Personal hygiene rules when traveling. Let's go camping

Usually for city dwellers going on a hike, one of the most pressing questions is what to do with hygiene? For many, the lack of a daily hot shower even causes them to give up the idea of going on a hike. If you are not one of those people and are willing to put up with the inconvenience of hiking, read on for some helpful tips on hygiene while hiking.

Preparing for the hike

Before going on a hike, you should get a haircut, shave, and trim your fingernails and toenails. It is also recommended to visit a dentist - a sudden toothache in the mountains will not add pleasant memories to your hike.

Time to wash up while hiking

Usually hiking days are so busy that finding time to wash is not the easiest task. In the morning after breakfast, you pack your backpack and hit the road; in the evening, when you arrive at the parking lot, you only have enough strength to cook food, have dinner and go to bed.

But if, nevertheless, the desire to maintain the cleanliness of your own body prevails over fatigue, choose a time to take a shower in the evening. In the morning, before you have had time to dry completely and hit the road, you can catch a cold in the mountain wind. In the evening, after water treatments, you can warm up by the fire.

Go for water treatments when the camp has already been set up, the firewood has been collected, and the fire has been lit. If you are a fan of warm water, you will have to wait until the food is cooked. After this, you can heat the water in a clean container.

How to wash while hiking

To wash yourself on a hike, take with you:

a few bars of soap
a small, hermetically sealed shampoo package.

It is most convenient to use a plastic bottle as a container for washing. You can ask one of your fellow hikers to help you and hold the bottle.

You can purchase a special camp shower - a durable plastic bag with a nozzle from which water is sprayed. The capacity of such a package is 10-15 liters.

Take wet wipes with you - sometimes when there is no access to water, they turn out to be very useful.

How to brush your teeth while hiking

It is wrong to pollute water bodies with toothpaste, so to brush your teeth, you just need to fill a mug with water and step aside.

Toilet on the go

This important issue can be resolved simply: if there are no special toilets in the parking lot, just find a secluded place. At the same time, traces of your life activity need to be buried - think about the other tourists.

Doing laundry on the go

If you want to wash your laundry with soap, choose a place below the cooking water intake. At the same time, ask the leader of the trip if there are parking lots for other tourist groups downstream.

There is also a more environmentally friendly way of washing: just lower the clothes to the bottom of the stream and press them down with heavy stones - in a few hours they will be clean

Since childhood, we have all been familiar with the basic rules of hygiene: washing hands before eating, brushing teeth, washing dirty clothes, washing, etc. In harsh conditions of survival, in the absence of the benefits of civilization, sometimes there is neither the time nor the opportunity to follow these rules. But still, we should not forget about them, because violation of hygiene rules entails serious and sometimes quite severe consequences: decreased immunity, illness, infection, and so on...

Before you go on a hike, you should prepare something in order to save yourself from some of the troubles that a long stay away from home entails:

you need to cut your hair short, shave your mustache, beard ( if you have a beard, you can simply trim it with scissors - approx. website=), cut off fingernails and toenails;
choose comfortable, light clothing, durable and comfortable shoes;
take several pairs of replacement underwear and socks. Wet socks and underwear are very often considered the cause of abrasions, which cause great discomfort.

General hygiene

On a long hike, first of all, you need to keep your clothes and body clean, no matter how difficult it may be. In hot weather and provided there are clean bodies of water, swimming and washing clothes is a must! There are several ways to wash yourself if there are no ponds or other sources of water nearby. Wiping with wet wipes is a fairly simple and convenient method in the absence of water. Wet wipes won't take up much space in your backpack, and one pack is enough to clean your entire body. You can also use a towel after moistening it with a small amount of water. Of course, if the supply of drinking water is not so large, then it is better to refrain from washing “until better times.”

If resources still allow you to spend a little water on maintaining personal hygiene, then you can also use wiping with a sponge or soft cloth. Washing begins with the face, periodically wetting the sponge and wiping the entire body. Particular attention should be paid to abrasions and scratches (we also wash them with clean water, first of all after the face), armpits, groin and legs. When washing, do not use soap - this will significantly increase water consumption. Plus, soap scum will cause discomfort, dryness, and possible abrasions from clothing.

