Hygiene

[daveyroids]

Hi I'm relatively new to hiking. I'm considering a 4 day wild camping/hiking trip in the lakes next month. This will be my fist attempt at this type of camping. I have gathered some very valuable gear information from trawling this site but the one at the top of my list has not yet been answered. What do I use to get a decent wash every evening?

Has anyone got any recommendations on what products I can use, preferably something that i can also get away with washing the odd item of clothing out if needed.

I was originally just going to take a bar of pure soap with me but I'm sure that there are better products out there.

[mike knipe]

I strongly suspect that most backpackers/wild campers dont wash much at all whilst out in the wild bits. (Its just a theory but its uncanny, for instance that given a normal westerly flow of light breezes, businesses in the east of SCotland always seem to know when the TGO challengers are getting close.....)
But  if you insist on not smelling like a yak herder's incontinent granny's favourite tights, you can get liquid soap from places like Millets - and its excellent for washing up with too. Keep the soap away from streams, though and pour the waste into small holes made in the ground specifically for the purpose using your special small hole making tool, or a tent peg.
The only really important thing is to have clean hands when handling food and cooking equipment - and as well as the soap, you can get alcohol-based gels (cuticura) from chemists. Its the same stuff as used in hospitals and is a handy accompaniment to a packet of tissues when away from your tent on a "mission"
You also can get quite a bit of benefit from soaking your feet (soapless) in a stream - the cold water seems to have a beneficial effect - or you can have a full dip if its warm enough and you dont mind some of your parts disappearing for a while (applies to males only)
If you need to wash clothes, you can do this quite effectively without soap by repetetive soaking , beating stuff against rocks and wringing/rinsing. It takes a while but it does work. The problem then arises about how to get the stuff  dry again - this could potentially be impossible.
Whatever you do, dont use the alcohol gel on any part of your body which might be described as "delicate" - if you catch my drift.
Unless you like that kind of pain.

[snowslider]

"wet wipes" are good, I use them wild camping and in winter huts where there's no running water. At around 3 or maybe 4 nights that's enough if you're prepared to rough it a little.

[mikehike]

I use:

After Toilet some alchohol soap that i decantered into a hotel shampoo bottle. This lives in the mesh pocket of rucksack at all times so handy.

For major washing or clothes washing I use Dr Bronners Liquid Soap, again decantered into a smaller bottle.
Method: I take a sponge which lives in a zip closure bag.
Take some water from a stream or tap into ones cooking pot (or use a waterproof stuff sack as a water carrier) away from the water source. Then have a sponge bath. It works really well takes up little space or weight.


 a Sponge and small bottle of Dr Bronners Liquid Soap.
 You can 

[Ridge]

In 4 days you should not need to wash any clothes. Normally the problem is keeping your clothes dry, don't get them wet on purpose.


I'm just re-reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods in which he describes what he calls 'a kind of gentle descent into squalor.'

'At the end of the first day, you feel mildly, self-conciously, grubby; by the end of the second disgustingly so; by the third you are beyond caring; by the fourth you have forgotten what it is like not to be like this.'

[snowslider]

In 4 days you should not need to wash any clothes. Normally the problem is keeping your clothes dry, don't get them wet on purpose.


I'm just re-reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods in which he describes what he calls 'a kind of gentle descent into squalor.'

'At the end of the first day, you feel mildly, self-conciously, grubby; by the end of the second disgustingly so; by the third you are beyond caring; by the fourth you have forgotten what it is like not to be like this.'

that sounds about right, I was out last week going hut to hut and was just getting beyond caring on the third day when I discovered the hut I had arrived at had hot showers, 5 francs for 3 minutes followed b lounging about outside with a beer in the late afternoon sun, you just don't expect that kind of luxury 

[daveyroids]

Well I didn't want to admit that I was only planning on getting a wash every few days but as everyone else seems to agree on this pattern of behaviour I feel much more relaxed now. I'll have a look at that liquid soap/alchohol especially if I can also use it for washing up, I hadn't considered that.

I only considered washing clothes as a last resort as I agree it will be very difficult to dry anything. Thanks to everyone for the speedy replies and advice.

Well I'm just about set now. I have planned 4 days in the lakes so if I have overlooked anything else then I'm sure to find out when its too late. I may even post my route up on the site with some supporting pictures, if I survive!

[tonyk]

 If you are in the Lakes you can have a swill down in the beck.Its refreshing and just as good as a bath.I don't  bother about washing clothes,just keep a change of clothing for going in pubs at night.When John Merrill was doing his coastal walk he wore the same shirt for six months,which remained unwashed.He also wore the same pair of socks for three weeks and never washed.

[snowslider]

Well I didn't want to admit that I was only planning on getting a wash every few days but as everyone else seems to agree on this pattern of behaviour I feel much more relaxed now. I'll have a look at that liquid soap/alchohol especially if I can also use it for washing up, I hadn't considered that.

washing up?!? you need boil in the bag and make a brew using the water  crikey... you'll be taking a plate next 

[daveyroids]

cannot get away with a lot of the boil in the bag meals. Used to use them from time to time while I was still cycling and camping over night. They just don't seem to agree with me, I'll not go into details.

[Ridge]

Well I didn't want to admit that I was only planning on getting a wash every few days

We live in such a clean world these days that it is bordering on obsessive.

Well I'm just about set now. I have planned 4 days in the lakes so if I have overlooked anything else then I'm sure to find out when its too late. I may even post my route up on the site with some supporting pictures, if I survive!

If it's this weekend you will have plenty of showers just put some soap on your head and you'll get clean as you walk along.

[Mr Sam]

We live in such a clean world these days that it is bordering on obsessive.If it's this weekend you will have plenty of showers just put some soap on your head and you'll get clean as you walk along.

It is obsessive. I don't feel right if I don't have  a shower every morning. Just where shorts and a t shirt in the rain while you are walking and you will be clean in no time.

[daveyroids]

I think it comes down to the point that we take cleanliness for granted and we are used to the shower every morning. With being new to to this kind of pursuit  I started considering the pros and cons of what I wanted to do. In cycling I could always find civilization within 2 hours of just about any location. With hiking and especially wild camping I'm choosing to stay out in the sticks for the majority of my trip. Tis is when I started considering the obvious questions about hygiene and such. To be honest I'm not that bothered about not getting a shower just as long as I don't have a fly ridden green haze around me when I get back home.