Personal hygiene

This need not suffer just because you're in the wilderness either - hand washing after toileting is one essential, but there's nothing like a nice wash after a day in a boat! If you can spare the fresh water to do so, washing in it is nicer than the sea, but even a quick rub over with a face-cloth and perhaps some Lifeventure all-purpose liquid soap will work wonders and freshen you up a lot at the end of a day. If you can spare the fuel to heat water just for washing, that's really nice!

Some folk seem to get by without washing at all for a weekend or more - hmmm.

A warm day, and someone is having a nice wash - in the sea - using one end of the beach. We'd designated the other end for "toileting".

I can get a full body wash with a pint or so of warm water and a face-cloth by using a dixie. If you dislike washing yourself using a utensil you'll also use for cooking, you can buy a dinky little folding bowl. Some folk even manage to avoid having to use water and soap at all and wet-wipes/antiseptic wipes do a grand job and can be either burned or packed out.

One luxury well worth having is a decent towel and the modern "soft fibre" towels are great, dry quickly and pack small. Not cheap, but they are nice.

Teeth I can deal with quite happily using sea water - I doubt a mouthful of toothpaste does the ocean much harm and it's probably better than swallowing it! Shaving, for those of us without beards, is also rather nice I'm told and again it doesn't take much water.

Dixie or a dedicated bowl - up to you. Fang kit, all-purpose soap from Lifeventure, deodorant and a face-cloth. Some men bring shaving kit - I grew a beard.
Decadent luxury! A nice soft towel. Dries quickly, packs away small. Nice!!

 

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Mike Buckley - September, 2004.  
(Page updated 12-Jan-2011 )