Chemicals and washing clothes

Many have probably heard of such products as dry shampoo and antiseptics. The first option is in no way suitable for our purpose (maintaining hygiene), because such a shampoo has a weak effect and is intended mainly for cosmetic procedures (quickly getting your hair in order). But antiseptic is a completely different matter. It cleanses the skin well and kills bacteria. The antiseptic can be used locally (for disinfecting wounds, cleaning hands and face) and for the whole body. The only problem is that it is usually sold in 250 ml bottles and is unlikely to last long. For long-term use, an antiseptic that needs to be diluted in water (for example, Dettol) is suitable.

An important aspect of personal hygiene is keeping clothes clean. It is unlikely that it will be possible to arrange a full washing of the equipment, but it is advisable to air, shake out and dry the clothes at the end of the day. Underwear (underwear, socks, T-shirt) should be washed, preferably with soap. If there is no soap, you can put the clothes at the bottom of the stream and press them down well with stones. In half an hour the clothes will be clean.

Dental and oral hygiene

And finally, one more personal hygiene item that should never be forgotten is brushing your teeth. After all, a bad tooth can become a big problem somewhere in the forest or in the mountains. Yes, and it affects the condition of the oral cavity. A toothbrush and toothpaste won't take up much space in your backpack. You need to brush your teeth morning and evening with boiled running water. After eating, you should rinse your mouth thoroughly. If you forgot your brush, you can brush your teeth by spreading toothpaste on your finger wrapped in a bandage. If you forgot your toothpaste, you can brush your teeth with charcoal (ash), salt or soda. Activated carbon must be chewed (ash from the fire rubbed into the gums), then brush your teeth with a damp toothbrush. Brush your teeth with salt or soda according to the usual pattern, sprinkling a damp brush with one of the indicated substances. Soda should be used less often, as it strongly corrodes the gums. If you don’t have a brush or paste at hand, you need to carefully remove any remaining food between your teeth with a blade of grass, a pine needle or thread, and rinse your mouth thoroughly. If you find sage, wheatgrass or mint among the herbs, you can chew their leaves. They have a disinfecting effect and eliminate unpleasant odors.

Toothbrush made from natural ingredients

Natural toothbrushes, or more precisely, sticks for cleaning teeth, are found in the forest. A pine stick is an ideal, but unfortunately forgotten by us, means for cleaning teeth. You need to take and chew one end of the twig, it immediately becomes soft. You can perfectly clean your teeth, interdental spaces, and massage your gums. In addition, the entire spectrum of beneficial substances from pine will have a beneficial effect on the oral cavity.

On young branches there are pine buds or embryos of young cones all winter. It turns out that the dental stick is saturated with vitamins.

Everyone knows that pine roots have special properties of flexibility, strength and softness, which are used by craftsmen in weaving various things. It turns out that pine branches partially retain these properties, thanks to which the twig turns into a soft and fluffy panicle.

A pine stick will perfectly clean and strengthen your teeth, get rid of unpleasant odor and inflammatory processes. This natural pine stick for cleaning teeth does not contain harmful substances.

We prepare the sticks like this: cut branches of pine, spruce, cedar or fir (the diameter of a pencil) into small pieces (5 - 15 cm) and dry them. When necessary, soak in water until softened (or immediately in the mouth) and chew one end of the branch until soft. It will look like a fluffy brush. The chewing process itself disinfects and heals teeth and gums. The used part of the wooden stick is already infected with various bacteria and it is better to cut it off if you use long sticks up to 15 centimeters. And short sticks can be used as disposable ones, so they are very convenient for travel and more hygienic.

By the way, in general, almost any type of wood is suitable for making such toothbrushes - you can experiment to your heart’s content. One thing is important - that when rubbed or chewed, the wood “fluffs up” and can act as a brush. Well, we talked about toothpaste options a little higher.

So, by following these seemingly not very simple, but completely doable rules of personal hygiene, you can successfully follow the axiom “A healthy mind in a healthy body!”, avoid unpleasant moments, illnesses and ailments, and maintain excellent health and a great mood, being in nature =)

To be continued…

When getting ready for a hike, selecting equipment and plotting the route on the map, you can miss one very important point - personal hygiene in hiking conditions. It would be nice if someone took at least some toilet paper. Meanwhile, this is a question that should not be neglected, especially on long and difficult hikes. But even on a simple hike, you must follow some simple rules to avoid health problems.

