Today, I’m going to give you five tips on how to buy the right thermal underwear for you.
But, before I get into this, gentlemen, let me ask you a question.
How in the world do animals survive in subzero temperatures?
The answer is they do a great job of insulating themselves of making sure that the heat within their bodies is not transferred out to the natural environment. That happens because they use air as an ama – air is an amazing insulator.
If you understand that and you can do that with your clothing, gentlemen, you are going to be able to go out there and dress warm pretty much in any situation.
Now, I’ve got a number of samples here I went through and I bought tons of thermal underwear, so if you want more information you want to see my ranking.
I’m going to go into a lot more detail in the article right here I’m going to go into I’m going to talk about all the different materials, talk about their insulating properties, and I’m also going to link you to all these.
In addition, the company that actually Tani that got my top three categories, I’m going to give you a great discount code that you can use to over and grab their amazing products.
Ready to get into this, guys?
#1 Proper Fit Of Thermal Underwear
So, tip number one. First thing you want to do is make sure whatever you wear fits you properly. So, the issue with a lot of lower end thermals is that they are made to fit as many men as possible. This is a medium and as you can see, guys, this thing is huge. I was actually really surprised how big that was.
And, you know, that may not seem like an issue, but if it is too loose on you, guess what’s going to happen? Yeah, there’s air and extra body, warm air and then, all of a sudden when you move it’s going to get pushed out and what’s going to come back? Cooler air. And so, you are going to actually lose heat when you’re wearing something that’s too loose. I like something that fits close, but never too tight. You can usually tell it’s too tight because it’s just not going to feel good it’s going to be restrictive.
So, next, let’s get into the actual fabric. So, two things I’m going to talk about here; the actual weight of the material and we’ll talk about the material that’s actually use. So, first off let’s talk about weight. There’s ultra lightweight, there’s lightweight, there’s mid-weight, and there’s heavier weight. Now, you may be thinking, okay, heavier weight is going to be warmer. That’s not always the case, it can – it does depend on what material is being used in addition to the weave.
So, you could see some very heavy weight fleeces out there which actually are going to, you know, allow the air to transfer pretty easily and then, you’re going to see some really micro – micro weight ones like this one right here. This is actually – it’s called heat. And so, this one made by Tani. It’s specifically woven to maintain heat. And I’ve worn this, it does a good job of retaining the heat despite the lighter weight.
The big thing you’re going to see here is it’s easier for a heavyweight to maintain and to be an insulator, therefore they are oftentimes also going to be lower cost. The issue with the heavy weight is if it doesn’t fit you properly, it can basically impede your freedom of movement. So, if you – I used to climb radio communication towers in Eastern Iowa as I paid my way through college.
I can tell you when you’re going up 200, 300 feet on a tower and manually climbing it, you need full freedom of movement. In that case, if you are working in your clothing, you want to find something that not only fits you properly, but is going to be a little bit lighter weight or, you know, just has that full freedom of movement.
Next list get into the actual material being used. So, I talked about silk very briefly, but I’m going to ignore it because it’s really impractical especially when it comes to care. So, let’s talk about the number two one which is cotton.
Cotton is going to be the most common, but you need to be very careful of cotton especially if you exercise or you work in this all day because if you start to sweat, it’s going to – it’s not going to do a good job of wicking most of the time.
However, if you are on a really tight budget, then cotton is going to be the most common one out there and if you aren’t really working up a sweat, you just need something going to and from work you’re going to be outside for maybe thirty minutes, then cotton may work for you.
If you’re going to buy cotton though, I really want to find something with a bit of a ribbed, basically a gauze weave. And, a gauze weave you can tell I can look at it’s got a bit of a three dimension to it and, this is nice because it does retain a bit of three dimension to it and this is nice because it does retain a bit of air although you need to make sure you get the fit properly.
#2 Thermal Underwear Fabric
So, next let’s talk about wool and let’s talk about synthetics. Wool is going to be good if you can find it at a decent price. It’s a luxury fabric and because it’s close to the body, they have to make sure it’s a high quality wool, otherwise it’s going to be itchy. And I can tell you most of that is going to be used in suiting materials, so if it’s used in a thermal underwear, all of a sudden the price is going to go super high.
Now, synthetics have come a long way in the last twenty to thirty years and there are amazing fabrics that are synthetic coming out of Malden Mills, coming out of parts of China, and I can tell you that, you know, again, one of the reasons Tani rated so high is they’ve got these really lightweight just amazing thermal pieces. It is designed, the weave of the actual fabric of the synthetic material is made to replicate a very fine wool plus they’ve added a few other properties to it which just does a great job of retaining heat of insulating and that, is probably the big advantage.
#3 Thermal Underwear Function
Now, let’s talk about functions. So, I’m going to talk about insulation, I’m going to talk about stretch, I’m going to talk about loft, I’m going to talk about bacteria resistance, and I’m going to talk about moisture wicking. So, insulation, again, has a lot to do with the fabric not only the weight, but also the material being used.
In my opinion from what I’ve seen and what I’ve tested, the best ones that I’ve found are going to be using a synthetic material that is specifically designed to insulate and then maintain heat. I really like this heat by Tani, again, because it’s incredibly lightweight, I can wear it close to my body.
The fit is going to be there and it actually has amazing insulating properties for the weight. There are going to be other ones. Again, cotton, you want to be careful of, its insulating properties in my opinion are some of the lowest out there. But, if you don’t demand a whole lot from your thermals, this may actually work for you.
