Latest news with #cavemanmethod
The Sun
a day ago
- Climate
- The Sun
‘Caveman method' is guaranteed to keep your home cool during the hot weather
HOMEOWNERS have been urged to try out the "caveman method" to keep their homes cool in the hot weather. With temperatures set to reach highs of 36C today, Brits across the nation will be doing everything they can to try to cool down. 2 2 And although purchasing a fan or making your own air conditioner may be your first thought, one expert has revealed a hack won't cost you a penny. When trying to beat the heat, your first thought might be to open the doors and windows, to let air in. However, Joseph Holman, CEO of Green Doors revealed that this is the opposite of what you should do. Treat Your Home Like A Cave The expert explained that when it is extremely hot, keeping windows and doors open will simply blow more hot air in to the house. Instead, he revealed that you should think of your house as being "like a cave." He told Tom's Guide: "A cave is cool in heatwaves because it is dark and doesn't have direct sunlight or a direct entrance for the heat. "You want to probably mimic that." To turn your home in to a cave, Joseph recommended keeping your doors, windows and curtains closed. He added: "You want to reduce sunlight and stop the movement of the outside air inside; even switching off the lights will help you with that". The expert explained that if you have air conditioning in your home, you don't open your windows and doors so as not to let the cold air out. How to keep pets safe during a heatwave In reverse, if you aren't running air conditioning, then if you have your windows and doors open, you are letting hot air in. For a longer term method to turn your home into a cave, Joseph said: "If you want to protect your home from the heat longer term, I would recommend investing in tinted film for windows to reflect the heat, as well as installing integral blinds as a smart way to control the temperature in your home. "You can install integral blinds without changing the doors and windows themselves, simply by changing the glazing units." He added: "They are a great space-saver and will last longer than external blinds, which can be damaged much more easily." How to keep cool in hot weather Most of us welcome hot weather, but when it's too hot, there are health risks. Here are three ways to keep cool according to the NHS... Keep out of the heat if you can. If you have to go outside, stay in the shade especially between 11am and 3pm, wear sunscreen, a hat and light clothes, and avoid exercise or activity that makes you hotter. Cool yourself down. Have cold food and drinks, avoid alcohol, caffeine and hot drinks, and have a cool shower or put cool water on your skin or clothes. Keep your living space cool. Close windows during the day and open them at night when the temperature outside has gone down. Electric fans can help if the temperature is below 35 degrees. Check the temperature of rooms, especially where people at higher risk live and sleep. More Budget Hacks To Keep Cool Corey Sims at CSDB revealed that another free hack to keep you home cool is to freeze your bed sheets and pyjama s. The expert added that you can also fill a spray bottle with water, and use it to spray your curtains, which will lower the temperature of your home. "Dampen your curtains to cool the room," the expert advised toasty homeowners. "As air blows across the wet drapes, evaporating water absorbs heat and lowers the room temperature. "The hot weather also ensures the curtains dry quickly without smelling damp." If you don't have a plastic spray bottle on hand, you can pick them up from most bargain retailers.
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Real or flake? Experts weigh in on whether TikTok's viral ‘caveman method' skin care routine actually works
The latest viral skincare routine involves no skincare at all. Dubbed the 'caveman method', it involves shunning any kind of skincare products, as well as water, and letting the skin barrier 'heal'. TikTok creator Tia Zakher has become a viral sensation for her adherence to the trend. The 22-year-old sparked debate about the method after posting videos with visibly flaky skin, apparently a result of the trend. 'What you're seeing is dead skin, that's going to flake off eventually while new healthy skin forms underneath,' she told millions of viewers. Zakher has her sceptics but, whether or not you believe the videos, what do experts think about the regime, which has been attributed to other celebrities including Alexa Chung and Salma Hayek? Like many healthcare professionals who have commented on the viral videos, Associate Prof Deshan Sebaratnam, a dermatologist at the Skin Hospital in Sydney, says 'it's not a good idea'. 'The reason being is your body is constantly regenerating itself, your skin is constantly turning over, and old skin cells are being shed. Normally they can fall off, but sometimes they can get stuck together, particularly if your skin's a little bit oilier.' Sebaratnam said a condition known as terra firma-forme – where those dead skin cells can accumulate like scale – can develop when people don't shower. 'I wouldn't recommend what she's doing,' he said. Associate professor Yousuf Mohammed, an expert in pharmaceutics and skin toxicology at the University of Queensland, said sebum – the natural, oily substance produced by sebaceous glands in the skin – provides a partial barrier to protect the skin, but if left unwashed for too long can create the perfect atmosphere for certain types of bacteria to grow. 'The caveman technique [might have] worked when we lived in the caves because we didn't have these new kinds of [modern] pollutants around,' he said. 'In today's day and age, we really do need to wash.' 'There's all this misinformation out there that you need a 12-step skincare routine – that's completely not true. But you don't want to take it from one extreme to the other, like this person,' Sebaratnam said. He recommends in the morning putting sunscreen on, and then at the end of the day a gentle soap-free cleanser, ideally without fragrances or perfumes. 'You don't need to be spending lots of money – the cheap stuff works great.' Sebaratnam says cleansers are helpful because 'with makeup, with sunscreen, even with your own sweat and oil, you need something a little bit more than just water, because those things are oil-based, and oil and water don't mix, so you need something that can help remove oil-based products.' 'That's really all you need in terms of a very simple skincare routine – you don't need to be doing anything extra on top of that. All sunscreen have moisturiser in-built within them, so you don't need to be putting sunscreen and moisturiser on at the same time,' Sebaratnam said. From a medical perspective, only people with conditions such as eczema need moisturiser, Sebaratnam said. But there are lots of different factors that motivate people when it comes to their skincare – 'for some people, that's their form of meditation or their form of self-care'. Sebaratnam says aggressive skin care products can certainly disrupt the barrier function of the skin. 'Even products like soap can strip away natural oils. Anything you put on your skin can disrupt the pH transiently but our skin is resilient and has mechanisms in place to self-regulate this.' Commercial skincare brands often promote products with active ingredients to target specific concerns like vitamin A for anti-ageing, hyaluronic acid for hydration or vitamin C for brightening. 'There's lots of different products that you can put on your skin but, in particular, a lot of the actives, they'll all cause a small degree of irritation, and then if all of a sudden you're putting 12 of these things on, you know, 12 times a small degree of irritation becomes a big degree of irritation,' Sebaratnam says. 'Be intentional with your skincare. Just because you see someone online using something and it suits them, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to help you reach your skincare goals. 'Having a sense of what you want to achieve with your skincare is important, and then you can pick products that suit that.' For some people whose intention is to use their skincare to pamper themselves, they might want to buy expensive products, often paying for a fancy bottle and fragrance, but the improvement in skin quality the next day is likely to be the same whether you use $150 or $15 cream at night, he says. Natasha May is Guardian Australia's health reporter Antiviral is a fortnightly column that interrogates the evidence behind the health headlines and factchecks popular wellness claims What health trend do you want examined? Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian.