Before the hike

Even at home, before you start your hike, you need to take care of your personal hygiene. I need to cut my nails and shave. If you have a beard or mustache, they also need to be tidied up. Wash your hair. You can get a haircut - it will be easier to wash short hair when traveling. All your clothes should initially be cleanly washed and ironed.

Personal hygiene rules when traveling

When hiking, you should always take the opportunity to get yourself in order. While driving, you sweat and road dust and dirt stick to your skin. If you touch your face, rub your eyes and eat food with dirty hands, you can easily get inflammation of the eyes or an upset stomach.

It is advisable to wash your hands before any snack.

If you approach a river or stream, you should wash your hands, face and neck well. If time permits, it would be a good idea to wash your feet and change your socks. After water treatments and a little rest, it will be much easier and more pleasant to continue your journey.

If you plan to stop for the night near a river, you can and even need to wash all your dirty clothes and wash yourself thoroughly before going to bed. You need to get into your sleeping bag clean and change into fresh linen, then your sleep will be much more pleasant and you’ll get a better night’s sleep.

Lingerie

If you are going camping for a couple of days or a little more, you can take spare sets of linen, which you periodically change for fresh ones. On a longer trip, it will be easier to take one or two sets per shift and wash them one at a time.

Socks

There can never be too many socks. When walking for a long time, socks become wet from sweat, fray and tear. This is fraught with calluses and abrasions, which will hurt and ruin your mood, and on a long hike, if you don’t take action, they can fester. Therefore, you need to take more clean socks and change them without waiting for problems with your feet.

Detergents

To wash clothes, you can take a small bar of soap. You can also wash your hands and feet with it. To wash your hair, you can pour the shampoo into a small plastic bottle so as not to carry a large package.

Without water

Sometimes the trek route goes through places with scarce water. You have to carry drinking water on yourself and spending it on washing and washing will be too wasteful. In such conditions, maintaining personal hygiene is somewhat more difficult. In this case, wet wipes will come in handy. You can take one large package for several people and thoroughly wipe your body, hands, face and neck with them.

There are also all sorts of antiseptic gels, you can also “wash” your hands with them. For the face, it is better to take a moisturizing lotion from women's cosmetics.

For teeth

It is not necessary to take toothpaste, but it is advisable. Small tubes are available for sale. You can take one for everyone. But a toothbrush is a necessary thing. Otherwise, if you don’t brush your teeth for several days, pieces of food will remain between them, and your gums may become inflamed and your teeth will hurt. Toothache in itself is a very unpleasant thing, but there is no dentist on a hike, and you will suffer until the end of the hike or leave the route, possibly letting your comrades down.

Therefore, you need to carefully monitor your teeth and, even without toothpaste, be sure to brush your teeth. You can whittle a toothpick out of wood chips and clean the spaces between your teeth.

If you still forgot your toothbrush, you can use an improvised brush made from a young tree branch. You need to peel the bark on the tip of a small stick, chew it a little and knead the tip. The wood will flake and look like a brush. This brush can be used to clean your teeth and massage your gums.

In a backpack

When I was first offered to go on a hike for two weeks, my first thought was: “Where am I going to wash myself?” I wasn’t bothered by the difficulties of the hike: getting up early, long walks, a heavy backpack - I didn’t even suspect about them, hygiene issues interested me most of all. I solved them more than once, gradually identifying ways to feel like a normal person - through pain, mistakes and agreements with myself. What hygiene rules should you follow while hiking - read on.

1. How to wash in ponds

The bodies of water that you will encounter in the mountains - rivers, streams and lakes - have one feature: the water temperature in them tends to zero. The maximum that you will have time to do in such water is to plunge in and jump out, swearing loudly and rubbing your numb legs. Have you ever had a headache? It will bring you down if you plunge into it headlong. In principle, such a wash invigorates and refreshes after a long day of walking; many people take a dip with an imperturbable look (walruses, probably), but I decided that this method was too extreme for my unprepared body.

Invigorates, refreshes.

It’s hard to decide, wet hair can make you sick.

It is not necessary to take a complete plunge; you can take a deep bowl and wash in parts, pouring from it. The method is suitable for small bodies of water.