Okay. Next, let’s talk about stretch. Again, cotton, one of the issues with it is it really doesn’t have much stress. Why I like synthetics is they stretch and they come back and they’re going to do this thousands and thousands and thousands of times before actually the fabric starts to fail on you. Another one, wool can do that thousands of times as well, therefore wool is going to have a great stretch.
But, you want to be looking for and, again, this goes back to fit, the first thing we talked about, you want to find something which has a great stretch and has going to come back because it’s naturally going to fit the different contours of your body better than something that has no stretch such as cotton. Again, silk doesn’t have much of a stretch either which is why I ignored it.
Next, I’m going to talk about loft. So, loft is when the material is woven in a way that it provides the best insulating properties. There are specific mills out there that are designing these products, so that they actually, you know, when they put it together on the inside it’s going to have a nice very napped surface, but on the outside it’s going to have something that’s not going to stick. But together, they actually do a good job of keeping air on the inside and not allowing it as easily to move in and out.
Again, air is the best insulator you want to keep it close to your body and in addition they will allow you to oftentimes wick which is another point I talked about. So, again, cotton, be very careful about cotton’s wicking ability. If you’re going to go with anything look for something that has maybe a gauze weave. I think that those are going to wick better than something that has a very simple plain weave to it.
The last point I want to talk about is resistance to bacteria growth. This is where synthetic materials are going to shine. Why does bacteria growth matter? Well, if you’re going to be living in this clothing and oftentimes when we’re wearing thermals and we’re going to be, you know, maybe staying in a cabin that is still very cold or you’re going to be staying out in a tent, you’re going – you’re out to, you know, backpacking you’re going to be out hunting for a week, then you’re going to be living in this and you don’t necessarily you don’t want to smell really bad when you get back or, you know, and you may not be that concerned about it, but you don’t want to be giving off a scent that perhaps animals are going to pick up if you’re tracking them. So, the point is is you want something that doesn’t encourage bacteria to grow and that’s where synthetic materials are really going to shine.
#4 Thermal Underwear Style
Next, let’s talk about style. Two major styles out there. Two-piece versus one piece and I’ll talk about each of them. One of the advantages of the one piece is that some people argue it actually does a better job of keeping you warm and that kind of make sense because we’ve got this nice layer that goes all the way down.
There’s not going to be the break up that sometimes and that’s a big advantage over the two-piece especially if it’s two-piece that doesn’t fit properly is you can have a break here where the shirt is not long enough where you’re moving a lot you can have them separate out. So, the one piece can be more comfortable, it can sometimes be warmer.
The issue with the one piece and even though a lot of these have basically buttons in the back or, you know, opening in the back or in the front is if you have to use the bathroom. Oftentimes, on one piece I find that even though they provide that stuff, I’m taking it off and I’m basically stripping down when I have to use the bathroom, so that is an issue with the one piece.
The two-piece and I do – I actually do prefer a quality two-piece. The advantage of it I think you just going to have more freedom whenever nature calls. So, you’re going to be able to stretch it out. In addition, if it’s a good two-piece and then you want to make sure when you wear it that there is a good overlap of the top to the bottom probably at least two inches, then you’re really not going to run to the issue where they’re stretching out. In addition, two pieces are going to be more common when it comes to the union suit and designs like that, they’re going to be less common out there.
In addition, if it’s a good two-piece and then you want to make sure when you wear it that there is a good overlap of the top to the bottom probably at least two inches, then you’re really not going to run to the issue where they’re stretching out. In addition, two pieces are going to be more common when it comes to the union suit and designs like that, they’re going to be less common out there.
Also, two pieces if you get really hot, let’s say you go in you visit a friend’s house and they like to keep the thermostat at about 78, 80 degrees, you can walk into the bathroom, strip off your thermal top and, you know, put your sweater back on, it’d still be presentable. If you’re in a one piece, good luck, you know, it’s going to be a lot harder to – to strip off that top, you know, you’re going to have to take everything off. For me, it’s really it’s personal what do you find – I think if you’re going quality either one of them is going to suffice for you.
#5 Thermal Underwear Care
Finally, let’s talk about care requirements. That oftentimes it’s going to go to the material. Silk, I don’t even like to talk about that. Cotton is going to probably be the easiest to care for. You can throw it into a washing machine, throw it into a dryer probably hundreds of times. Wools, you’re going to have to be much more careful, oftentimes hand wash and then, let out to dry. The thing with a lot of synthetics, you can treat them pretty rough, but they’re not going to last as long.
The way I look at it, gentlemen is if you invest in quality thermal underwear, treat it well and look at each washing as kind of taking a life cycle away from it and maybe you only get a hundred. So, if you hand wash it and you let it hang out to dry, it’s going to do it just as well and you’re actually not going to take away as much of its life as if you throw it into that dryer. I can tell you, gentlemen, dryers kill clothing.
All right, guys, that’s it. So go check out the article. I go into a lot more detail there. In addition, I’ve got a ranking of all of these thermal underwear that I tested that I put out there, so you can go download that PDF and check it out for yourself.
Go grab the pair that works for you. In addition, the company that ranked number one, two, and three in my ranking, Tani, I’ve got a really great discount code that you can use take advantage and go out there and try them for yourselves.
That’s it, gentlemen. I’ll see you in the next video. Take care.
This post is based on the video – 5 Tips to Purchase Thermal Underwear
