Camping is good for us. It keeps our minds fresh and sound. By doing camping we can explore nature by its best which will give us enormous joy. Camping is pretty straightforward. All we need to select a comfortable and safe outdoors, pop up our rooftop tent, get a fire going, grab ourselves a drink, then we just need to sit back and relax. So you should know how to stay clean while camping.
This goes for one-night camping. But if we plan on camping for more than just a night or two, certain everyday routines can become complicated. One of the biggest problems is to stay clean while camping, while also avoiding personal hygiene products that could damage the environment. Everyone gets dirty when they go on a camping trip. We’re sweaty, we haven’t showered, we have dirt and soot and all other kinds of debris on our clothing. That’s the actual part of the joy of camping!
But there are differences between being a bit dirty and practicing poor personal hygiene on a camping trip. Keeping ourselves relatively clean will prevent bad bacteria growth, mysterious rashes. Here I’ll discuss how we can keep ourselves neat and stay clean while camping.
How To Stay Clean While Camping:
To stay clean while camping we need to keep in mind the things we should bring while camping. We will discuss the important things below.
What to Bring to Stay Clean While Camping:
The most important question is what to bring for hygienic purposes. One must take things is Unscented, alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Here there are some products which one must need with them.
Biodegradable soap:
Basically, we want one product that is multi-purpose and kind to the skin. Biodegradable soap is this type of. This can be used for cleaning dishes, doing laundry, washing hands, or taking a camp shower if really necessary. It doesn’t leave our hands feeling dry afterward. However, camp suds is a more popular and cheaper choice.
Toothbrush, Toothpaste, and Floss:
One should not skip these things while camping. Because keeping our teeth clean not just keeps our teeth good but also makes us feel good and fresh. So just because we’re camping doesn’t mean we can skip out on dental hygiene. To prevent fluoride and other chemicals from harming the environment we should use all-natural toothpaste.
Unscented Baby Wipes:
We should take unscented baby wipes with us. Face wipes also work.
Quick-drying Microfiber Towel:
We should take a quick-drying microfiber towel with us. It is like a little bit of a luxury product on a trip. But it is a great use.
Toilet Paper / Bandana, Trowel:
We should take toilet paper and a towel with us during camping. Because these are the most important things which we need to keep us clean. We should also bring a trowel for burying our poop.
Period Products:
For girls period products are a must. A girl always should take period products with her.
How To Keep Oneself Clean While Camping:
The most important question often comes to our mind is how we will keep ourselves clean while camping. Here I am going to discuss it.
Start The Day With Clean Socks and Underwear:
We should start our day with clean and dry socks. Our feet and groin area do not like to be damp for a long amount of time. We should also keep in mind that our underwear should be a clean and comfortable one.
How Many Pairs of Socks and Underwear Should We Pack:
Actually, it depends on us and for how many days we are going camping and the amount of space I have available.
The minimum number of socks and underwear I usually l bring is three, and the maximum number of socks and underwear is six.
For example, when I go on a 7-day camping trip, I take four pairs of socks. When I go for a 24-day camping trip, I take six pairs of socks. The same goes for underwear to keep stay clean while camping.
How Can We Keep Them Fresher For Longer:
We can keep the underwear fresher for longer by wearing one pair on day one and then wearing them inside out on day two. We can wear one pair for a long trip for two days straight before we flip them inside out.
We can wear one pair of socks as long as they stay dry and then can move onto the next pair. We can also save a pair of socks at night because it will help us keep our feet warm.
It’s uncomfortable to put on wet socks, but totally worth it when we get to the campsite after a long day and we have warm, dry socks to put on. We should also wash our socks and underwear during a long trip.
Use the Leave No Trace Method to brush your teeth:
Often it is heard that many people don’t brush their teeth during camping because toothpaste is harmful to the environment. I think they have clearly never heard of organic or natural toothpaste and the spray method.
- There are two components to brushing our teeth in the woods. They are the toothpaste itself and our spitting technique. We can use one or the other, but for minimum environmental impact and maximum cleanliness I recommend, we can use both components in tandem.
- Choose organic or natural toothpaste.
