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How To Stay Clean While Camping

By Jessie SwiftLast update: 2023-07-09

Every camping trip offers lessons that can greatly enhance your future trips, no matter if you are an experienced camper or a novice. When it comes to enjoying the great outdoors, staying warm, eating right, and getting enough sleep are top priorities. However, one thing we can overlook is how to maintain cleanliness. It's scary to think about not showering for a few days. And unclean impression of your greasy hair. Even if it feels great to give up on some days, getting into a tidy bed and maintaining a generally clean home is even better. Read my post below to learn how to stay clean while camping.

How To Stay Clean While Camping

Bring some camping stuffs

Be sure to arrange everything at home for a great trip in advance, doing so will be really beneficial. Here's a list of some of the supplies you'll need.

  1. Alcohol-free, fragrance-free hand sanitizer: A portable and light-weight method of eradicating germs is hand sanitizer. Have a bottle of sanitizer on you at all times because it isn't often convenient or available to wash your hands with soap and water.
  2. Biodegradable soap: If absolutely necessary, you can use this soap for a quick shower while camping. It can be used for dishwashing, laundry, hand washing, etc. The ideal product should be suitable and healthy for the skin.
  3. Brush, Toothpaste, and Floss: Going camping doesn't mean you can skip oral hygiene. Use natural toothpaste to prevent fluoride and other chemicals from harming the environment.
  4. Unscented baby wipes
  5. Quick-drying microfiber towel: a towel that dries quickly as a small travel luxury. It also acts as a mat for you to spread out all your gear.
  6. Toilet Paper: If you don't bring your own toilet paper you will really get in big trouble on your journey.
How To Stay Clean While Camping

Things not to bring to clean when camping

  1. Non-biodegradable products might be harmful to the environment
  2. Deodorants and other aromatic compounds can attract wildlife.
  3. Razor: Unnecessary and adds weight and space.
  4. Mirror: This item is unnecessary and also adds weight and space. If you carry a mirror for survival, it will be an exception.
  5. Keep non-essential disposable items to a minimum as you need to pack everything before putting it in.
How To Stay Clean While Camping

How To Keep Clean While Camping

Clean your dirty clothes and yourself properly to avoid skin problems like rashes and chapping. If you want to spend a few days outside, maintaining excellent personal hygiene is extremely important.

Your attire

Even if you're only going to be camping for a few days, visitors still need to bring at least two outfits. In Particular, socks and underwear need to be cleaned every day. Of course, there's only so much space in your pack, so this is where the plan of attack comes in. Choose hiking apparel made of synthetic, wool, nylon, and spandex that wicks moisture to reduce the likelihood that your garments will absorb that raw smell. Even after being washed, cotton absorbs perspiration and dries quickly in general.

Washing

In terms of laundry, if you are going on a long camping trip, you may need the assistance of a laundry service. Underwear in particular will require this kind of care. You can now get rid of the occasional back flip, but you shouldn't depend on it.

You must have a source of water to wash your clothes while camping. You can clean things up there if you come into contact with running water, such as a river, you run the risk of contamination if you use standing water. If not, be sure to bring enough water to do all the cleaning you need to get it done.

How To Stay Clean While Camping

About body bath

You can sweat a lot if you walk to a remote campsite. Feeling clean is the best way to end a long day.

Bring a personal shower when camping in a location that doesn't have a shower, such as a free scattered camping area. Solar showers and sometimes even portable water heaters are alternatives to everyone's favorite simple cold water gravity shower.

In addition to the shower, it is best to shower with naturally flowing fresh water. However, if there isn't one nearby, you'll need to use the extra water and biodegradable soap you bring with you. Wash face, armpits and other exposed areas of the body.

Keeping things simple if there is no water nearby or if the shower in the camp is moveable sounds like overkill. Wet wipes or unscented baby wipes can be used as a bath sponge. Use them to wipe your face, feet, and any other sweat-prone areas. Sadly, since baby wipes are non-biodegradable, you have to pack and bring used ones. Also, spend your money on high-quality biodegradable wipes.

Your hair

One can use the compostable soap we outlined above, but if you're out in the wilderness for a long time, you may feel compelled to wash your hair but don't have enough resources. water to soak the hair first. To wash it out and get rid of the greasy look, dry shampoo works great.

How To Stay Clean While Camping

Dental hygiene

Naturally, maintaining good oral hygiene while camping can be uninteresting.

When you're about to brush your teeth, move 200 feet above the water like you're washing clothes. Bring an all-natural, unscented toothpaste.

To dilute the toothpaste before spitting, put some water in your mouth. In order not to significantly damage the surrounding nature, try to choose a little here and there rather than in a particular location.

Due to the small weight of floss, many people choose to put it in their pocket. Just be careful not to leave anything behind as animals can easily get entangled in it.

Dish washing

Speaking of eating, it's important to keep your kitchen utensils spotless to avoid being attracted to pests. especially after preparing a dish like this turkey vegetable stew, which smells great. Also, you want to maintain the cleanliness of your campsite.

You can use this biodegradable flying soap in a different way. If your car doesn't have a kitchen or gray water tank, carefully follow these rules. Use the tool to remove food residue from your dishes, pots or utensils after adding some detergent to a bowl of water. Dry these overnight.

So now you have contaminated water that contains food scraps. You must bring this water dish 200 meters away from your tent to avoid animals and mosquitoes. Then, treat it urgently like going to the bathroom and bury it with a shovel.

How To Stay Clean While Camping

Shoe maintenance

Your shoes could begin to smell after a few exhausting journeys. Some people might disregard it, but those of us with more delicate noses might be reluctant to have stinky shoes around. For your trip, getting a set of scents that absorb odors is the best option.

Camping and feminine hygiene

Making the decision between tampons and menstrual cups is the first step. In fact, when it comes to tampons and menstrual cups, you should choose what you regularly use at home.

The menstrual cup does lighten up a little, which is great for light hikers, but the absence of hot water and soap to wash it is a drawback. Bring hand sanitizer & pre-moistened wipes to get around this. To make things extra tidy and easy, you really can bring together just a few pairs of latex medical gloves.

The fact there isn't any waste while using menstruation cups while camping and trekking is another advantage. Unlike tampons, no used waste needs to be packed.

Conclusion

At first glance, maintaining cleanliness while camping may seem unattainable. Nevertheless, with a little bit of knowledge, basic planning, and preparation, it's actually fairly simple. You can use the restroom, get clean, do laundry, and much more in the countryside thanks to our best camping hygiene guidelines listed above.

"I'm Jessie, being an author for gearinstant, an office job? No, with internet, I can be a digital nomad everywhere, I enjoyed cycling, running whenever I can. I'd love to share my experience from the gears, useful tips and learned for everybody who have the same passion like me."


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