The first day of summer, June 21, has come and gone. It never really feels too much like summer other than the days start to get longer, until just about now when the temperatures start to rise.
Before we enter the hottest part of the season, it’s good to get prepped for those sweaty nights in your cam room while performing. You can of course use that to your advantage, Jamie Lee Curtis certainly did in the film Perfect with John Travolta showing the world way back in 1985 how sexy a little perspiration could be. But, as glamorous as she makes it look, it’s no fun performing when you’re sweating your tuchus off.
If you’re lucky you have central air, but if you don’t or if it’s just too expensive to run (and a window air conditioner is going to cause a huge racket while filming so that’s out) you’ll wonder what’s a cammer to do in the lazy days of summer?
There are a few great ways to keep your cam room cool during the summer.
Yes, wearing less clothes is one of them, hooking up a fan for a windblown look, and using ice in your show – wink wink – all work, but when the humidity is at its peak and the temperature is soaring it can still be daunting to lock yourself in your cam room and perform.
For starters, obviously one way to keep the temperature bearable is to run the air for an hour before you perform, with the doors closed of course, and if you have a fan, run that as well, to circulate the air. If you have a ceiling fan you’ll want to make sure it’s going counterclockwise to create a downdraft for a direct breeze (in the winter it goes the opposite direction to create an updraft). Then shut everything off right before you’re ready to perform and head in.
If you’ve got no air conditioner at all, there’s several portable ones which are relatively inexpensive and work really well.
Check out this list from The Spruce which talks about the best products on the market. In addition to their suggestions I’ve also personally had a lot of success using the Chillwell. At $80 it’s a steal and if you get a couple friends who want one you can get a huge savings – three for $59 each. When I shut my bedroom door and ran last summer, it I didn’t even need the regular air conditioner, saving me tons of money.
If you’re strapped for cash one other simple way to keep cool in your space is to have a bowl of water with ice and a washcloth or a spritzing bottle near you. Your ankles and feet are the doorway in – a simple dousing every once in a while will keep you sitting pretty. As a poor college student during the summer with no air conditioner in a humid NYC, I was able to keep cool every night doing this.
Check out a few more of these out-of-the box ideas and get your cam room ready for summer!
Main photo credit: iStock.com/AndreyPopov
Second photo credit: iStock.com/fizkes
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Alyssa Collins hails from Minnesota, where snowy days were the perfect excuse to stay warm inside and write. Over the years, she turned that joy into a career and has authored numerous articles for various publications (under pen names). Email Alyssa via alyssa@ynot.com.
