You know the sequence. Twenty minutes out clearing the driveway and your ears go from cold, to aching, to that dead numb feeling where you can't find the top edge anymore. Then you come inside and they burn for an hour while the blood comes back.

That's not being tough. That's tissue getting damaged, and past 55 it heals slower and repeats easier.

Here's the mechanical reason it keeps happening: a knit cap covers your skull and nothing else.

Your ears stick out into the wind with one thin layer of yarn over them, if anything

Your neck is completely bare from the hairline down to your collar

The gap at the back is where wind gets under and goes straight down your shirt

Your forehead takes windburn nobody warns you about until your eyebrows sting

And a hood over top doesn't solve it. You turn your head to check for a truck coming and the hood stays put — now you're looking at the inside of your own hood with your ears still exposed.

You don't need a warmer hat. You need one that covers what a hat doesn't cover.