Berry’s Mom, who wrote a great post about the kind of mad running around pastors do on Sunday mornings (although her morning was particularly harried), writes to ask about SWEAT.
PeaceBang’s own favorite sweat story is when she sprayed her legs with fake tan one Sunday morning and let it dry before dressing, then went to church and robed on a hot day. By coffee hour, her legs were an interesting streaked orange pattern, causing her Director of Religious Education to have hysterical fits of laughter with her in the kitchen, and leaving brown puddles in her Bandolino pumps.
So PeaceBang knows about the joys of uninspiring perspiring, my dears, also known in the Yiddish language as schvitzing. Oy, was I schvitzing today, speaking of which!
Some tips:
If you’re going to be running around and you have the tendency to get excessively moist, avoid lotions and moisturizers on face and body and keep make-up minimal.
Keep a white hankie in your pocket, ladies and gents, and use it to periodically and discreetly mop your brow and neck.
Install a small fan behind your pulpit. It will keep your legs from melting. Consider using a hand fan. A congregant gave me a pretty one and I figure better a bit of Scarlett O’Hara business than fainting dead away.
Ladies with long hair, pull it back in a neat chignon. Ladies with short hair, judicious use of hair spray can prevent you from looking bedraggled, although that rarely works for PeaceBang, whose head sweats a lot and whose hair gets so soaked that she keeps a hair dryer in her office. Look for hair products that promise to de-humidify.
Powder down before dressing. Use a non-talcum product with corn starch (until someone writes and tells me that that’s toxic, too).
Gals, a good cotton sports bra under a blazer can be a great sweat soaker-upper in all seasons. Of course a sports bra may give you a strange bustline if you’re wearing just a blouse, but try it and see how it goes.
Fellas, an undershirt is a big help in keeping you unsoaked.
Cotton bike shorts under skirts are comfortable and can help. Shave and moisturize your legs the night before and skip the nylons.
Remember our ancestors, the circuit riding preacher gals who came ridin’ into town on horses and preached in boiling hot churches in their petticoats and corsets. That should keep you cool. 😉
I think the undershirt and handkerchief rules were the first thing I learned in Southern Boy school. What I learned later is that there’s nothing wrong about wearing your preaching gown open in un-air-conditioned Georgia churches in the summer.
A couple of times, I even was known to preach without it. Fainting in the pulpit isn’t pretty.
Thanks for this post. After almost 50 years, and a few foiled attempts at building a new sanctuary, our congregation has finally cried “uncle” and admitted a new building is not just around the corner. This year, we put in (listen for chorus of angels) air-conditioning in our present sanctuary. I would never even dream of robing in the old one in the summer, which led to creating an interesting summer liturgical wardrobe – usually full-length dresses with short or no sleeves (gasp!) and a stole. And still the schvitz was pouring.
This year, it’s much better, but to keep the congregation from freezing, for some reason, the ‘bima’ is still rather warm. This means that my lovely Womenspirit white robe gets pretty damp. Add to this the fact that even though it’s lined, you can still see whatever I have on underneath. I had hoped it “wasn’t too bad” – the popular phrase of denial – and my husband informed me that my flowered dress underneath made it look like I was wearing underwear all over. Eek! This means that I now have to do a complete change in the bathroom at church, stripping everything down and adding a full-length slip. Adds a cumbersome layer of activity before and especially after worship, as opposed to the casual *fling* of my robe and rejoining coffee hour.
Also leads to some interesting dilemmas – when I first wore this lovely garment – and it is lovely, or I wouldn’t do all this FUSS – I did gap control on my flowered dress with a safety pin. In my haste changing, I stuck my finger, hard, on the pin. I fastened the top hook of the brand-new, pristine white robe, and left two bright spots of blood on the neck. Ack! Tide-to-Go stick in my purse to the rescue. I testify for their amazing product. Stains GONE! I felt clerically gorgeous in my new robe and had a great morning.
Well, after all this rambling, there is a question. I am planning to sew dress shields in the pits of this robe. Does anyone recommend a type or brand? Also, how do I keep the neck from getting grubby?
Until someone syas it’s toxic: The Cornsilk pressed powder is excellent on Sunday mornings to combat shiny face – the you can be bright and sunny without the shiny!! Found in the cheap make-up section at CVS
When I’m doing any public speaking, i’ve managed to control most of my nervous responses except for the excessive perspiration. It can be at times quite noticeable. I need to remember the hanky bit.
Ah, now here is an advantage of Wyoming: yes, it gets very hot indeed– but it’s dry enough to suck the juice right out of your entrails, let alone off your skin!
I want to hear more about preaching in corsets and petticoats!
A sweaty head is a blessing, believe it or not. My head does NOT sweat, a weird thing that runs in my family. Without nature’s own natural cool-down system, I overheat dangerously easily.
While glistening and dripping may not be especially pretty, turning bright red, then purple, then passing out is downright un-lady-like.
PB, I noticed your pretty hand fan at GA. I thought it was tres chic.
Dear all- yes, more about dress shields, please…do they work? Are they worth it? Can I just use cut up sticky back panty shields in a pinch? I am a (ahem) mature, second career preacher, going thru menopause and Southern heat-in churches that are still somewhat unsure of women preachers, and so I tend to dress in suit, pantyhose and pumps….really hot and uncomfortable-n Im more of a shorts and Berkies kinda gal….
Ya’ll up north need to learn two little words:
AIR CONDITIONING (yes, even in church)
I thought I’d DIE when I experienced my first sweaty easter vigil up there during seminary. For all the smarts gathered up there, you’d think that you’d learn that a consistent 70 degrees facilitates worship (lower if the presider is pregnant, flustered, of facing a big crowd).
the pastor controls the thermostat. Save the enviornment some other way 😉
Madge, ya’ll down south need to learn two little words:
SUMMER HIATUS.
😉
Seriously, girl, you act like air-conditioning an 1830 meeting house is a simple matter. Reality check!
Amen to the preacher controlling the thermostat.
Summer church is a must do – the most visitors come through at that time. I know that is awful for non-A/C places, but being welcoming can be worth the heat. Can’t tell you how awful it looks to see a UU church with rope across the stairs to the front door – literally or symbolically.
But I’ll leave that for the other blog.
Easy or not, BP, it can and should be done!
Two of the churches I’ve served here were built in the 1800’s, and they both had climate control. It’s a culture thing up there, at least as much a mindset as an architectural thing.
That said, taking a summer hiatus can be good too 😉
I keep rolling that notion of a summer hiatus around in my mouth. I should see my husband again the weekend of the 22nd, but that will be it for the rest of the month of July. In August he will be in California for work– Chun Woo and I will take some comp time and drive out to see him. My current sekrit plan is to ask the congregation to cover a Sunday to allow for this….
To answer Nancy’s question……
Yes, dress shields work. I recommend them for everyone when they know they are going to be someplace that is humid. It’s humidity, in conjuntion with temperture, that causes much perspiration.
Dress shields should really be made of a breathe-able fabric….like cotton or linen.
Hope this helps some.