‘A godsend on a hot train’: your top tips for beating the heat this summer

From thermal blinds to putting your knickers in the fridge, here are the clever – and surprising – ways Filter readers are keeping cool as the UK swelters

After record-breaking June temperatures, parts of the UK are in the throes of another heatwave. So with more uncomfortably hot days and sweaty, sleepless nights in store, we asked how you keep cool when the temperatures soar.

Some of you shared tips for keeping your homes cool, others on avoiding overheating on the go, and some on ways to exercise safely. From thermal blinds and fans to sunscreens and UV-protective hats, here are your, and our, favourite hacks to beat the heat – and some of them are free. (And no, none of you has any commercial links to these companies or products – we always check.)

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How to keep cool in hot weather

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Shut out the sun

Vertical blinds closed. All curtains are blackout. Air circulated via a through draft. Elizabeth

Ikea makes a nice, cost-effective range of thermal blinds, and they are doing a great job in my bedrooms. It’s a south/south-east facing house with the sun rising at 4am – that’s a lot of heat coming in. Karen

Room-darkening cellular blind

From £29 at Ikea

My “office” and lounge windows are southerly facing and get the sun until about 3.30pm, by which time my lounge temperature is 38C or more.

I bought some green sun shade screening and cut it to cover the windows and attached it using hoop-and-loop tape to the outside of the window frames.

The room is magically cooler, and it’s far better than simply closing the curtains. Andy

Sun shade netting

From £14.49 at Amazon

Hook-and-loop tape

£10.99 at Amazon

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Get a reliable fan

“Even though fans don’t change the temperature, air movement across the body ‘can massively increase the capacity for evaporation’, and evaporation is how human bodies stay cool,” says Alyx Gorman in her guide to staying cool during a heatwave.

Rated the best for cooling in Caramel Quin’s test of the best fans, “the Dreo has a six-litre water tank and can add a fine mist to the air”. Caramel was impressed with how well it cooled the air with relatively low running costs.

Dreo TurboCool misting fan 765S

£199.99 at Amazon

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Cool your air

Evaporative coolers – fans that use cold water to cool the air – are hard to come by right now, but Caramel Quin recently tested this portable version that’s still in stock. It’s USB-rechargeable, so can even be taken on camping holidays, and is small enough to sit on a desktop. Don’t expect air-con levels of cooling, and the noise it makes – while fairly quiet – can be a little irritating. But it dropped the temperature by just over a degree in Caramel’s tests, and you can even add ice to the water tank.

Morphy Richards Flexi Freeze mini personal air cooler

£69.99 at Morphy Richards £69.99 at Amazon

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Cool yourself

I practise sitali pranayama (cooling breath) as part of my daily yoga practice. It works! Rachel Parker

When it’s a stinking hot day, put your undies in a plastic bag in the fridge – great to put on! Karen

Sali Hughes suggests using a cooling facial mist with a handheld fan: it “instantly cools a fractious face”, she wrote. This one from Laneige “has the consistency of coconut water and leaves a thin but unmistakable layer of moisturiser on the skin”.

Laneige cooling mist, 30ml

£8.40 at Cult Beauty £10.50 at Lookfantastic

Never underestimate the power of a cool (not cold) shower. It will reduce your body temperature for a while. I always have one right before bed so I can feel cool while trying to drift off. Lily

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Protect yourself from the sun

Chloe Mac Donnell recommends a canvas sun hat rather than a baseball cap for windier sunny days. This one from Decathlon has an anti-UV fabric to keep your head shielded if you venture out into the heat.

For more, check out 51 genius fashion and beauty tips for sticky days and sweaty nights

Forclaz women’s hiking hat

£12.99 at Decathlon

I love Tilley hats. I had one for 30 years, and they replaced it under their lifetime guarantee. William

Tilley Airflo sun hat

£75 at Tilley

For full body shade, Alyx Gorman suggests using an umbrella or parasol. “Muji has affordable all-weather umbrellas. Just pick a light colour so it reflects the sun, rather than drawing heat down on your head,” she says in her heatwave guide.

All-weather umbrella

£19.95 at Muji

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Don’t go outside without SPF

Never leave the house without applying face SPF. Sarah Matthews recommends Beauty of Joseon’s relief sun rice + probiotics, which has “high SPF50+ to protect against UVB, and the highest level of UVA protection, PA++++”. Sarah rated it best overall in her test of the best face SPFs, praising the fact that it sinks in quickly and leaves skin looking “healthy and perfectly primed for makeup”.

Beauty of Joseon relief sun rice + probiotics SPF50+, 50ml

£12.40 at Lookfantastic £12.40 at Cult Beauty

For top-ups on the go, try a convenient spray SPF that can be used on top of makeup. Anita Bhagwandas highlighted this two-in-one SPF and setting spray in her guide to the beauty buys you should spend and save on. “The ultra-fine mist distributes evenly without soaking the skin or feeling greasy,” she says.