- Go to an area far from our tent and any river or water source.
- Brush our teeth like normal, but we have not to spit yet.
- When we are ready to spit, take a big gulp of water. Swoosh it around in our mouth. Do this to dilute the toothpaste.
- As we spit, try to spray the water-toothpaste mixture so it covers a wide area.
Bring At Least Two Outfits and Wash Each Night:
While camping at the end of a long day of outdoor activities, our clothes will get dirty and we won’t feel fresh by wearing these clothes. So, we need to change our clothes.
So whether we’re camping or backpacking, we’ve to be selective about how many clothes we bring along. But we really don’t need that many outfits. Two outfits are enough. We can wear the fresh ones and wash the dirty ones.
We can wash our clothes from a natural source of non-standing water nearby, like a pond, stream, or lake, and stay clean while camping.
Have a dedicated pair of sleep clothes:
When we are camping a good sleep is a must. It helps us to feel fresh and it reduces the tiredness which we get from hiking. After we’ve given ourselves a baby wipe shower, we should put our sleep clothing on.
To keep our sleeping cloth clean, we should never leave them in a tent. Some people wear it while cooking. But doing it is the worst thing. Because things like pollen and campfire smoke cling to clothing fibers and we won’t want these on our skin when we’re sleeping. Also, we don’t like to say hello to mysterious rashes.
It may happen that we are outside our tent and accidentally get our sleeping cloth wet, then what we will wear to sleep in. For this reason, we should always take extra sleeping outfits with us.
Taking Bath in Nature:
To feel fresh and stay clean while camping one needs to take a bath. But there is a question of how we will take bath in nature. There are three ways to bathe in nature. They are
- Jump in the lake
- Bring along extra water
- Pack a portable camping shower with us.
If we’re rinsing off the dirt from the day in a lake or stream, be careful that we should not use any soap or other cleaning products as these could contaminate the water.
If we do need to use soap, we should bring along extra water to make a DIY shower. We should rinse off, soap up, and rinse off again somewhere at least 200 feet away from any water sources.
We can also take baby Wipe ‘Sponge Bath‘ for this we need to bring a pack of unscented baby wipes and a large Ziplock bag on our camping trip.
After taking off the camping clothing we wore for the day, we need to wipe down our body with the baby wipe. We should use one side of the baby wipe to do our face and neck. Then flip it over and do our armpits and groin area.
After that, we should Put the baby wipe into the large Ziplock bag. Baby wipes are not biodegradable. We must pack these out with us.
Try Dry Shampoo:
Dry shampoo is a highly effective product to keep our hair clean when we don’t have the ability (or time) to shower.
Dry shampoo comes in a powder form that we can shake directly into our hair to cut down on grease. It’s also great for adding volume.
Try to Wear Moisture-Wicking Clothes:
The best camping clothes are moisture-wicking ones that are made from synthetic polyester or wool. These help wick away sweat so when the sun sets and temperatures drop, we’ll stay warm and dry.
One more benefit is less sweat and moisture in our nether regions means fewer bacteria, less stink, and less to worry about when it comes to staying clean while camping.
Use a Sleeping Bag Liner:
Sleeping bag liners are designed to help add some extra warmth to our sleeping bag. But liners are also an excellent way to protect our sleeping bags from ourselves.
If we find that we’ve gotten pretty dirty, dusty over the course of our travels, a sleeping bag liner will help contain the grit from soaking into our sleeping bag. One more important thing is that we can easily wash it with our clothes.
Leave the Unnatural Hygiene Products at Home:
When we go camping, it’s important to do our part to protect the environment so that future generations of outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy it, too. And part of this effort is only bringing personal hygienic products that are environmentally sustainable.
A few tips for environmentally-friendly biodegradable soaps and deodorant are given below
- We should always stick to unscented products because scented products can attract bears and other wildlife.
- We should use castile soap because it’s a non-toxic, biodegradable soap.
- We should try a natural unscented deodorant made with coconut oil or beeswax.
Wash your hands regularly:
We should wash our hands regularly to keep ourselves clean while camping and it will help us from various kinds of bacteria. Even in the woods, we should be washing our hands after we use the bathroom and before we start cooking. There are a few ways to do this. Here is the explanation.
