**REVIEW** PolarGel Cool Pillow Mat

This is going to be a fun review to write just because I didn't expect to love the product for the reason that I do. I'll get to that, but first, let's do the review.

And, by the way, this is what I'm going to be talking about:

PolarGel Cool Pillow Mat

A little bit of a backstory on how I got to try this (and to show you the goofy state of my mind):

I reviewed a product that I'd bought at a local store. Loved the product, raved about it in a blog post here, raved about it on Amazon, and told just about everyone I know or met anywhere about it. Not long after I reviewed that product, I was contacted by the husband of the woman who came up with it. There was a mention that they might send me other products to use and review. Not long after that contact, I was invited (via email, not one of the product sites I use) to review the PolarGel Cool Pillow Mat.

That's how I got to review this product. The goofy part of my brain comes in at the point where I honestly can't remember (or trace back through emails) whether or not the first product and the PolarGel came from the same distributor.

Ah well... At any rate, I'm really super glad that I got to try out the PolarGel. I thought I was just going to like it because it's such a cool (heh heh) thing to have around during the summer.

I don't care where I am or how warm it is, I just do not sleep well without cover - and not just sheets. I need some sort of a light blanket to feel comfortable. That's not a problem 9 months out of the year here. This is Alaska. However...

Summers here can be warm. (Even during the winter, depending on who you share a home with, the heat is going to be cranked up like the entryway to Hades, so there's that.)

Warm is great during the daytime. It's even fine for most people during the night. Unless you are a fanatic about not "sweating out" your hair.

Right about now is when I have the attention of any woman who hates having to re-straighten or re-wash her hair because she "sweat it out" during the night.

I won't speak for every black woman out there but, personally, I don't like to wash my hair more than once or twice a month. I will co-wash (or even just rinse my hair) instead. This keeps my hair - which, because of genetics, tends towards dry - from drying out even further. If anything, I like to retain as much moisture in my hair and oil on my scalp as possible. Sweating it out means I have to wash or co-wash it, or use more products to re-moisturize.

So. Do I love this PolarGel or what? Yes, I do.

I was going to take a photo of mine,
but it's still tucked inside my pillow case! lol

The product comes with 2 straps that you can use to attach the pad to your pillow. I just slid my pad under the pillow case. Also you get an eBook (about getting better sleep) that you can download as a PDF or mp3 audio. I have not downloaded that yet.

I originally was just hoping that the PolarGel would help keep me cool at night. There's no air-conditioning in most Alaska homes. What we have are ceiling fans. What we also have in the home are people who like to blast the heat even when we are having one of our nice summer days. We keep the heat locked on a steady temp during the summer, which is great - if you like sleeping half nude and with no covers. Not me.

The first night I used the PolarGel (and I actually had to wait til after that blast of cold that we rarely deal with in the summer, which +prissy d d can tell you about!) I was just hoping for relief from the heat in general. Being fuzzy-brained the past several days, I forgot to chill the mat in the fridge until a couple hours before bedtime. What I realized the next day is that I didn't have to put it in the fridge. The gel inside keeps the mat cool enough as it is. On really warm nights, it will be nice to chill it in the fridge though.

I did stay nice and comfy-cool all night (even with my little blanket on), but what I also got was hair that wasn't all sweated and matted the next morning. Nice.

Usually, I have to either moisturize my hair fairly deeply with some leave-in and tie it up overnight, or just deal with the heavy moisturizing the next morning. Then, every few days, I might even have to do a rinse-out. That's because of the sweating.

The PolarGel is probably something that lots of folks will like just because it does a great job of keeping the pillow cool through the night. I have some extra love for it just because of how it saved my hair.

So. I can recommend this for that reason, and I'll step back in my memory to the first months of menopause.... I still get the night-sweats but, a few years back, I nearly lost my mind because of them. I wish I'd had this cooling mat then.

Anyway, there's not much to say about the specifications of the pillow. It's a simple concept that works better than I expected. My head sweat even during the winter months - probably because we run the heat so much and definitely because of the blanket thing I have going on - so I will be using the cool right out of this PolarGel.

The PolarGel Cool Pillow Mat is something you can use over and over, even as you go through new pillows. The best part of any purchase? The guarantee. Here it is, straight from the paged:

If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with your new cool pillow after 30 days, simply return it for a FULL REFUND. No questions asked!

I always love a good guarantee.

Peace
--Free

DISCLOSURE: I received one of more of the products mentioned in exchange for providing my fair and honest review.

I Have Trouble In Bed

(Not that kind of trouble, so nothing good to see here.)

I have sleep troubles. I am either exhausted and have to fight sleep if I want to have a life, or I can't sleep. When I started on Chantix, I had trouble staying awake. For the first few weeks I could nod off into a coma during a pap smear. And I dreamed a lot of dreams. Not the Disney-colored fun dreams, but those nightmares where I would experience at least one of my phobias in full CGI while paralyzed.

Fifteen days ago, I put cigarettes down for good. At that point, I was so traumatized by all the fresh air in my lungs, I can't remember now whether I slept or not. Now, though, I'm nicotine free.  (Yay me!) I'm also pretty much sleep free. No matter how tired I get, I sit up at night like a twitchy junkie waiting to rob my sleeping roommate  This would be the perfect time for me to foster a colicky two-year old (or teenager with midnight creeping tendencies).

Let me tell you, insomnia is not good for someone like me. I'm already moody, I am manic and highly impulsive, and I have access to the internet. I was just on G+ bitching about the evil nature of Pinterest. Now I'm blogging about this shit. Back in the day, I'd be reduced to counting sheep or re-arranging my closets. These days, there's probably an app for counting sheep and I can't do anything in my closet without pissing off the chick who lives right above me. (This apartment living is a bitch. Walls are so thin, if the neighbors have sex, I want a cigarette after.)

Yeah, I'm in a pissy mood tonight.

You know how when you are sick and can't sleep, you kind of want someone sitting up and checking on you every now and then? (Or is that just me?) Well, if I was sick and not just restless, I'd be dead waiting on my roommate to give a shit. She can sleep like it's an Olympic sport and she's got a title to defend. I've known her for over twenty years and never knew how hard she sleeps. If she's not driving, eating, talking or smoking - she's sleep. And I don't mean she just dozes off - unless "dozing off" means passing out like someone beat the hell out of you with a horse tranquilizer. I'm not sure if she even stays completely awake for sex. I'm going to have to ask her about that.

When I first came to bed tonight, I checked my watch. Just checked again and, after four years, only and hour has gone by.

If I manage to stay sane for another hour and a half, my niece will be getting up in North Carolina. I could call and talk with her for ten minutes before she has to start work.  She works from home and in her PJ's, so I might get another ten minutes of sympathy chat before she pretends her boss is on the work phone and she just has to hang up with me...

I suppose I could do some exercises, but I make noise when I exercise. My neighbors might think I'm having sex or something. Worse, since there are no cars in visitor parking, they'll think I'm having solo sex. Damn. Okay, so that rules out exercise.

The only thing left is finding something to watch on TV. Nothing funny though (I laugh like a guffawing goat when I am over-tired), and nothing that involves any kind of cruelty (or I'll be writing "rant" letters to a television network or something), and nothing with even a hint of male-female physical contact (the solo-sex thing again, because when I get tired...), and that leaves... what? "Caillou"?

What the hell. I'm going to go back over to G+ and read happy affirmations that just piss me off.

Peace
--Free

Someone posted this the other day. It seems fitting for this moment: