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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and to finish the show today, we'll move away from politics and have a January call-in for dog walkers, construction workers, school crossing guards, or anyone who has to work outside. The question is, what's your favorite piece of clothing to wear when it's really cold outside like it is this week? And do you have any other favorite cold weather hacks? 212-433-WNYC. What's your favorite piece of clothing to wear when it's really cold outside? And do you have any other favorite cold weather hacks? 212-433-WNYC. Call or text 212-433-9692.

I'll start with one, and I don't even work outside, but I did live in Albany for a few years, which for a kid from Queens was like the North Pole, and I really don't like to be cold. So someone once gave me as a gift a battery-operated heated hoodie. I've only ever used it a few times, but a battery-operated heated hoodie, it has heating elements front and back and around the neck, you can wear it under your winter coat, that's one.

Who else has a favorite piece of clothing to wear when it's really cold outside or any other favorite cold weather hacks, battery-operated or not? 212-433-WNYC. Let's share them with the other listeners, because hopefully it'll help people who might not have thought of what you wear or what you do and could use to know. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

Now ,anyone can call, but dog walkers, construction workers, school crossing guards, sanitation workers, food card vendors, NYPD, anyone else who has to work outside for extended periods of time, you probably have the goods here, and other folks who are just starting to work outside, some of whom may be listening, could use your help, and so can regular mortals, who just scurry from their car or train station into a house or building but still go, "Whrrrr," on days like this. So who has a favorite piece of clothing to wear when it's really cold outside, or any other favorite cold weather hacks?

Let's share them with the other listeners because it'll help people who might not have thought of what you wear or what you do and could use to know during this very cold weather. Maybe you're appreciating a piece of clothing you had for years or some new tip or trick, or cold weather hacks that you learned about just recently. Whatever it is, 212-433-WNYC. Share them with the other listeners. Call or text 212-433-9692, your favorite piece of clothing to wear when it's really cold outside or other favorite cold weather hacks, and we'll take those calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your favorite piece of clothing to wear when it's really cold outside, or your other favorite cold weather hacks. David in Elmhurst, you're on WNYC. Hi, David.

David: Hi, Brian. My cold weather hack is to wear layers, so if you can get-- I buy these used sweat jackets, and hoodies, sweatpants, small, medium, large. Well, I fit into a medium, so medium. First layer is usually medium, then large, extra-large. If you get extra, extra-large, and just layer them on top of each other, you'll be very, very warm, and you can feel the [unintelligible 00:03:50]--

Brian Lehrer: Yes. That's really interesting. I know somebody who's a guy who actually keeps two sizes of pants on hand, one for the warmer weather months when he's not wearing like sweatpants underneath, and one for the colder weather months when he does wear sweatpants underneath as an extra layer. So he's one size in the summer and another size in the winter of whatever pants he owns. That sounds like you.

David: Absolutely. It makes perfect sense.

Brian Lehrer: David, thank you very much. Listener texts, "Cold weather hack, do not wear cotton next to your skin when it's cold." That's interesting. Let's see if a dog walker agrees with that. Margo in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Margo.

Margo: Hi. Good morning. I would actually agree to that in as much as the obvious secret is layers. Silk is very warm, but that has to be the one closest to your skin because if the wind hits it, it's freezing. But my favorite article of clothing that I wear, I have an ex-boyfriend who used to be a news shooter for a local television station. And the coats they provided are designed to be out in sub-zero weather shooting fires and things, and it's got huge pockets from back when they used Betamax. It's the warmest thing I own. It's much warmer than he was and it's probably the best thing I got out of the relationship actually.

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] We don't have to go there, Margo. Thank you very much. But I understand you're outside right now.

Margo: I am even as we speak, walking a French bulldog.

Brian Lehrer: I hear that cold weather breath somehow in your voice, so thank you for multitasking and calling us while you're walking that bulldog.

Margo: Thanks so much. Love the show.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Yes, there's all kinds of things, right? There's the saying, have you heard this? There's no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. One of my producers swears by wool socks and neck gaiters, and another discovered UNIQLO's HEATTECH clothing. We hear balaclavas are fashionable these days. In fact, I think with Benjamin in Middle Island, for example. Hi, Benjamin.

Benjamin: Hi, Brian. Great to be on. Yes, I got to agree. Layers, wool socks, definitely. They have low wool-count socks nowadays that you really can't get an allergic reaction to, and definitely a balaclava, and a hat on top of that. Just kind of keep your ears warm. Don't let it steep out.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, we're getting a lot of love for earmuffs in the text. Do you want to describe for people who think that this is actually a Middle Eastern dessert, what a balaclava is?

Benjamin: Yes. So it's a combination of a neck gaiter and a usually thin lined head guard, all inclusive, so you slip it over. It could be akin to what you see in the movies with the robbers, but nothing to do with that. It is just a really comfortable, well, insulating piece of gear.