- Hand Sanitizer:
Using hand sanitizer frequently is a good and hygienic habit. It is also the most lightweight option is to bring hand sanitizer and use the hand sanitizer periodically.
- Hand Washing Station:
If we’re in a group and can spare more gear, we can set up a handwashing station. For this, we need to hang a small water reservoir from a tree and keep a little biodegradable soap nearby.
How to manage period while camping:
For the women hikers, the most troublesome question is how to manage periods while camping and how to keep themself clean and hygienic on a camping trip? For making it easier, here are a few strategies.
- The first and foremost is to use a Diva Cup. This is actually a silicone cup that needs to be inserted into the vagina which collects blood. It needs to be regularly dumped and cleaned.
- If you are not comfortable in a diva cup and If you prefer pads and tampons, that is completely okay. But here is a problem: what to do with the products after they have been used.
This problem can be solved by using the Party Bag. The Party Bag is a large Ziplock bag covered in Duct Tape. When you are camping and you need to change your pad or tampon, all that you need to do is put the used one in the Party Bag.
You can also put the pad and tampon into a small plastic bag then tie it up and then put it in the Party Bag. This will prevent bad odors from emerging when you open the Party Bag.
What not to bring for camping hygiene:
There are some products that need to be avoided for camping hygiene. Here are they
- Non-biodegradable products should be avoided. Because these are harmful to the environment!
- Deodorant and other scented products are also harmful. They also need to be avoided. They can attract animals
- The razor takes up weight or space and is also not necessary.
- A mirror is also not so necessary because it takes up weight and space and. One exception would be if we bring a mirror for survival purposes.
How to do your business in the wild:
The most important thing is keeping hygienic bathroom habits. keeping it in the backcountry is important for preventing sickness and rashes, among other things. Here are some tips for doing it.
For peeing:
This goes for both males and females but mostly applies to ladies. To avoid using toilet paper on trips we can either use natural materials (like leaves) or a Kula Cloth or bandana.
The Kula Cloth is an antimicrobial cloth that is super absorbent on one side and waterproof on the other side, so we can use it for multiple wipes without getting our hands wet.
For pooping:
For pooping, we should not use the bandana or Kula Cloth. Instead, we can either use toilet paper and pack it out or burn it or we can use natural materials like moss or leaves. If we are burning it then we have to ensure that it has gotten burnt totally.
However, after doing your business, ensure you are completely wiping after you go to the bathroom. Using a baby wipe to clean your groin at the end of every day or skinny dipping in the evenings and drying yourself thoroughly before putting on your sleep clothes is a good habit. This ensures a clean and dry environment around your groin.
How to wash dishes while camping:
Even if we are in the wild, we should be washing our dishes. This will help us to prevent bacterial growth or mold.
- After we finish our meal, we should fill a large pot or dish bin with water.
- We should place a tiny bit of biodegradable soap in it. Using steel wool, scrub any food that remains on our dishes.
- Once the dishes are clean, we must lay them out on a camping towel or on rocks to dry.
- In the meantime, we should grab a trowel and venture into the woods to dump out the water. This is especially important because the water will smell like food and could attract animals.
- Next is that we should use the trowel to dig a hole and carefully pour the dishwater into the hole.
- Finally, we should fill the hole with dirt. We have now buried our dishwater, minimizing the chances an animal will smell it and come searching for food.
How to wash clothes while camping:
Sometimes it may happen that we need to wash our clothes when we are camping for a long period of time. But it is better to do it only for socks and underwear, as they are small clothing items and the most important to have clean.
We should Only attempt this on a warm and sunny day. We are intentionally getting our socks and underwear wet, so we will need to dry them in the sun. If it looks like clouds are on their way then we should not wash our clothes.
The most important thing about doing laundry on a camping trip is to use a really small amount of soap, and we should not get all your socks and underwear wet at the same time.
These are the things we can do to stay clean while camping. Because keeping ourselves and our environment clean is the most important thing. It will help us to stay healthy and germs-free. As we know, a healthy body helps us to enjoy the most.
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