BCB Cooling Scarf
I thought Id pen a quick review on a small & unusualitem the BCB cooling scarf.
These have been available for some time now and Ive oftenlooked at them but never bought one thinking how good can it be and I doubtit would work. However finding a few quid spare in my pay pal account and thinking of all the hot weather we are having Ithought Id finally give it a go and bought one. After all, whats the worstthat can happen? I lose £4 and gain a strip of cloth ..
The scarf arrived and my first impression was that it didntlook much. The scarf come flat and in mine it felt as if there were only a fewgrains of the water absorbing crystals and I wasnt confident that it wouldactually work.
The instruction leaflet had a few well written tips on howto use it and so I followed their advice and immersed my scarf in half a litreof cold water and left it to soak for about 15 mins. Coming back to check on thescarf it had started to swell up as the poly crystals soaked up the water. Ileft it for an additional 5 mins to reach the recommended 20mins soaking timeand then removed the now larger scarf.
Squeezing out the excess water I promptly tied the scarfaround my neck and was relieved to find that it did indeed feel cold and thatit didnt leak water over my t-shirt or down my back.
Now I first wore my scarf over the weekend of the 13[SUP]th[/SUP]& 14[SUP]th[/SUP] July a very hot weekend, while on a trip into the woodswith my children to make some basic wooden bows and do some outdoor cooking.
All through the day the scarf did indeed provide me with anelement of cooling around my neck and periodically turning it around, as recommendedin the instructions I was always provided with a cool area against my skin.
The instruction leaflet states that you should re soak thescarf every 3 days, although I found that it needed topping up after two althoughthis may have been down to the hot weather.
I left the scarf out overnight in the cool air and asexpected had a cool / cold scarf ready to use the next day.
Ive since used the scarf on most of the hot days weve hadof late and have been impressed with how much it has helped keep me feelingcooler.
Overall I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by thisscarf, while its not going to chill you right down it does provide a nice coolarea on your neck that does help your bodys own methods for cooling down.
One problem I have come up against is that of keeping itclean. After about three weeks of hot sweaty use mine could do with a wash, althoughI doubt the scarf would survive the wash!
Im looking at a couple of options, 1) undo the seam andempty out the poly crystals. Pop the now empty scarf in the wash and thenrefill and re sew the seams. 2) sponge clean the surface of the scarf and thenuse febreeze to make it smell better!
Also, looking at the scarf Im fairly sure that the polycrystals in it are the same as those used in disposable nappies...... Which gets me thinking about having a go at making my own home made version, it is after all only afabric tube with a few crystals inside, in a range of sizes to go round the wristfor example & colours for the fashionconscious bushcrafter!!
Finally would I recommend the BCB cooling scarf? Yes, Iprobably would. For less than £5 you get a useful little item that does do whatit says on the tin helps to provide a constant additional cooling effect aroundthe neck. Although I wouldnt recommend wearing around the forehead asmentioned in the instructions as you look bloody stupid! (Or maybe thats justme!!)
I thought Id pen a quick review on a small & unusualitem the BCB cooling scarf.
These have been available for some time now and Ive oftenlooked at them but never bought one thinking how good can it be and I doubtit would work. However finding a few quid spare in my pay pal account and thinking of all the hot weather we are having Ithought Id finally give it a go and bought one. After all, whats the worstthat can happen? I lose £4 and gain a strip of cloth ..
The scarf arrived and my first impression was that it didntlook much. The scarf come flat and in mine it felt as if there were only a fewgrains of the water absorbing crystals and I wasnt confident that it wouldactually work.
The instruction leaflet had a few well written tips on howto use it and so I followed their advice and immersed my scarf in half a litreof cold water and left it to soak for about 15 mins. Coming back to check on thescarf it had started to swell up as the poly crystals soaked up the water. Ileft it for an additional 5 mins to reach the recommended 20mins soaking timeand then removed the now larger scarf.
Squeezing out the excess water I promptly tied the scarfaround my neck and was relieved to find that it did indeed feel cold and thatit didnt leak water over my t-shirt or down my back.
Now I first wore my scarf over the weekend of the 13[SUP]th[/SUP]& 14[SUP]th[/SUP] July a very hot weekend, while on a trip into the woodswith my children to make some basic wooden bows and do some outdoor cooking.
All through the day the scarf did indeed provide me with anelement of cooling around my neck and periodically turning it around, as recommendedin the instructions I was always provided with a cool area against my skin.
The instruction leaflet states that you should re soak thescarf every 3 days, although I found that it needed topping up after two althoughthis may have been down to the hot weather.
I left the scarf out overnight in the cool air and asexpected had a cool / cold scarf ready to use the next day.
Ive since used the scarf on most of the hot days weve hadof late and have been impressed with how much it has helped keep me feelingcooler.
Overall I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by thisscarf, while its not going to chill you right down it does provide a nice coolarea on your neck that does help your bodys own methods for cooling down.
One problem I have come up against is that of keeping itclean. After about three weeks of hot sweaty use mine could do with a wash, althoughI doubt the scarf would survive the wash!
Im looking at a couple of options, 1) undo the seam andempty out the poly crystals. Pop the now empty scarf in the wash and thenrefill and re sew the seams. 2) sponge clean the surface of the scarf and thenuse febreeze to make it smell better!
Also, looking at the scarf Im fairly sure that the polycrystals in it are the same as those used in disposable nappies...... Which gets me thinking about having a go at making my own home made version, it is after all only afabric tube with a few crystals inside, in a range of sizes to go round the wristfor example & colours for the fashionconscious bushcrafter!!
Finally would I recommend the BCB cooling scarf? Yes, Iprobably would. For less than £5 you get a useful little item that does do whatit says on the tin helps to provide a constant additional cooling effect aroundthe neck. Although I wouldnt recommend wearing around the forehead asmentioned in the instructions as you look bloody stupid! (Or maybe thats justme!!)
