no. 21 Windhoek Winter Care Secrets

Illustration of windhoek winter care secrets @smarti

It's weird to be going through the coldest months while everyone in northern hemisphere is melting under the hot summer sun. But this is our second winter in Windhoek, and while the days are warm under the sun, the desert winter nights can feel brutal. I've been testing some new things this time around, and I think I'm finally getting the hang of the season?

So Namibia is a dry arid desert landscape. There are hills and mountains, but it's mostly shades of creams, tans and browns. There's a brilliant short spring where the rains make everything suddenly very green. But for the rest of the year it's mostly neutral and sparse. It can be quite soothing actually, even though the verdant green is so exciting when it appears!

With the desert landscape, we also get the dyness. Moisture evaporates quickly. It can be a matter of minutes before things are bone dry. Now this is awesome when it comes to line drawing your laundry really fast, but it's awful when the back of your hands and knuckles start to crack and bleed.

The cool thing about the desert is that the sun will never abandon you. It's always there, and the sunshine and heat is so comforting year round. (When we lived in Copenhagen I really struggled when the sun would not appear for days on end. One time we clocked 20 days in the winter with cloudy grey skies and no sun!) But in the winter, even though the sun is out, that heat will only kick in around midday once it has had a couple of hours baking the land.

So you will wake up frigid with the sun rise. Then feel the warmth expand all around by midday. And as the afternoon fades into sunset, the heat will wane and you're back into deep dark cold winter. It's probably exacerbated since the insulation in the houses here sucks - because they have to prioritise dissapating the heat during the summers. (Totally opposite of Copenhagen which had great insulation, which would create its own summer nightmare when the tiny windows couldn't be opened enough for airflow and summer heat relief!)

Illustration of windhoek winter strip tease @smarti

Here are the things that are working for me so far:

• Take fewer showers. I rinse once a day, mostly before bed, and especially after a workout. But I've learned to take fewer showers and I don't always scrub and soap as intensely. I've been told that soap strips the skin of oils and that's what makes it so vulnerable to cracking and bleeding cold. I soap where I must, but it's not worth soaping all over when my skin feels raw under the shower-head.
  

• Slather on oil post-shower. I got a glass bottle of baobab oil, and have been refilling it with jojoba oil at the zero waste store. After toweling off from the shower, I spend a couple of minutes just pouring it all over and massaging it into my skin. I suppose you could add lavendar oils and other things and make it more of a indulgent experience. But just as is, it's already making a huge difference in soothing my skin. And I love that it's all natural and whatever is absorbed into my skin won't cause allergic reactions or exczema like synethic oils and vaselines do. Yay nature!

• Add oils to meals. I cook with coconut oil and olive oil, but I'm also adding hemp oil to smoothies and salads to help retain some oil in my body as well. When I do sweat, I like to imagine that the oils in my body are helping to lubricate my skin. I mean, it works for people who eat garlic and then you can smell it as it seeps out of their pores. So why not hemp oil? Here's to hoping.
  

• Layer on the clothes. I make sure to plan a spring outfit as my base layer - tank tops and leggings. And then I pack on sweaters, fleece-lined pants, knitted socks, wool berets. Top it with a puffy jacket or puffy vest - even for a day inside the house. As the day goes on, I take off layers as needed. I bask in that midday sun. And then I pile it all back on as the afternoon freezes into evening hours.

• Bring a notepad to bed. I can no longer stay up working late nights because the cold is so intense. Afternoons are my jam and my brain sometimes crackles out some firework midnight ideas! I tried sitting at my desk and wrapping myself in a blanket - but oh gosh, the cold seemed to seep in from every corner. I would shiver and shake like a chihuahua. So now, I just pack it up before dinner and bring a notepad to bed for doodling or planning. (We are a no-phones-in-the-bedroom household.) It's frustrating to not be able to work when I know my productivity takes on a magic quality, but it's probably better for my health and immunity to stay calm and cozy in bed on those dramatically cold nights.
  

• Cuddle a flaxseed heatpad. A couple of years ago, I bought a period relief pack from Somedays to help me manage cramping. And their flaxseed heatpad has become the true multipurpose star of the show! I'm heating her up in the microwave every night before bed to cuddle under the covers. I remember reading about this in an old book where they would heat bricks in the fireplace, wrap them in flannel and then slip them under the comforter to create a heat pocket. If I had a water bottle I'd do something similar. It definitely makes the winter sleeping in these freezing temperatures more bearable.
  

Illustration of windhoek winter oil drench @smarti

I could probably just buy a space heater and move it around the house with me as needed. But I really struggle to buy more things with my expat nomadic minimalist lifestyle. If I do buy something, I need to make sure that it's quality made and won't just be plastic baloney that'll end up in landfill. Besides, every time I go to the store, all the heaters are sold out! So...I'll just keep making do with what I've got.

Here's to hoping the NoHemi is keeping cool in that summer heat,

and the SoHemi is keeping warm with the sun's retreat,

smarti