Before we designed and invented coldfront, we looked at many other solutions for managing hot flashes. The convenience and portability of one-time use cold packs for hot flashes are definitely positive. Their long history at soccer games (and Little League, and football, hockey, and you-name-it games, too!) made one-time use cold packs seem like a great solution for hot flashes.
Although snapping, shaking, applying and then tossing the ammonium nitrate-filled packs into the trash works for some, this option didn’t seem quite right to us. We created coldfront to be a much better solution than one-time use cold packs for women experiencing hot flashes.
We developed some criteria by which to compare coldfront to one-time use cold packs. What do you think?
coldfront | one-time use cold packs | conclusions | |
Comfort | Our palm packs are always soft and flexible against the skin. They’ll mold easily to whatever part of the body to which they’re applied. The courtesy cloth is included to serve as a barrier to extra sensitive skin, or to wick away any moisture that might be present. It dries quickly and feels good too! | One-time use packs can become too cold. If that happens, the only solution is to remove them from the skin. The plastic on the outside is typically thick and slightly rigid. Condensation can make the packs wet and dripping. | coldfront was designed with your skin in mind. The softness of the materials used in both the palm packs and the cloth, make for a wonderfully comfortable sensory experience! One-time use packs are plastic-like, wet, and possibly too cold. |
Discretion | The case is designed with style in mind. Nobody knows it’s a micro-freezer! The palm packs fit neatly into the palm of your hand, so no one will ever know you’re using it. | Take out the bag, break the inside bag by hitting or snapping it, shake it around, and then apply. These bags are typically larger than your hand, and are obvious. | coldfront is miles ahead of snap-and-shake cold packs for keeping cool with grace and style. |
Reusability | coldfront is ready for use every 20 minutes (or every 10 minutes if you only use one palm pack at a time) for up to 12 hours, every day. | Some products in this category advertise that they can be reused for an unspecified number of times and unspecified duration, if left in the refrigerator after an hour. | Unlike one-time use cold packs, coldfront does not need to be returned to a refrigerator or freezer to re-cool the contents. Each component in coldfront can be used over and over again. |
Duration on hot flashing skin | The coldfront palm packs were designed to last as long as the average hot flash, about 3 minutes, per palm pack – per use! | Up to 10 minutes – once! | Since the average hot flash doesn’t typically last longer than 3 minutes, this is a draw. For more extreme hot flashes, we have to give a nod to one-time use packs, as long as it’s only one hot flash. |
Toxicity and Environmental Friendliness | Every component in coldfront is non-toxic. The gels used in the palm packs and the cooling core, are considered food-grade by FDA standards. Since every component is reusable and durable, there is no waste! | One-time use packs get cold due to a chemical reaction. Ammonium Nitrate, a fertilizing agent that is also used to make explosives, is typically one of the ingredients. The plastic outside and chemical insides are toxic to the environment. Over a hot flashing year, 50g packs will generate 80 pounds of toxic waste. | coldfront is a companion, and as such, was designed for you to spend long hours together – safely. coldfront does not use any toxic components or materials, and is phthalate-free. |
Cost based on 2 hot flashes/day for one year | $49.95 | $1,460.00 | coldfront is cost-efficient and completely reusable. |