OKAY listen up, this is a thread for all my cold friends out there who aren't used to severe cold. HOW TO LAYER, A GUIDE TO STAYING WARM, USING ONLY CLOTHING YOU PROBABLY ALREADY HAVE, NO FANCY SILK UNDERWEAR OR WHATEVER.

1) YOUR FEET. Wear at least two pairs of socks: one tighter, thinner pair, and one looser, thicker pair. If you can do three, do a thinner pair, then midweight, then thick. Below: dress, midweight, and thick socks in the order you should put them on..

2) YOUR LEGS: wear whatever your preferred underwear is. Now put on a more fitted long sleeve shirt and more fitted tights, leggings, athletic pants, bike shorts, compression pants, whatever you've got. Some examples below:

Over these, put a narrow pant that is a little loose around the inner layer. Depending on how you typically wear them, jeans, sweatpants, yoga pants, or even dress/work slacks can work for this. Here are some examples.

If you can, put a THIRD layer over these that are your biggest pants. Generally pajama pants, sweatpants, yoga pants are going to be the best for this layer. But whatever fits in whatever order is your best bet!

TOP: again, wear the underwear you are typically most comfortable in: bra, undershirt, whatever. Now add a fitted long sleeve shirt. Tee shirt, turtleneck, compression shirt, waffle weave, henley, whatever.

PIck another long sleeve shirt that is a little looser than this one to put on over it. A fitted sweater, sweatshirt, or looser tee shirt, buttondown, or henley is good for this stage.

Now (and since I know you're smart you probably guessed) get a bigger, looser shirt to put over this. A big sweater or sweatshirt is best!

HEAD: A lot of heat escapes through your head so KEEP IT COVERED! Keep a hat on at all times! The best kind of hat to wear is a thick, knitted cap that is not too tight, or a loose one over a tight one. If you have something lined, even better!

Hats with EAR FLAPS are awesome, as are earmuffs. If you don't have earmuffs, you can use big noise cancelling headphones in a pinch.

HANDS: Hands are super complicated because you want them free to do stuff but also it is very easy for your fingers to get too cold/frostbitten so you've gotta protect them! I recommend a fitted pair of gloves with a looser, thicker pair of gloves or mittens over them.

YES you can use gardening gloves or work gloves for one of these layers if that's all you've got. RUBBER gloves, on the other hand, are not good insulators.

If you really need your fingers free for using devices or work or whatever, get fingerless gloves or cut the fingers off a pair of gloves or mittens you don't care about, then wear these under your bigger mittens/gloves.

Protip: if you don't have a pair of gloves you can mangle to make fingerless gloves, cut holes in an old sock you've lost the mate to!

Now that you're covered head to toe, here are a few more tips:

-You can keep adding layers for as long as you have clothes! Just don't make them too tight: you want to trap air between the layers because it adds extra insulation.

-Wear a scarf or two! You can wrap your head in a scarf if you don't have a hat or need extra warmth.

-If you don't have s scarf or run out or scarves, a pair of sweatpants or flannel pajama pants will do in a pinch.

-It's okay to suspend a no shoes in the house rule during extreme cold. I am one of those people who thinks wearing shoes in the house is gross but they will keep your feet, which are susceptible to frostbite, warmer if you run out of options.

-Pockets are AWESOME and will actually keep your hands warmer, especially pockets close to your belly or butt! Your butt gives off more heat than you think!

-DON'T GET WET if you can help it. If you do, dry off and change out of wet garments.

-IF you don't have boots, thick socks pulled up over the bottom of your pants will keep cold air from getting to your legs. If it's wet out, plastic shopping bags inside your shoes can help.

-Be forgiving of yourself if it's too cold to change your clothes! Stay warm, even if it means dropping hygiene a little. If you need to change clothes, you can sit under a blanket until it warms up and then change under the blanket.

-You can also change out of many of your bottom layers inside your outer layers if your outer layers are loose enough and you are dextrous enough. Otherwise, do the blanket trick.

-Use chapstick on EVERYTHING. Your nose and fingers and toes and ears can get chapped too. If they feel chapped, put whatever balm/ointment/stick you have on them!

-Your eyes can get too cold! If you go out, put on sunglasses or safety goggles-- whatever you have to protect them!

-And finally, just remember that staying warm is more important than looking good. Go to the store in a blanket cape if you have to (a thing I've done). Wear the embarrassing sweater your great aunt gave you.

Take care, stay warm, and feel free to ask your friends from the North for specific advice if you need it!

And hey, if you like this thread, please consider giving to Austin Echo or other area organizations helping homeless people right now. https://www.austinecho.org/get-involved/donate/

A couple people have also mentioned that it is important to TUCK IN your layers. Shirts into pants, pants into socks, etc. This keeps cold air from getting in the gaps and I forgot this isn't really intuitive for people who don't do it!

Also, if you are someone who needs to wear a skirt for cultural or religious or gender-flagging reasons, you can put a skirt on over two or three pants layers and you will be SO WARM AND TOASTY.