Brian Lehrer: Benjamin, thank you very much. Also, along those lines, I know a few people who wear masks who never thought of them before as cold weather gear, but started wearing masks at least temporarily during COVID and then discovered, "Oh, you know, and when it's really cold outside, these were keeping the bottom part of my face warm, so I'm going to wear these when it's really cold."

Person chiming in on a text message, and the text message says, "Wool, wool, wool," getting back to the what kind of layers. And on that cotton text we got before, somebody chimes in, "Yes, cotton gets cold when it's wet, unlike wool, so that's a reason to not have the cotton layer next to your skin." I wonder if that's universal. I think it might be fairly common for people to start with maybe a cotton t-shirt and then wool layers over that, but that's an interesting thing to follow up on. Maybe you don't even wear the cotton as the bottom layer.

Danny in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Danny.

Danny: Hi. I learned from watching The Batman Show when I was young ,and he was fighting Mr. Freeze, and he survived, and it was because he was wearing his bat thermal underwear. So when it's really cold like this, I wear thermal underwear. They also have long sleeved undershirts, which people don't think of, and it's sort of like the layering thing. You wear a long sleeved undershirt and then you put your regular shirt on and then your sweater and jacket, etcetera.

Brian Lehrer: Danny getting his cold weather advice from Batman. Thank you. Deborah in Jersey City, you're on WNYC. Hi, Deborah.

Deborah: Hi. Yes, my favorite, I was a crossing guard for a year back in 2018, 2019, and I wear thermal tights, both footed and footless, and my long johns, and I've always wore them, but that was the first time I had worked outside. I was out yesterday because I had to go to the doctor, and I had a 25-minute walk, and I had all of that on in the sweatpants and I felt nothing.

Brian Lehrer: Deborah, the model for everybody right there, the long johns, the thermal tights. And Jeannie on the Upper West Side, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jeannie.

Jeannie: Hi, Brian. I'm an outdoors person, so I hike out in snow, I camp in snow and backpack. I'm a runner, had a run this morning, and I suffer from Raynaud's Disease, which is when the blood leaves your extremities when you're chilled or cold. I have tried every single thing possible, battery gloves, battery mittens, battery vests, everything electric, and I have found the best way to keep my hands warm in really cold weather is simply a pair of mittens. Really good mittens with $0.50 hand warmers in them, and that does the trick for me.

Brian Lehrer: They're not even battery operated, right, those hand warmers? How do you make them warm? I haven't used them.

Jeannie: Oh, they come in packs of two. You open the pack, the air activates the heat. It's a chemical reaction, and they just-- as soon as the air hits them, they become warm and they last for about 10 hours. The problem with the battery-operated stuff is that if you have it on high, which is pretty much what you need the whole time, it only lasts for three hours, so you have to keep recharging or you have to carry around extra batteries or whatever. But the hand warmers-- and then you throw them away, some of them, you can buy and you put them back in the packet, if you jump into a restaurant, you don't need them, seal it up and it saves the heat, but they're usually good for around 10 hours.

Brian Lehrer: You know, I know somebody else with that Raynaud's condition, and they go out, and they wear gloves, and they come back in, and the tips of their fingers are white-

Jeannie: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: -and it takes a while to get the blood moving through them again. So there must be-- If I know somebody and you call with this, there must be a bunch of people with this, do you know--

Jeannie: Is that what?

Brian Lehrer: Are you saying that mittens are better than gloves for that?

Jeannie: Oh, absolutely. It has to be mittens, because then you have the warmth of your hands\. As they heat up, the warmth of your fingers are together and it warms your hand. And I also want to say that if you do have that happen, it's not just the tip, my whole fingers turn white. The best thing to do to get inside is to soak them in tepid water, not real hot, and just soak them, and the blood will slowly come back into your extremities.

Brian Lehrer: Jeannie, thank you very much. More on what to wear next to your skin as the bottom layer. Listener writes, "I skate a few mornings a week during the winter at Wollman Rink, and it is super important for the first layer next to your skin to be something like silk. I wear silk or the UNIQLO HEATTECH top and bottom before I put anything else on. We'll get one more in here. How about Karen on Roosevelt Island? You're on WNYC. Karen, we have 15 seconds for you. Hey, there.

Karen: Okay, so mittens, absolutely. Ski pants. Moisturize your whole body, especially over out exposed areas-

Brian Lehrer: Moisturize.

Karen: -like your ears, your face with cream, as opposed to lotion, absolutely. I do background work. I do as an actor, so I'm out there, and I'm also on helping IATSE striking against Atlantic Theater, so IATSE. So those--

Brian Lehrer: And, Karen, that's going to have to be the last word, but you got the union plug-in there. Thanks to all of you for your calls on how to stay warm on these really cold days. I think you definitely gave some people some things they didn't know. Stay tuned for Alison.

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