# Hygiene



## CaydenMichael (May 26, 2015)

i am looking at living off the land in the future (tent and/or hammock, hunting/trapping, vegetation) and am considering going to parts where I won't be bothered by rangers. I'm guessing there will be long periods of time where the only water I'll have access to is pond or river water. Anyone have experience with washing their body and teeth in these kind of conditions to avoid illnesses and diseases and such? If so what do you recommend?


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## cultofsam (May 26, 2015)

I bathe all the time in creeks, rivers and ponds. Haven't got sick yet, but they sell an outdoor shower at Walmart for ten bucks if you are too worried.


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## Kim Chee (May 26, 2015)

Gather your drinking upstream from where you wash your balls (or use another source entirely).


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## wizehop (May 26, 2015)

Running water is always better, just make sure there isn't a beaver dam up stream as you can get sick that way. All I can really say is take good care of your teeth. I didn't and to make a long story short, I'm paying the price now.


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## Sip (May 26, 2015)

Just dive on in. I bathe in a local lake every day when I'm in my home town working.


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## CaydenMichael (May 26, 2015)

Do you just bathe yourself with the water or do you also use other things while in the water to help bathe? I read previous threads about who uses water to wipe grime off and then does a smoke bath of juniper or other woods to help with odor.


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## warlo (May 26, 2015)

Something I noticed while switching to city life after a while of living on nature is how little dirty you get on nature compared to city life. 
Also, if you avoid crap food (not gonna expand on that now) even your sweat will smell good!

Please don't use ANY kind of soap while on a river, lake, sea or whatever. It doesn't matter how bio \ Eco \ hippie recommended it might be, there is NO soap that would not fuck up badly (the main ingredient on soap, so that it can clean you is the responsible, nothing else)

I have a small brush that I use both for body and clothes that does wonders without soap, I can even see the dirt being peeled out of my skin. That iis a traditional way of cleaning yourself without soap that, in my opinion, is better than soap. There are some sponges made out of roots or dried pumpkins or other veggies that have the same effect. Try it out with a steam bath and feel reborn!

Also, I don't know anything about getting sick for not being clean, and I say that backed up by long long time without showers.


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## KootenayRambler (May 26, 2015)

I haven't used soap for more than a full year now. Washing yourself with just water is a perfectly adequate way to stay clean. There seems to be this strange social stigma that comes along from the non use of soap, but I believe it's just plain old conditioning. Most folks have been taught to wash with all sorts of moisturizers and conditioners since they were children, and imagine going without them to be a putrid task, but they couldn't be more wrong. Just scrub a dub dub with your hands, or, take your dirty laundry into the lake with you and use it to rub the dried coon blood from your balls while also washing it in the process. You'll be clean, not smelling like fruity body wash or any of that shit, but clean enough not to scare the game away before you catch sight of um. Haha. Good luck, bro.


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## Sip (May 27, 2015)

Yeah, Soap is a joke. I rarely use it, though sometimes I'll wash my hair with soap in a walmart or something, but that is purely because I like how my hair is when I do that. Just scrub and splash around make sure to wear deodorant or something after. Smoking yourself and your clothes works if there are no lakes/water sources around, though some find the smoke smell as bad as the B.O. You can also just wash your balls in the sink at wally world or any place with a family bathroom. It's really not that hard to stay clean, really. You just have to make it a priority not to smell like an asshole. Of course, there ARE times where there is nothing you can do, but that isn't as common as people make it out to be.


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## Trvshwvng (May 29, 2015)

Brushed my teeth in all kinds of rivers when I didn't know better. Once got a terrible bacterial infection. Looking back, there's plenty of clean running water in these lands so idk why anyone puts puddle water in their mouth. Also, there's a lot of staph and MERSA floating around, especially in the south. I got staph a couple times too. Purify your water, no sense in taking unnecessary risks that could cost you.

Stealing the hand sanitizer outta port-a-potties is good. Anytime you can grab some out of a dispenser, do it. Great for hitting just the essentials. Body wash, dispenser soap, etc is a joke. Need something more abrasive. Good old fashioned lye soap never fails. All those fragranced gimmicks just mask more than actually clean. Got my hands on some lye soap with a hint of sage. Worked wonders and gave a hearty undertone that works WITH your natural odor when you do sweat.


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## Durp (Jun 1, 2015)

Just don't bathe in the Hudson river hahaha. Just make sure you are far up stream of other humans, we are a nasty bunch. Only drink water from a place where you can verify the local game are drinking, and think about boiling it to kill off any micro organisms.


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## Trvshwvng (Jun 1, 2015)

Or the Merrimac lol. That ones especially nasty. I got sick from the Pemigewasset River in North Woodstock, NH. I was pretty far upstream camped out on a beautiful sandy bank. Saw this awesome heron that kept flying through and catching fish. Anyhow, this was supposed to be one of the nation's cleanest rivers and I still got sick. Maybe it was just my terrible luck. Ever since then I've put my 4-way sillcock key to good use because those were terrible moments. Even the locals collected water flowing off the rocks there and had no problems. Guess my immune system ain't cut out for that life lol.

Edit - now that I think of it, with my luck the heron took a healthy dump upstream and I just so happened to collect and ingest the poop of a bird of majesty. Figures.


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## Andrea Van Scoyoc (Jun 1, 2015)

I'm loving all this awesome information.

In appreciation, I'll share my own. If you can harvest calendula or chamomile (remember...never harvest roots...only what you need) and boil it, the water is divine for bathing.

Don't drink it...but your body will appreciate it. Just make sure you aren't allergic! 

I'll never forget the first time I wild-harvested calendula with a friend of mine. Bliss!

Thanks, y'all!


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## Trvshwvng (Jun 1, 2015)

Here's one:

Lichen has antiseptic/antibacterial properties (some types more so than others) making it an awesome natural shit ticket. I like to peel it off rocks because there's less dirt involved and it comes off in easy patches. Might be a bug or two sometimes but lightly patting them out works fine for that. Very common and beats the hell out of that flimsy nearby nearby leaf that likes to let a finger through just when you think you're in the clear.


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## angerisagift (Jun 1, 2015)

cultofsam said:


> I bathe all the time in creeks, rivers and ponds. Haven't got sick yet, but they sell an outdoor shower at Walmart for ten bucks if you are too worried.


hopefully it was the Indian or Banana Rivers in Florida


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## buffalobill (Jun 8, 2015)

Those sillock keys are a life saver if you ever see one snatch it


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