An on-the-go heat beater
You’re burning up — in the hot sun, in a hot kitchen, in the throes of a hot flash. But don’t sweat it.
A gadget called coldfront can keep its cool — and help you keep yours — for up to 12 hours. And you can take it just about anywhere because it’s small and weighs only a pound.
“It’s a portable cold therapy system,” says its inventor, Susie Hadas, of Long Island, N.Y.
Coldfront, on the market since March, consists of three gel packs and a sunglasses-size carrying case. The upper half of the case holds two small gel packs that fit in the palm of your hand, which just happens to be a prime spot for applying cold to your body to cool yourself down. But, of course, you can use a palm pack on your forehead, cheek, neck — wherever it seems to help most.
Palm packs are designed to be pliable even in subzero temperatures, Hadas says. But the third, larger gel pack is designed to freeze rock hard.
This big pack sits in the lower half of the case and, in essence, becomes a mini-refrigerator. You can take a palm pack out, use it and then put it back in the case, where the big pack will cool it down again within 20 minutes.
Depending on conditions, each palm pack will work for three to 10 minutes, and you can use them over and over for as long as 12 hours.
Hadas originally invented coldfront to help menopausal women cope with hot flashes. In fact, she was trying to cope with one of her own when she took a bag of peas out of the freezer and slapped it on her forehead. This gave her a giant black-and-blue lump — and an idea: She would make something much better and much softer.
Coldfront is available for $49.95 at https://www.mycoldfront.com.