2. How to wash in a cauldron

Ingenuity is everything. After waiting for the attendants to clean the boiler from the burnt buckwheat, I boiled water in it and went to the stream. By diluting boiling water with cold water in a second cauldron and pouring from a deep bowl, I managed to wash my hair and body. What a thrill! Half a pot of boiling water was enough for me. True, I went to bed already after midnight.

Warm. The method is suitable for days where you can dry your hair before going to bed.

For a long time. The shampoo does not wash out well in soft water. Suitable only for camping trips.

It is better to take an assistant with you who will pour water on you.

3. How to wash in a tent

The trek was so long that I didn’t even have the strength to go out for dinner, let alone boil the pot and wash myself. Wet wipes came to the rescue. Having wiped strategically important parts of my body, I switched off until the morning with a calm soul.

Minimum fuss, no need to leave the tent.

There is no feeling that I have washed, it is impossible to wash my hair.

It is better to take several smaller packs than one large one.

4. How to wash like a human being

On many routes there is an opportunity to wash in normal conditions. This could be a camp or stationary bathhouse, shower, or hot springs.

Relatively normal conditions.

The amount of hot water is limited.

Wash together to save hot water: while one person soaps up, another rinses off the soap.

Life hacks that will make your life easier

Girls with long hair - braid your hair. While hiking, your hair gets dirty more slowly, so you are guaranteed a neat look for several days.

Mini jars and tubes. Before going on a trip, think about what you want to take with you and pour it into small containers that are sold in cosmetic stores and hypermarkets. If possible, replace liquids with solids; instead of shower gel and shampoo, use solid shampoo (sold at Lush). Small shampoos from hotels, samples and portioned shampoos are also our option. And no glass!

Avoid unnecessary things. Conditioner, micellar water, facial wash, face and body scrub, mouth rinse - let the army of beauty that fills the shelves in the bathroom wait for you to return home. Pack it into one makeup bag! You can do without your favorite care products for 2 weeks, but carrying it all in a backpack is hard.

Buy yourself travel cosmetic bag with many pockets of different sizes where you can put all your hygiene products.

Daily lenses. This is the perfect solution for a hike. There is no need to carry with you lens solution or a container filled with forest debris. You can take them off while lying in your sleeping bag; it’s not scary if the lens falls out and gets lost.

Before you go, do hair removal, manicure and shellac pedicure. That's it, for two weeks you have minus 3 problems.

List of necessary personal hygiene products

Folding toothbrush and small toothpaste. This could be a special small tube or a “running out” paste. Agree to take a tube for two with a friend. Life hack: after pasta from R.O.C.S. There is no need to rinse your mouth, so you can brush your teeth while sitting in your sleeping bag.

Soap. Take universal baby soap. You can use it to wash your hands, do laundry and wash yourself. It is environmentally friendly and will not spill into your backpack. You will never use up a whole soap during a hike, so take either half or a remnant of soap.

Hygienic lipstick, rich cream. Continuous exposure to fresh air will take its toll on your face and hands. The sun and wind will mercilessly dry and chapped the skin. Therefore, it is necessary to have these tools in your arsenal.

Sun cream. Even if you are in a harsh northern country and there has not been a single sunny day on your hike, you can get sunburned. At altitudes above 700 m above sea level, solar radiation can negatively affect the skin even through clouds. Therefore, take sunscreen SPF 30-50 in a small jar, the hygiene bag from the previous point should also have sun protection.

Toilet paper. This is one of the most versatile items for a hike. In addition to its direct purpose, it can serve as paper tissues for the nose, it can be used to wipe dishes after fatty soup, it can be stuffed into damp shoes - it will take some of the moisture into itself. Your only job is to keep it dry, otherwise it will become useless.

Pads and tampons. During a hike, critical days can come earlier or later due to changes in climate and time zones, due to physical exertion, stress and cold. So, girls, be prepared for this. In addition to hygiene products, do not forget to take painkillers if you use them, and if you did not take them, do not hesitate to ask for them in the group first aid kit. And it’s okay if on the first day you ask the instructor to unload your backpack - at least from some of the public equipment.

Wet wipes and deodorant. Take a small, hard deodorant in a plastic package.

Disposable razor.

