Hand Sanitizers: My Journey Towards Discovering Best Practices for Wilderness Hygiene

"Anyone else out there use the mud scrub method?"

I do, and use hand sanitizer afterwards. Remember that both the mud and the stream water may be contaminated! But it will scour away most of the grunge from your hands. I've found, though, that getting my hands completely clean involves shampooing my hair at least twice, giving myself a thorough scalp massage each time, in the shower after the trip. Just soap and water and scrub brush don't do the job.

I very much dislike using soap out in the wilderness. Even a tiny amount getting into a water source can kill aquatic life.

I seldom if ever use hand sanitizers day to day — what the heck for? But out on the trail, I carry a half-ounce bottle with me. It's just so light and convenient to use — as compared to washing with soap and water (yes, water can be scarce here in sunny So Cal and and carrying it is heavy ).

Use the proper tools for the tasks at hand.

Good informative report! Thanks.

Glad to see I'm in great company in my use of a mini bottle containing Dr. Bronner's soap. And supplement with wipes that I store in a ZipLoc.

P.S.

Anyone ever buy the quart size DR B's and explore the writing on the label?

http://www.drbronner.com/pdf/drbronner_32oz_Baby.pdf

This conversation is ridiculous. Seriously people.

If you aren't sure what to do with your leftover alcohol-based hand sanitizer, it does a great job of getting sap out of nylon hiking clothes. Gets it off your skin, too. But I always feel cleaner using biodegradable soap and water – just stay away from lakes and streams when you use it.

i'll take the CDC at face value …

If soap and clean water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub to clean your hands. Alcohol-based hand rubs significantly reduce the number of germs on skin and are fast-acting.

When using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer:

Apply product to the palm of one hand.
Rub hands together.
Rub the product over all surfaces of hands and fingers until hands are dry.

My method: 4 drops of Dr B's from a BPL bottle onto palm; rub palms together; small splash of water; work up a lather; another splash; rub lather all over hands; repeat until soap seems gone; rub in a splash of Everclear 190. All done well away from water supply. I backpack with my wife so one of us always has relatively uncontaminated hands to handle the dropper and water.

Talk about overcomplicating a simple process.

Soap and water…just like our grandparents did it.

I'm with Craig. The grandparents had a lot of common sense.

"Anyone else out there use the mud scrub method?"

That was my standard practice for many years after cleaning fish and then after eating them. It was great for removing fish slime, odors, and fish grease. I also used it after bowel movements, but then washed with soap and water, just to be sure.

"I very much dislike using soap out in the wilderness. Even a tiny amount getting into a water source can kill aquatic life."

+1

"This conversation is ridiculous. Seriously people."

Pretty strong words. Could you maybe be a little more specific about what you find ridiculous?

There is NOTHING complicated (or ridiculous) with using soap and water — or a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer.

I use the mud/sand method to wash my hands and my food container. I also use a very small dose of hand sanitiser afterwards.
Never use the stuff at home.
Franco

Fear No. 8 is my main one.
How dangerous are my own microbes to me?

"Stop these illegal immigrants en route, because we all know you can't close the border!"

Ryan,

Maybe you should have followed up with:

"Keep your dirty hands and your trail GORP apart, just like white women and colored men!"

> I'll go get some castile bar soaps at Walgreens or something.

We collect those little packaged soaps you find in motels etc. Much lighter than a full-sized bar, far more convenient than a dropper bottle, and one tiny bar lasts for a year or two in the bush.

Cheers

I'm wondering if clean hands are less important when hiking solo. It seems very possible that your own GI fauna would be less harmful to you that that of others'.

Agreed, Eric. Your system ought to be used to them, although care should be taken as to what gets touched after a visit to the ablutions office. VSO's doctor told a bunch of us new recruits that diarrhoea means you have ingested someone else's faeces.

I also wonder if this and the issue of contaminated water come into sharper focus in hot, dry environments. My suspicion is that British backpackers have traditionally not been too concerned with hygiene and have suffered very little as a result. The Scottish Highlands have been particularly well supplied with cold, clear water this August.

The glens were sodden and even summits such as that of Mullach Fraoch Choire had excellent water sources. I wish its pool hadn't been freshened up quite so frequently during my holiday.

I would agree. Good sources of water harbor few pathogens and probably quite a few of the "I've never gotten anything in the backcountry" reports are from soloists. Hell is other people (or their commensal bacteria)…

Couldn't help chuckling, Tohru

"Never use the stuff at home."

Mud and sand? Or hand sanitizer?

"just like our grandparents did" Ever watch your grandparents wash their hands? It was if they were scrubbing in on surgery. The 21st century quick wet-soap-lather-rinse ain't gonna do nothin' no-how. But if you scrub well like they did…

The BAK-based cleaners have an advantage for me as a contact lens wearer: no alcohol residue (and thus eye burn). No rinsing needed, just rub (scrub?), air dry, then continue as if at home. (I don't have to use any treated water prior to hand-meets-eye, removing that possible source of contamination as well.)

I use the Adventure Medical Kits hand sanitizer, and found that the dispenser can be refilled: take a suitable pair of pliers (I use needle-nose vise-grips) and carefully grasp the bottom plate and rock it off. It'll be scratched a bit, but it'll snap back on without any fuss (and many times too). I use either Soapopular (for backcountry as it's odorless but more expensive), or the Office Max Smart & Silky brand (the one for kids) for day-to-day use (dirt cheap). Even though these brands vary in concentration of BAK from 0.13% (Soapopular) to 0.10% (Smart & Silky), I can tell no difference in efficacy.

My trick for washing hands in the backcountry was developed while solo-hiking the PCT. I suck water into my mouth from my Platypus or water bottle and immediately dribble it out of my mouth onto my hands while rubbing vigorously. No soap. It may sound remarkably anti-hygienic, but it allows for much better rubbing of the hands than if you pour water with one hand onto the other and try to rub and rinse the hands with each hand subsequently pouring water onto the other.

With this method I could cleanse my hands as many times a day as I wished (3-8 times) to keep them feeling clean. I used hand sanitizer only after bowel movements.

I had no GI problems then or since.

If you're solo then you won't be infecting others