Beat the Heat: A Tulane student’s guide to staying cool in NOLA weather

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Phone fans are an additional convenient way to beat the heat.

Dealing with the heat, humidity and armpit sweat can be tough for many Tulane students, especially for those coming from northern states like New York. Though the temperatures do drop to a more pleasant temperature around October, in the months until then, the lack of working air conditioning everywhere from classrooms in Norman Mayer to fraternity parties can be brutal. There are some habits that will obviously save the sweat, like reapplying deodorant throughout the day, but here are some other tips to help you feeling and looking fresh at any point during the day, or night, until sweater weather comes around.

Change clothes throughout the day, and wear breathable ones

Especially on days that you know will be especially warm or you will be moving around a lot, plan on changing clothes sometime during the day or bringing an extra shirt with you. Wearing sweaty clothes will only make the sweating and stench worse! These also may not be the days where you want to wear your favorite items of clothing. Additionally, make sure to wear breathable fabrics like cotton or athletic clothing.

Allow enough time to get to class

A big mistake that many of us have made is not leaving ourselves enough time to walk to class. While you may get away with speed walking or even breaking into a light jog on the way to class in the winter without breaking a sweat, when it’s a humid 90 degrees out, you are not as likely to perspire as much if you have the time to walk slowly.

Minimize Baggage

Sweat marks on your back in the shape of your backpack are never a good look, and carrying a heavy load can make you sweat more all over. Especially when leaving your room for a day of classes, be sure to only take what you really need — that means not buying huge notebooks and making sure to only bring textbooks that you are truly required to bring.

Oil Absorbing Wipes

Many may already know about these blissful little squares, but companies like Neutrogena did all of us down here in the Big Easy a favor by releasing them in stores. Even after you stop sweating, your skin can be left haunted with grease, shininess and oil. Lucky for us, using these sheets to quickly dab your face will work wonders and won’t take off makeup either.

Makeup Setting Spray

For those who wear makeup, even the most expensive formulas can drip off or even transition to a different spot on your face if you are perspiring. A simple and even affordable solution is a simple makeup setting spray to keep those powder or liquid solutions to stay in place. The Essence “Keep It Perfect!” setting spray for $2.49 from Ulta is a perfect affordable option, and it is also small enough to take with you to class or to The Boot.

Be smart with what you eat and drink

There are certain foods that can trigger heat and sweating. There’s a reason why hot foods like soup and hot cocoa are left for winter. Additionally, foods that are spicy, salty or contain garlic and onion can make you sweat more and also make that sweat smell worse. We hate to break it to you, but caffeine and alcohol can also make you feel hotter and trigger sweat.

Keep down the stress

Superfluous stress can be a major disruption to your nervous system and, you guessed it, causes more sweating. Taking some time out of your day to center yourself and relax can help you keep calm and problem-solve much better, not to mention the other health benefits of rest and recuperation. At the end of the day, we all picked a hot city to live in, but we love it anyway.

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