Elf Skin Suntouchable SPF30 setting spray, 60ml

£15 at Elf

Make sure to apply sunscreen all over your body to avoid sunburn. This is always important on sunny summer days, but even more so during heatwaves when temperatures soar. For a low-fuss SPF that can be used for both your face and body, Charlie Allenby recommends this one from men’s grooming brand Horace. “Horace’s SPF50+ protects against harmful UVA and UVB rays but isn’t chalky like the factor 50s of old – it feels more like a moisturiser,” he says.

Horace face and body sunscreen, 100ml

£19 at Horace £22 at the Grooming Clinic

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Keep cool on the go

I wrap a wet linen tea towel around my shoulders. Easily refreshed. No change of clothes is needed. I’m being more elegant when out today, with a wet silk triangular scarf. Vicki Macleod

Free People triangle scarf

£24 at Free People

A portable fan is a godsend on a hot train or bus. This Marks & Spencer USB-rechargeable travel fan can be used handheld or folded for putting on a table for hands-free cooling.

“If you want power for a reasonable price, then the [Diveblues] Jetforce is the answer,” says Alan in his guide to the best portable fans. It provides “a refreshing breeze even at the lowest settings, but when you’re really struggling with the heat, crank it up all the way to level 5”.

M&S USB travel fan

£10 at M&S

Diveblues Jetforce portable fan

£22.99 at Amazon

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Wear cool clothing

Alyx Gorman suggests “[picking] clothes made from 100% cotton, linen or a blend of the two” in her guide to surviving a heatwave. “Lighter-coloured tops are preferable if you will be out in the sun, since darker shades absorb more heat. Uniqlo has reasonably priced linen shirts for women and men.”

Boden belted cotton midi dress

£139 at Boden

Uniqlo 100% premium linen shirt

£39.90 at Uniqlo

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Prevent chafing

Lauren Cochrane recommends using a dusting powder on the areas of your body prone to chafing after moisturising. This one from Lush combines coconut milk powder with cornstarch to soften the skin. “The Super Milk is a favourite,” says Lauren in our guide to tackling summer style and beauty problems.

Lush dusting powder

£12 at Lush

For an anti-chafe cream that also has a cooling effect, Charlie Allenby recommends the Assos chamois creme. Ideal for exercise, it will keep “everything supple and chafe-free – even after 12 hours in the saddle,” he says in his guide to summer cycling essentials.

Assos chamois creme, 200ml

£21.99 at Condor Cycles £22 at Cyclestore

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Stay hydrated

Add electrolytes to your drinking water. It really helps with hydration. You can find recipes online for homemade electrolytes, or health stores sell them. Angela

SIS Hydro electrolyte berry, 20 tablets

£5 at Holland & Barrett £5 at Amazon

“Pack a full water bottle before you leave the house, and drink more than you think you have to,” says Alyx Gorman. The Filter’s favourite water bottle is the Owala FreeSip (rated best overall by Zoë Phillimore, who put 53 to the test for her roundup of the best water bottles).

Owala FreeSip water bottle, 710ml

£31.99 at Owala From £22.55 at Amazon

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Exercising in the heat

“It’s not a coincidence that Australians are among the world’s earliest risers: we try to get up before the temperature does. On hot days, exercising, walking the dog and aggressively watering the garden are all best done just after dawn,” says Alyx Gorman in her roundup of heatwave tips.

“Running in the heat raises your heart rate as the body works to cool itself,” says Kieran Alger in our running Q&A, where he answered readers’ questions. If you plan to run in the heat, he suggests using “a combination of a hydration vest, electrolytes and salt tablets (Precision Fuel and Hydration products are excellent) to stay hydrated. I’d also run holding ice to help bring down my core temperature.”

Summit run vest 5l

£130 at the North Face £124.99 at Sports Shoes

For more tips, check out our running Q&A, where our experts answered your questions

When working out in the heat, opt for breathable or moisture-wicking underwear and socks to help increase comfort. Uniqlo’s Airism range is specially designed to be breathable and deodorising. Charlie Allenby also recommends Maap training socks in his guide to summer cycling essentials. They “[provide] ventilation on the tops of your feet and padded toes” to increase comfort.

Uniqlo Airism boxer briefs

£12.90 at Uniqlo

Uniqlo Airism women’s seamless briefs

£9.90 at Uniqlo

Maap training socks

£12.40 at All 4 Cycling

Personal trainer Kate Whetsel recommends this cooling towel for training in the summer. You just wet it, and it instantly produces a cooling effect to provide relief in the heat.

Chilly Pad cooling towel

£16.97 at Amazon

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Find somewhere with aircon

When it’s really bad, find a cinema with aircon that does overnight or late-night films and install yourself in there. It’s how I watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy in a Sydney heatwave! Karen

Sit in a Wetherspoon’s with a cold pint of Bud Light and the aircon turned up. Happy days Mike

For more, read our Shark ChillPill 3-in-1 fan review and the best fans to keep you cool