Washing in the wild

[Still Waters]

Horse chestnut leaves contain sapphonins and when pulped up and mixed with water make a good solution for a flannel wash

Some ash from the fire with a small amount of water makes an abrasive paste thats good for scouring pans

 

[atross]

For pans I have used horse's tail (the plant) with ash in pans before which has worked well

 

[maddave]

I have a small bag with a little bottle of camp suds in, a J cloth and half of one of those green scourers with a sponge on the back also is a smal block of soap in one of those net bags you get laundry tablets it. You wash with the soap in the bag using the bag as a body scrub, rinse then hang the bag on a handy branch to dry... Simples

 

[rik_uk3]

But if everyone who camps used just a tiny amount of the stuff it WOULD do plenty of damage.

Doubt it. More eco nonsense so commonly banded about. You'll do more 'eco' harm using your car to drive to your camp site Say you have 10,000 campers who use 10ml of Fairy liquid, thats 100 litres spread across the UK over a weekend...don't worry about it.

 

[Toddy]

I agree with Richard, use but go sparingly, on the Fairy Liquid. It's good stuff, it does biodegrade quite effectively and it's a lot less fuss and bother than the alternatives. At a push you can dilute it down really well and use it as shampoo too.......and I'm 'sensitive' to just about every blasted commercial cleaning agent out there nowadays, but FL is fine. It's used to clean the oil off seabirds and mammals caught in slicks.

Washing you ? A webtex folding bowl, one side for washing you, one side for washing dishes. Two flannels, one top, one tails. You can very effectively wash in a half pint of water if it's really needed. (British army WW2, north Africa, 3pts of water per man per day, and that was for all needs.)
You could use baby wipes and burn them, but they bring me out in a rash if I get the make wrong so there's something in them that's not environmentally friendly I reckon.
A little squirty bottle of one of the shower washes and a tiny little dash is enough for a wash. Easier than drying soap. I'd also pack one of the little bottles of hand steriliser for after loo use.

Try using the stuff at home first; find out how little you actually need to use to be effective. I was really surprised just how little was needed for a fortnight or three weeks away from home.

I know folks who just don't wash from one month's end to the next; but they've built up an immune system that copes with it. Their hair, though greasy, isn't dirty looking. If you keep the sweaty bits regularly attended to, you can get away quite happily without washing much. Maybe not something to be tackled first time away in the ooloo though. Modern lifestyles leave our immune systems really depressed for some things and there's nothing like a dose of the runs to really spoil a holiday.

Hope it's a really good jaunt

cheers,
Toddy

 

[benp1]

Check out dr bronners liquid soap. The peppermint variety can be used as toothpaste as well (you only need a tiny drop)

 

[Elen Sentier]

Huge shame that almost all commercial pine tar soap (including that sold by woodlore), is made with plam oil - the product most closely associated with rainforest destruction in South East Asia

Ta for that

 

[Elen Sentier]

i use home made soap , the ingreidents are animal fat and caustic soda. i used rendered beef suet. i wouldn't wash my hair with saop if i am somewhere that remote. you hair stil needs thorough brushing. if it feels too claggy brush through with talc.

And ta for that too ... "caustic" soda ? Really ? Recipe ?

 

[Toddy]

British Red has some brilliant tutorials on the topic, Elen.

Talking of which I have some pine resin just finished dissolving in olive oil.......wonder how that would do ?

I confess, I cheat, I use melt and pour vegan glycerine soap and just add what I like to it.

The other stuff that works really well if you can find it when out, is soapwort. Soft, non staining, green lather. Cleans but is gentle on skin and hair, and is brilliant for laundry

cheers,
Toddy

 

[atross]

I have used these for lotions and potions for a while. Big enough to last a couple weeks but small enough to not take up lots of room, they also seem to resist the bursting effect of moving your kit arround when travelling
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/23080/GoToob-Small-Travel-Bottle

 

[xylaria]

Doubt it. More eco nonsense so commonly banded about. You'll do more 'eco' harm using your car to drive to your camp site Say you have 10,000 campers who use 10ml of Fairy liquid, thats 100 litres spread across the UK over a weekend...don't worry about it.

I agree with you, but this is an open forum we cant speak for stupid. I have seen a woman bathing in a stream with the standard city chicks washing kit of shower gel, shampoo and conditioner, the stream was filled with so much suds it took over a day to clear.

Try washing up without liquid, it is just one less thing to carry. Ash cuts grease, river sand and moss make good scourers. Proper soap is harder, lasts longer, and suds less.

