It’s been over a decade since I’ve experienced a winter like the one I’m going through right now in New York. And with the winter, comes additional expense that never factored in while I was on the west coast.
I had to go out and purchase gloves, long underwear, down jackets, puffy jackets, puffy vests, infinity scarves, blarves, black boots, brown boots, and sweaters in a myriad of colors. I admit, I don’t need much prodding to go shopping for fashionz.
I was shielding myself from the frigid wind, snow and slush and that was only one half of what I needed to do. I was only concerned was when I was outside of my apartment.
What I didn’t really think about is how dry the air had become inside my apartment. My mind keeps thinking “‘THE WINTER INSIDE’ would be a cool book or movie title.”
During the winter, the air has a much lower humidity level because of science. With much less moisture in the air, your body is not just drying out outside, but is going to dry out inside, too. The first thing I noticed was my skin. I’m not talking that my hands were slightly more rough, I’m talking the tips of my fingers and the heels of my feet were fraying – not unlike a porcupine with its quills out. In addition, my face felt flaky. Yeah, it was bad.
Not only will the winter air make your skin crack, but mucous membranes will also dry out. For the real sensitive ones, the cold, dry air will also make your skin itchy and your throat scratchy.
Enter Humidifier
To battle the dry air, I just couldn’t drink 4 more glasses of water (or whatever) that’s too much extra effort. I needed more moisture in the air. I **think** I needed a humidifier or vaporizer.
A humidifier wasn’t an expense that I planned for, and at the time, I wasn’t completely convinced that it would help (I also play a lot of basketball, so some of my dry skin could be attributed to not hydrating well enough after playing). I ended up at Amazon searching for humidifiers.
I read over the options, compared models and ultimately bought the Crane Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier
I decided on the orange one, but it comes in white, blue, pink, and other colors.
I’ve had the Crane humidifier for a week now and don’t regret my decision. I actually want to get another; one for the living room and one for my bedroom, but I’ll wait until next year since it’s February already.
How do I know the Humidifier is working? Because that’s what it does, it adds humidity to the air. My only real way of gauging its effectiveness is how UNDRY (not a word) my hands, feet and face feel now. My fingers haven’t felt like lap cheong and my feet don’t feel like gai gack. I love that I was able to work Chinese cuisine into this post.
Back to moisturizing your face — the Crane Ultrasonic humidifier is also great because it doesn’t take up a lot of space. It’s easy to move (living room in the day / bedroom at night). The output is exactly what I imagine a “cool mist” to be in my wet dreams and you can adjust the strength of the mist. Also, the unit is damn quiet.
I also like that you don’t have to shift the humidifier to point the mist, the Crane model has a feature where you can move the mist nozzle so you can target the mist in whatever direction you like. It’s a nice little design piece that I would not have missed otherwise.
If I am going to complain, i’ll talk about the tank. The tank is smaller than I like so you have to refill every day and a half. Also, refilling the tank isn’t the smoothest process, but considering the design and shape of the unit, that’s to be expected. What Crane? You can’t make a space-efficient humidifier that also has a larger tank? /sarcasm
PROS:
- #1 Rated Humifier on Amazon (4000+ reviews)
- Inexpensive
- Small size
- Quiet
- Design
- Zen-like output
- Adjustable mist intensity
- Auto shutoff safety sensor
- 360 degree output nozzle
- No need for filter
CONS:
- Plastic
- Small tank
- Awkward refilling
As you can see, the pros outweigh the cons. For the price, the Crane Drop Shape Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier
Tips: Use distilled water to minimize cleanup later on. Also, be sure to clean the humidifier often as mold can build up and be released into the air.