Towel. Sports stores sell microfiber towels, a lightweight fabric that absorbs well and dries quickly.

Cotton swabs and disks. You don’t need to take the whole package, just a few pieces are enough.

Wash

A bath day on a hike is usually combined with laundry. The event is labor-intensive, but sometimes simply necessary. For example, when all the clean underwear and socks are gone. For washing clothes, you need a stream or a mountain river - do not wash in mountain lakes without running water - this will harm the environment. So, you found flowing water, went a little downstream so that the attendants wouldn’t accidentally get your soapy water, and wash it. Baby or laundry soap is suitable for washing; there is even a special stain remover soap for washing. It’s better not to wash large items (pants, sweaters) while camping - most likely, they won’t have time to dry.

Lifehack. You can dry your socks or panties by placing them on your stomach before going to bed. Don’t laugh, this method has been tested in more than one trip. Clean, warm socks in the morning - what could be nicer?

Toilet

During the hike, the most gorgeous view opens from the toilet! Because if there is no equipped toilet, you simply go to a secluded place and continue according to the scenario.

Take a rug with you - it will create an atmosphere of solitude and isolate you from the outside world at such a helpless moment. If there are a lot of mosquitoes in the forest, it will save you from them too.

Wash your hands after going to the toilet! For some reason, many people neglect this rule, they say, camping conditions, in the forest every blade of grass is a vitamin. Believe me, not every one, some can cause an intestinal infection.

Cover everything you leave with soil, moss or stones. It is aesthetic and civilized.

Ecology

When thinking about your cleanliness, do not forget about the purity of the surrounding nature! Do not leave anything in the forest or mountains that cannot decompose within a season. This includes sanitary pads, wet wipes, cotton swabs, baby diapers, packaging for disposable shampoos and contact lenses, adhesive plasters, and batteries. You can leave toilet paper, cotton pads and tampons, but not in plain sight.

Don't throw leftover food into glacial lakes. Due to the low temperature and the fact that there may not be fish there, the food will take a long time to decompose, “delighting” other tourists with its appearance.

Remember that after us only footprints in the sand should remain.

Insects

Ticks. Check your body daily for ticks. Ticks are carriers of dangerous diseases: encephalitis, borreliosis. Most often they stick in places with delicate skin: armpits, groin, area around the ears, scalp. If you find a tick, if you do not have the skills to remove it yourself, contact an instructor or a field doctor. Do not throw away the tick, bring it to civilization and take it to the hospital for examination.

Mosquitoes, midges, midges. Take repellent and anti-itch ointment “Fenistil” with you. In regions with an abundance of midges and midges, mosquito hats with a fine mesh will help.

Wasps, bees, hornets. If you are allergic to these insect bites, take antihistamines with you. They are also available in the public first aid kit if an allergy occurs unexpectedly.

You will truly enjoy the hike if you feel good. We are guaranteed good health when there are no health problems. And health and hygiene always go hand in hand, especially when traveling. So always wash your hands before eating, wash your socks and enjoy nature!

The day before the hike, you need to trim your fingernails and toenails. Everyone needs to take a small towel with them, preferably a waffle one. Don't forget your toothbrush. Those who like to save weight can be advised to use a hacksaw to halve the handle of a toothbrush. Save 9 grams. Take one toothpaste for the whole group, but to save weight, you can also take powder.

How to wash your hair while hiking

In the Khibiny we had several half-days, when you could splash around in the icy rivers.

Someone washed their hair with dry shampoo - you boil the pot over a fire (or saved gas), dilute it and it’s great. You can also plunge into icy lakes and streams, but this is more for health than for cleanliness. Individual parts of the body can easily be washed in a stream. And what’s surprising is that when brushing your teeth at home, the water flows and flows, and a 7-degree mouthwash is enough for two sips.

It’s difficult to wash your hands before eating - you climbed into the tent, just warmed up and changed clothes, but outside there was a stormy wind and it was very wet. For hand hygiene, some people use wet wipes or smear their hands with disinfectant. But it has such an unpleasant chemical smell that sometimes it’s better to spit and wipe it off with toilet paper.

By the way, do you know how to wash dishes with almost no water?
Toilet paper!

