My issue in cold water swims (without wetsuit) is that my fingers turn white, and then take an hour or so to regain color. Did two 30 minute swims in Tahoe the other day, 61 degree-ish, and my fingers were much less white, and recovered more quickly. Seemed like I could take the cold better with these gloves. I also purchased the swim socks, so that might have helped. Some find a cap helps them stand the cold longer, it may be the key extremity for me is he fingers. Like a wetsuit, the principle is water will get in, but then get warmed because it's trapped. It's nice and tight around the wrist, so no issue of the edges catching and filling with too much water. My fingers are longish, which sometimes requires an extra long glove, but these worked fine in the large size. For now, going to keep the webbing, it kind of makes the glove like a swim paddle, which probably made me swim faster. The webbing does create some resistance because more water can be grabbed, so a little more tiring.