don’t have the requisite buffer period or they were more of the spur-of-the-moment variety. Whatever the case may be, here are three essential August anti-stick staples. Throw them in your briefcase and break them out anytime you need to feel refreshed in a hurry.
Because the first place the heat will take its toll is on your face.
$16, available at truebotanicals.com
Like extra-large towelettes, they’ll wipes mop up any unwanted sweat and grease when a quick shower is just not in the cards.
$10, available at amazon.com
Pits. Feet. Balls. Rub a touch of this on anywhere prone to stickiness and you’ll be covered all day long.
$20, available at shop.nordstrom.com
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