 

[11binf]

i just back from my mule deer hunt in southeastern Arizona last friday...i spent 7 days in the field with day time temps in the high 70's and night time temps in the low 30's...did alot of road/veh scouting then we walked and started the day around 6am and finished the day around 530pm...we got plenty grimmy/dirty and after the third day i had a chance to clean up a bit with some hot water from my canteen cup and a wash rag (face flannel) and a small bottle of camp suds...i started at my head and then downward,boy that hot soapy water felt great and then finished with a rinse of non-soapy water...after that i put on clean underwear and powdered my feet then clean socks...on the teeth side of the house i brush them everyday with tooth paste and rinse,but for me every third day i do a body wet rub down...the only thing i really changed from my Army days is i do'nt shave everyday and re-camo the face and hands...my toilet set consists of a small nylon draw cord bag w/ tooth brush and paste,small bottle of camp suds,mirrior,wash rag,comb,and foot powder...vince g. 11B Inf...

 

[malcolmc]

This should do the trick-cleans everything and biodegradable:

http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/inde...n/products.detail/code/B1310011/id_colour/180

...

That's what I use, plus small sponge backed pan scrub for cooking pan washing.

 

[John Fenna]

If you are car camping (or not fussed about carrying weight or spending money) a bottle of carbonated water, well shaken, makes a good "power-shower" rinse...

 

[Thenihilist]

For clothing its important too look at the reason why you want to clean them in the first place, if your an office jockey then you probably don't want to smell of no, in the woods this doesn't matter as you'll smell Smokey all the time anyway, in the woods your clothing cleaning needs come down to the fact that stuff in your clothes reduces insulation, for 3 or 4 day trips a very vigourous shake will remove the skin particles( you can see this happening some days, the other problem is dirt in the clothing, Ideally you should avoid rolling around in the dirt but a good submersion in water will do the job to dissolve it away, biodegradable soap is useful but not essential for trips less than 2 weeks IMHO.For cooking pots, your intention is to steralise, doesn't matter if its covered in crud you want it to be sterile, washing in fairy liquid doesn't for the most part steralise, i don't have running water in my home so as soon as I've used a pot i fill it halfway full with water then stir it about till all food particles are in the water then i drink it, afterwards I hang my pots, bowls etc on the easing line( the sun will steralize) when out yoylu can do the same except lash your eating utensils on the outside of your pack, doesn't matter how much soap you use, you may not steralizeFor washing your person,its good to look at goerge carlins views on this, he said you need to wash the 4 key areas, face, armpits crotch and feet iirc, your main job is to remove dead skin particles and these are the areas that'll cause problems, a towel soaked in water will do the job or a jump in water will work.Long hair is a slight problem, im a guy but have hair that falls a good bit past my shoulders so I know, combing or brushing does 99% of the job, greasy hair on one hand is more water resistant but more likely to clog your hair up but hair grease is usefull( old watchmakers used hair grease for the gears in watches). Though im a guy when I take my my girlfriend camping she's more into washing, personally it doesn't concern me when out for a week in the woods as long as I can change my shreddies and socks and brush my hair im fine, after a week I use the techniques described

 

[Stroller]

In the Namib Desert we used sand followed by a boiling water rinse. Never got the 'trots' once in four months. I would not use the method on posh Teflon coated pans, only bomb proof army mess kits.
Many birds use dustbaths and the larger animals use mud wallows, the mud dries hard and pulls parasites off. So if you prefer a natural approach.......
Bear in mind that body odour bugs grow in sweaty clothes, so at the very least clean underwear t-shirts go a long way to staying clean. A fresh water rinse and a few hours of sunshine should work well on cleaning your clothes. If the weather is nice, just live in a bikini.
Depending on who you are trying to impress, a good swim and hair comb should be adequate. Keep a cap on around fire to stop getting smoke into your hair.

 

[Gray]

You could try this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Russian-O...280?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7b7c94c0

 

[Graveworm]

Try washing up without liquid, it is just one less thing to carry. Ash cuts grease, river sand and moss make good scourers. Proper soap is harder, lasts longer, and suds less.

Wood Ash is such a movable feast. It varies a lot in composition so performance varies as does the harm it can do when rinsed away. Biodegradable soap is actually often a safer bet.

 

[xylaria]

Wood Ash is such a movable feast. It varies a lot in composition so performance varies as does the harm it can do when rinsed away. Biodegradable soap is actually often a safer bet.

I know what you mean, the limeyness can be quite persistant and characater changing on acid heath land, but then in those places I wouldn't be using a fire at all. Most pots and plates can be washed effectivly with leaves and river sand, using ash only for the greasiest fry up pan. I use white wood ash, about a spoonful, some water then heat the pan. The chemical reaction makes a crude soap that biodegrades, I dont tip the waste into a water course. I also do a what ray mears does with scattering ash either. When leaving the males of the family piddle on the ash and then it is buried.

 

[Native Nathan]

I Have a Web-tex Collapsible wash bowl I fill this and use a flannel