[at-l] Hygiene on the Trail II.

[Tom McGinnis]

--- On Sat, 10/4/08, Georgiamountainwoman <gamountainwoman at yahoo.com> wrote:

> How does a woman keep clean and her hair washed ? 
### As others have noted, braid/pony-tail your hair, then don't worry. And a little soap/moose, and a rainy day, and you'll be set.
 
> Also, you can't carry much of a wardrobe while hiking,
> so how does one keep their clothes clean ?
### As noted, bacteria and fuel are the issue. Minimize what you wear, minimize the time you wear it while sweating, and flush your clothes when you can. KEEP THINGS DRY -- specialty fabric and a good breeze and the color black.

> If you continue to wear dirty clothes, doesn't all the germs in your
> clothes reabsorb into your skin ?
### Wipe down your skin, minimize the bacteria's fuel (90% skin), minimize the accumulation of bacteria and fuel, walk happy.

> Will they even let you, even if you use biodegradable soap like
> Dr. Bronners ?
### Walk away from the water; walk downstream from where you took it.

>  How long does it take them to dry ?
### Depends entirely on the material and the conditions. But you can tell alot by how it comes out of the wash: "Bad" fabric will come out heavy with water (just imagine it to be sweat and goo!)... Good fabric (e.g., a CoolMax shirt) will be nearly dry upon leaving the water.

> How many of you have hiked in wet clothes ?
### Anybody who's hiked has hiked in wet clothes. Those who don't hike in the rain, add months to their trips, miss out on a lot, stink to high heaven, and never know the joys of breaking trail-debris dams and listening to the water rush out.

> This wouldn't
> bother me if the weather was quite warm.   But in cooler
> weather, wearing wet clean clothes to me would be a problem.
### Two words for you: rain gear.
 
> Toilet Paper.  Have any of you, while hiking on the trail,
> run out of TP ?
### Unless you're Ginny, we all have.

> Does using leaves really do the trick ? 
### What trick? Do leaves do tricks? (Snow works well -- go back to that winter consideration. Just remember that you won't be rinsing nearly as often, nor hiking shirtless, sooooooo things will start to get ripe...)

> Also, how do you "wash" your hands, if not by a stream ?
### Be mindful of where people are taking water.

> What if you run out of wet wipes ?  Or choose
> not to carry them because of the added weight ?
### Don't carry them.

hygienitoe