At home you rub a fairy sponge under hot water, but it doesn’t wash off, but then a drop of freshly melted glacier - voila! And why pay more?

- I don’t like the white trim of the thermal underwear, it will soon become dirty
- So this is an indicator that it’s time to wash!
- What, can you do laundry while camping?

It is possible, it is still possible and even necessary. Dirty things are not only unsightly and unpleasant, they are worse for warmth and bring a lot of trouble to the skin.

Wash them while camping with regular laundry soap, one for the whole group, one at a time. But soft water from mountain streams (without salts) washes out soap very poorly, you will have to try.

You can stuff stones into your socks or weigh your pants down with stones and throw them to the bottom in a place with a rather large current. It's risky, but in an hour everything will be clean and fresh. It takes a long time, but it doesn’t cramp my hands.

It is good practice to wash your socks every evening.
and panties and T-shirts - once every 2-4 days.

Drying on the go

There is high humidity in the Khibiny Mountains and don’t expect your laundry to dry quickly. For example, you have three pairs of socks. One pair is for you, the other is drying, and the third is a spare pair.

Options for drying clothes while camping:

It is best to dry in the wind in the sun - warm and cheerful. Or just in the wind, on the branches. Don't forget to dry your clothes in the parking lot!
You can string socks on sticks and place them near the fire.
In rainy weather, you can hang laundry around the tent so that it falls on the face of those sleeping or someone constantly rubs their nose into someone else’s wet socks. The downside is that small items can easily get lost in a pile of junk.
The fourth option is to place damp clothing between the layers of the tent. If it doesn’t freeze to the outer layer, it will get wet from condensation, or, worse, fall to the ground. Therefore, this method is for non-urgent drying of things when it rains outside.
You can also dry raw materials in a tent. On a sleeping bag. But don’t get carried away, sleeping bags don’t like that. And for down sleeping bags, contact with wet underwear is completely contraindicated.
Or on yourself if you need to dry urgently. You put it on, climbed into your sleeping bag and lie there, drying it with yourself. You keep warm, the sleeping bag absorbs, the cold creeps up...
Well, you can hang little things on your backpack, let the rain drip on them, branches scratch, dust fly, and socks can get lost so easily. Also an option.

Do not dry your boots close to a fire.
The melting point of some shoe adhesives is 60-80 degrees.

Feminine hygiene

Girls are very popular on the hike. They are loved in general, but especially in the mountains. “Can you imagine two tents of men? Do you understand now why we go 50/50?” Girls mean cheerful chatter and delicious food, but also certain difficulties.

They are always freezing, where it is normal for a guy - the girls are cold. That’s why the guys in the tent sit against the wall and put extra warm jackets on their girls on the passes. Cold is one thing, it can be tolerated, but harm to health is something else entirely. “Once we slept on a glacier... two foam pads, a normal sleeping bag, a down jacket on top... I don’t want to anymore. I think if a girl plans to have children in the future, she shouldn’t sleep on ice.”

Girls love cleanliness. With them, hanging unwashed socks, but damp from sweat, around the tent is somehow not comme il faut. Girls try to wash themselves at every opportunity, especially their heads. At the very least, so as not to itch. Heating water in a pot over a fire, or not heating it, depending on your luck.

Also, the weaker sex spends a lot of time on braids... And this is not even for beauty, it’s just that hair blowing out of the wind interferes with the view of the most beautiful views.

And they also get tired. Hard, sad and sad. They are brought to lighten backpacks or generally drag the last meters to the halt. In general, there is little that compares with the ease when you take off your backpack in the mountains. Wings immediately grow and you are ready to go the same distance! Until you put it on again.

But besides all this, girls also have other, hidden difficulties.

It is important for beginners to know that in the first days of menstruation, girls unload their backpack. In first aid kits, both general and personal, there are several types of painkillers and antispasmodics. And if it’s very bad, they take a day or half a day. And this is important.

Regarding hygiene, there is a simple and ingenious solution - mountain rivers and streams. Yes, the water there is cold, but it’s better than if it wasn’t there.

Well, a mountain of pads, wet and dry wipes takes up a lot of space in the backpack. And all burning garbage can be burned at the first stop, where there will be fuel. And all is well.

If you follow all the rules of operation, your girl will reach the end safe and healthy!

Happy hiking everyone!