African Americans and Winter

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I'm half African American. The winter weather is driving me crazy. How am I suppose to survive this?

What does your race have to do with that?

Also, winter doesn't begin until December 22 this year.

winter doesn't care what race you are....it hates us all!

Winter does care how well-adapted your body is to withstand the cold, but, at any rate, no humans would have made it out of Africa to undergo a selective pressure to lose melanin in the first place without technology, so technology is the answer.

Vancouver's usually above freezing---but it CAN get to Minus 10 Celsius, and it can snow quite a bit.

It'd be helpful to try to get a good amount of Vitamin D, either through food or supplements. Good idea for anyone during the short-lighted and bundled-up days, but the more melanin your skin has, the less it can absorb the little bit of light it is getting exposed to.

Cold is one of my hyposensitivities, and as such, I love winter. I can be out in freezing temperatures with a light jacket and be totally fine, although my parents always insist on me wearing a heavy coat. I can't take the heat, though. My ideal outdoor temperature is probably around 55°F.

I'm pretty similar--though my ideal temperature is more like 65 than 55. 55 is really pleasant, though, when there's little wind and sunshine; otherwise, it's a little cool.

I hate the heat a lot more than the cold. In the summer when it's hot other people are going swimming and doing other fun activities to cool off, but I'm stuck in my apartment and if it wasn't for the AC I'd probably go insane.

The weather in Nova Scotia can be quite stormy, but the winters are a bit milder compared to most of Canada.

I'd say a scarf you can wrap around your face, or one of those winter hats that covers your face but has opening for eyes, keeping the cold off your face can make a lot of difference. Also a good pair of snow-boots and long underwear to wear under your clothes particularly the thermal type also wouldn't hurt. Obviously a jacket and gloves is a given.

I'd suggest you try getting better winter clothes. I mean, as cool as it would be to be able to turn into a viking every winter, that's just not an option. Before I got money for proper snow gear, I used to get my winter clothes from the military surplus store. The Italian military issue wool blankets are famous for being some of the best milsurp blankets in the world, much better than most of the American ones, which are a poly-wool blend that varies by region. Of course, the American ones tend to be more affordable.

M-65 field jacket variants are all over the place, but be very careful where you get them from. There are some that are made for civilian use that are only "military style" that not only are usually lower quality than the real deal but a lot of them are way over-priced. I got a real military surplus M-65 jacket with the cold weather liner for $5 at a local thrift store. The fake ones can go for as much as $200 for some reason...

I used to wear a cold weather helmet liner as a winter hat. It was nice and warm, but it did make me look weird.

Long underwear are excellent for cold weather conditions. I believe that everybody should own at least a couple sets.

Staying dry is very important to staying warm. I spray down some of my clothes with silicone waterproofing spray. While it works nice for a while, eventually you will need to reapply it. I also keep a small compression pouch in my bag that contains some thin Frog Toggs I got for $20. They're very lightweight and portable and if it starts raining while I'm out I can just throw them on over whatever I'm wearing.

Remember that steel toed boots get chilly in the winter. If you wear leather boots, they should be insulated because anything cold on the outside of the boot will sap the heat from your feet. Muck boots are really nice, but they're also rather expensive (too much for me at least, but if you have the extra money for them, more power to you). I find that a modest work boot and some nice thick socks generally does the trick. Some varieties of combat boots work better than others as most are designed to function in a specific climate. Do your research before selecting a combat boot for any application.

Wool is your friend. It's very warm and repels water far better than many other common materials. I got a pair of Wool gloves to wear for Hunting and they're better than anything I've ever used before. While wool products can be expensive, wool thread is often quite affordable. There are lots of online resources you can use to learn to knit or crochet and save yourself some money if that's a concern for you. If you find that a wool garment is itchy, there are all sorts of tricks and products available to alleviate that, but many people have found that just using a ton of fabric softener on it does the trick.

I hope that you found some of these ideas helpful.

I'm really, really white, and I hate winter ugh. But I can understand that being half African-American, your body type may not be best adapted to it. Someone mentioned vitamin D supplements, and that's a great suggestion for anyone with darker skin during the winter. As pale as I am, even I get low on vitamin D in winter.

I suffer so much during winter that I intend to move to a warmer climate soon. It dries out my skin, and hair, and I use plenty of lotion, oil in my hair, lip balm, etc. I even get rashes from the lack of humidity. I don't even want to go outside. Or in the basement. Too cold.

And it's not even at its worst yet.