Here’s how I measure these things. If it offers health claims, are they verifiable? If it commands a high price tag, is it measurably better than cheaper offerings? And if it needs to be charged, do you die a little from shame when you have state, “Hold on, I have to go charge my ____.” To be fair, it is heated, and you get a 5,000 mAh battery pack to power it. But those benefits are sidelined by the company in favor of their health claims.
- Dr. Scarf claims “anions”, or negatively charged ions, are proven to improve your health. This is…questionable. National Institutes of Health has conducted some preliminary studies, and they determined it was hard to say for certain if negative ions had a measurable impact on overall mental and physical health. So we’re going to go with not verified. Another clue: their Kickstarter makes these claims but has no specific scientific links, only a link to a website written by a layperson who does not appear to have a medical or scientific degree.
- The Kickstarter campaign offers the scarf for $65, but it will be $129 at retail. For a weird looking scarf with snaps all over it. Nope. A 5,000 mAh power bank is around $18 on Amazon, and a good scarf will keep you warm even without power. And if you really want a heated scarf, Amazon offers some for around $30. BYOA (Bring your own anions).
- If you can tell someone with a straight face, “hang on, I have to grab my scarf off the charger before we go out”, you have better self-control than I do because I’d lose it laughing about halfway through that sentence.
If none of this has deterred you, you can check out Dr. Scarf on Kickstarter. Just don’t blame me if the anions turn out to be as useful as midichlorians in Star Wars.