FirstIce review – A cold pack with a difference
Someone at FirstIce was kind enough to send me one of their ice packs to review. It really wasn’t anything like I expected – it is unique.
When you first get the ice pack from the store, it looks something like this:
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It feels a little like tapioca pudding. Those are little bits of gel in there – apparently it’s water that’s kept in a gelatin-like state by polymer beads. But I wouldn’t know about that. To the right you can see a close up – it’s semi-transparent stuff, whatever it is!
The instructions say to place the cold pack in the freezer flat, with nothing stacked on top, for at least 3 hours. I dutifully obeyed the instructions. And I was in for quite a surprise.
When I opened the freezer and took out the bag, it was filled with – snow!
Well, what looked and felt like snow anyway. It had puffed up into white stuff that was very cold. I guess cold is the idea! Here’s what it looked like:
Now, if you’re familiar with snow, you can see the advantages right away. My wife used to live waaaaaaay up north, where the Inuit people live. And up there they find snow to be useful for many things, including treating injuries.
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There are good reasons for this. It’s soft. And it can form to the shape of your body.
Yes, FirstIce has the same benefits. I tried it both on the back of my head, putting pressure on it, as well as on top of my leg. It can form around a part of your body, giving an even cold, and it’s soft. It’s puffed up a bit, unlike another ice pack I have used which is a lot flatter and so doesn’t form around your head as well and provide such an even cooling.
Now, the pack says you should use a new pack after 3-4 hours of therapy. I found that to be pretty optimistic.
After 1.5 hours, it was still frozen, though a little smaller. After 1.75 hours, it seemed to be a little less cold, but still cold (that seems to me to be a long time though for constant use! Betcha normal snow wouldn’t last that long…).
After 2.25 hours, it seemed more or less melted, but it was still cool and still had therapeutic value. But after two and a half hours I would say it was done.
I found it too cold to use right against the skin, so as with most cold packs I put a cloth or towel on it and that was fine.
Overall rating? I do like it better than your average cold pack (the kind you use for sports or headache). It’s unique and seems to deliver what it sets out to do. It’s sturdy, and so I hope to use it for a long time.
If you like cold therapy for your headaches, FirstIce is definitely worth trying. You can read more about them at their site at FirstIce.com. You can find the ice packs at Walgreens, CVS and other places as well.
19 July 2009 @ 12:02 am
That is pretty cool – thanks for adding those photos 🙂
21 July 2009 @ 6:23 pm
I find ice packs helpful but my main problem is that I find they pick up food odors in the freezer and I am exceedingly sensitive to that during migraine attacks.
21 July 2009 @ 8:39 pm
Good observation, Helen. I agree, though I do find it helps when I wrap a fresh towel around them. Anyone else have a good solution to keeping those odours down?
22 July 2009 @ 9:45 pm
I have a great solution! Maybe our sensitivity to smell is a migraine thing, Helen, so it is only here that I could admit this level of goofiness: I put all of my ice-pacs in zip-loc bags. For some reason the plastic bags around them seems to repel smell.
It doesn’t stop there, though: I have made velvet covers for them with velcro tops. It’s not as hard as it sounds. No sewing necessary–just buy velvet remnants from a fabric store and the iron-on seam bond. I spend a great deal of time with my ice-pacs so the velvet is a necessary luxury.
I hope this helps you!
23 July 2009 @ 11:30 am
I too am very smell-sensitive during an attack. I wrap my packs in a very soft pillowcase I keep just for that purpose – with a slight scent of lavender. Hmmmm
BTW my neurologist said there’s a name for the smell-sensitive symptom, but I’ve forgotten it.
24 July 2009 @ 12:50 pm
My favorite ice pack is one from cvs. I can wrap it around my head tight – (vice-like). It is stretchy with velcro. The combination of the pressure and the cold save me during attacks. I found additional refills that work inside the cower. The cold -packs do not take on the smells and the cower is completely remowable. It is often the best headache tool I use.
28 July 2009 @ 11:59 am
I keep them wrapped in a clean dishcloth inside a tupperware case in the freezer. I too, am scent-sensitive.According to my chiro, the ice should only EVER be used for 20 minutes every 2 hours. Longer than that and the ice isn’t really doing anything. And never lay on the ice, lay the ice on you or you can do serious nerve damage.
7 August 2009 @ 1:25 pm
Hi James! Thank you for your review of our product. We are genuinely hopeful that First+Ice will be a relief to many migraine sufferers out there. One of the really wonderful things about First+Ice is that it is suitable for continuous cold therapy. Because the snow closest to the outside of the bag immediately melts upon contact with the body, First+Ice comes to a safe therapy temperature of 40-50 degrees F. So, for as long as it stays cold, it’s safe to continue the therapy. This is in contrast to ice or gel packs, which require an intermittent modality. Thank you again, for writing about us!