Staying Clean, Dry and Warm

One of the challenges I face in winter is staying clean, dry and warm. My experience is that I am colder if I am not clean, but the process of getting clean can make me incredibly cold. If you are using park bathrooms to clean up, there may be zero hot water available and tap water is much colder in winter.

One bathroom I currently use a lot has no paper towels nor hand dryers. so, I often use toilet paper to dry my hands before leaving. Getting my hands dry before going outside again makes a big difference, even though this bathroom has no heat and the windows and door are basically just openings in the walls. (The windows are lattice brick arrangements. I am not sure what to call it.)

I also use a lot of hand sanitizer. In winter, I habitually try to "towel off" the hand sanitizer with paper towels. Letting it air dry seriously makes me cold. (Wiping someone down with rubbing alcohol is an old fashioned way to break a fever. Hand sanitizer is mostly alcohol.)

When I can come up with the money, I try to stay in a hotel to get a proper shower under circumstances where I have warm water and will be indoors for the rest of the night. I also generally keep my hair short, even though I am a woman. Long, wet hair in cold weather is not a good thing.