Winter’s the season of crystalline snowflakes and crackling fires. It’s also prime time for the unpreventable, incurable head cold–7 to 10 days of feeling miserable and probably looking it too. It needn’t be all misery, though. A supply of warm, comfortable loungewear and soothing lotions can soften the blow of even the worst cold.
Start, of course, with flannel pajamas. Searah Deysach, owner of Early to Bed, an erotic gift shop in Chicago, clambers into cloud-printed flannel pajamas when stricken with a cold or flu.
“I love them,” she says unabashedly.
Her fondness for the pj’s extends beyond their blue-and-white snuggliness.
“It’s the only time in my life I wear something that matches, and there’s something about a matching top and bottom that makes me feel secure,” Deysach says.
Top your pj’s with a scarlet cashmere robe, suggests Christy Horton, owner of Trousseau, a Chicago lingerie store. The midcalf robe has two hip pockets and is so soft that it doesn’t need to be lined, Horton says. At $418 (and a dry-clean-only tag), the cashmere probably should be reserved for only the daintiest of colds.
For the sneezier species, try a lounger rather than a robe, suggests Mary Daly, owner of I See London, a lingerie boutique in Evanston. She carries a caftan-type robe/nightgown hybrid in rose and blue “that’s heavier weight than you’d sleep in, unless you had a really cold apartment,” Daly says.
Along similar lines, Trousseau carries an ankle-length midweight terry-cloth robe in pink or baby blue which, like the cashmere, is equipped with hip pockets. At $165, it’s ideal for overly warm, steam-heated Chicago apartments, Horton says.
To keep her feet warm, Chicago actor Eva Breneman swears by Restoration Hardware’s Foot Duvet down slippers.
“They’re very light, and envelop your whole foot and ankle,” says Breneman, who likes them so much that she gave them to friends last Christmas. Hers are dark green; they also come in red and khaki.
Now for nosy matters. Facial tissues are inexpensive and convenient, but handkerchiefs are a must for an elegant recovery. Anne Jenkins carries at least six hankies when she has a cold.
“They’re softer, more ladylike and elegant,” says Jenkins, a sales associate at Flashy Trash, a vintage store in Chicago.
In addition to their softness, handkerchiefs are recyclable. And they don’t deposit white fluff all over the dryer if you mistakenly leave one in your pocket on laundry day.
Breneman, a self-described recycling nut, loves the idea of handkerchiefs, but wasn’t sure how they would work out in practice. For purposes of this story, she agreed to carry a handkerchief for a day.
“They were kind to my poor little nose,” Breneman reports, but not as convenient as tissues, probably because she only owns one handkerchief, a big square that belonged to her grandfather.
Her verdict? She plans to buy–and use–more handkerchiefs.
“I’ll save a lot of trees,” she says.
Even the softest hankie won’t prevent a cold-stricken nose from becoming red and blotchy. To get the red out, Breneman likes the Rescue Remedy lotion from Dr. Bach’s Flower Remedies; the aestheticians at Salon 1800 in Chicago suggest Dermalogica Climate Control, a stick-type lotion packed with vitamin E and shea butter.
Deysach skips the lotions and heads for a bath with few drops of essential eucalyptus oil added to clear a stuffy head.
“I’m a huge believer in the healing power of baths,” she says.
