Camp bathing

Sender

Sender

Joined
Oct 23, 2000
Messages
174
Highly reccommended; if you want wives/girlfriends to enjoy camping, make some provision for keeping clean.

This summer we tried phisoderm as a general cleanser/shampoo. She found a 6 fl oz. bottle at the dollar store and it lasted 8 days. A dollup the size of a quarter works well on armpits,crotch and no-mans-land. About the same amount for my fairly short hair, and about a $.50 piece worth for hers.

We carried seabreaeze too, it's basically just with hazel I think, but warm water works about as well for everything else.

I can now wash, shampoo, and shave with only a liter of warm water.


At the end of eight days we didn't feel grungy at all, just pleasantly sore from hiking.
 
There are some excellent concentrated liquid soaps (Campsuds, from Mountain Co-op in Canada or the US equivalent, RG-something): biodegradable, useful for shampoo, personal use, dishes, etc. A little goes a long way. A washcloth can be kept in a baggie, and there are some good inexpensive high absorbant camp towels that work great for keeping you fresh on the trail. As the Brits used to say to the soldiers serving in India, "Fear God, honor the Queen, and keep clean."
 
For my field bath, if you want to call it that, I pack about a 2.5" stack of baby wipes in a zipplock. (Only the unscented for my uses but any would work for the ladies) It also doubles as some of the most comfy toidy paper you can use. On a six day patrol, it's the little comforts that count.
recondoc
 
I use the diaper wipe system too. Try and avoid the "handiwipe" stuff. A bit too much soap for some sensitive aras, and it can cause itching.
While campinging in the Daniel Boone Nat. Forest here in Ky,
we took some of the hospital type "no rinse" soap, put a good squirt in a pull spout water bottle (the cheap type that taste like crap anyway if you carry water in it) then filled it 1/2 full of hot water. Then topped it of with cool water, and "presto"! instant shower!
RAvenn
 
I've used the babywipes method a lot. Another method that works if water is not an issue is a camp shower a friend has. I can't remember the brand name, but they make several different models. This one is a large bladder (3gal), some tubing, a shower head, and a copper coil that goes into the campfire. This heats up the water (takes about 20min). You hang the bladder in a tree, and take your shower. You can get about 2-3 good showers out of it if you're careful. They make some nicer models that are powered by propane. Those would be good for semi-permanent camps or rural hunters cabins.

Chris
 
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