Personal hygene (the naughty spot question)

Just have a partner who's down with your pheromone.

Then the stink is kinda sexy. yeeeah

wait, did you just ask about shaving?

on a hike?

you must be fine as hell! :)

– Grow a beard, man! It'll make you hike faster. Well… at least sexier.

With a partner who is down your stankin ass, and you having a beard, you'll be too sexy to ignore and come home preggers.

Airports have bathrooms. Head in very early or very late, when it's not crowded, and rinse off everything in the sink. Carry some running shorts and keep them clean all 6 days.

Gold….just gold!! Thanks for the laugh :)

I have my own "shower system." I have a couple old 2L platypus bladders (1.7 oz each). I fill one with CampSuds and water, the other with plain water. I find a hidden spot well away from a water source, strip on down, pour the first bottle over my head, soap up, pour the second bottle over my head to wash off, then dry off with a camp towel. (If I can lay 'em out early and get them warmed by the sun, all the better. If not, I pray nobody actually sees me naked!). Then it's all squeaky clean and peachy keen. I totally get the "I'm in the wilderness, I don't mind stinking" thing. I just sleep better when I'm clean.

I dont worry about it on the trail.

If I was going to get on a plane, for sure I would either mail myself clean clothes to the end of the trail, or pick up cheapies at Walmart or something. And clean up at a bathroom somewhere too, walmart, gas station, airport, somewhere with some water, soap, paper towels. Even better if its a small bathroom that locks (gas station) so that you can strip down and do a decent job.

I hiked with a guy on one trip, that basically took a sponge bath every morning and evening from his little collapsible bowl. I didnt mind the evening ritual, but the morning part made us about an hour later getting on trail than I desired.

….taking dried out wet wipes and when rehydrating with water add a few drops of hand sanitizer to it????? That'll kill the germs for sure!

I still haven't gotten past you calling it the 'naughty spot.' I'll have you know my spot is quite well behaved.

In public, anyway….

I was going to call it 'secret spot' lol but that's what I ended up with :)

"I was going to call it 'secret spot' lol but that's what I ended up with :)"

Ah, well then, that would have fit, since no woman has seemed able to find mine recently….

"I am really keen on the 'dried out wet wipes' idea!! I also will have to look for larger ones…..I have experimented with KFC wet wipes biut those things were too small and too weak so the 'wipe' action tore them apart too easily.

One question though. If you dry out the antibacterial wipes and then rehydrate them does the antibacterial part of the wipe still be affective or will that chemical dry away as well making it just a wipe?"

Checkout Coleman Bio-wipes, they are 8"x10" plenty big for a full wipe down.

Also, I don't let mine dry out completely, usually not at all. The wipes I mentioned above aren't quite as wet as the baby wipes as they are specifically made for this purpose. They may be a tad heavier but worth it to not smell like ass all the time IMO.

…

For the love of god, man — wash yourself and wear clean clothes before you get on that airplane!!!

Anything less is completely unfair to EVERYONE on that plane. Surely we, as a society, must maintain SOME minimum level of standards.

Others gave you good ideas — stop en route at a gas station bathroom (sometimes there are even bathrooms with water/soap at the trailhead); as a last resort, wash thoroughly in the airport bathroom.

There are times when personal modesty must, by necessity, take a back seat to cleanliness, decorum, and courtesy to others.

I found out with my kids wipes that if you leave wipes out, they eventually dry out. That takes the water weight out of them. Then when it comes time to use them, pour some water on them, and they are as good as new! So I carry a small package of dried out wipes and just pour water from my bottle on them.

Its worked for me to keep some funk from developing. Also +1 on Gold Bond powder.

I know this doesn't answer the question, but it reminded me of my buddies and I backpacking when I was in my 20s (54 now). We used to TRY to see who could look and smell the worst on our week long trips.

It reminds me of a three month trip through the South West of China when I was twenty.
We arranged busses to fill up, rode on tiny tractors, trains, hung off of the back of trucks and got on and off where we wanted, almost always covered in dust. We were hauled to police stations (were not supposed to be in certain areas of the West, South West yet at that time), slept in peoples home on the concrete floor, in abandoned buildings where people's idea of a heater was just to light a fire – indoors. Went trekking through the mountains on horse back, and saw stars I still can't forget. We washed in lakes or in showers or bathrooms as much as we could but were well assimilated with the surrounding dirt.

When I came home after three months I had a bit of pain in my ear. Dr. took a look and said, "well you have quite a bit of earwax". He got a big syringe out and said "this is gonna hurt" and blew water in my ear to dislodge an almost perfectly shaped earwax copy of my inner-ear. He, and I, looked well surprised. Still wish I had taken a picture of that (I would have spared you all though).

When the wet wipes dry out, their antibacterial properties go with them. Rewetting a dried out wipe would be no better than washing up with a damp bandana, and the bandana is washable and reusable.

Thank you all for your input.

If I squirted some hand sanitizer on said wipes or bandanna (I carry sanitizer for hand washing after toiletries) surely that would take care of some of the bacteria compared to 'just water' on a wipe/bandanna.

Lots of good suggestions here of course. But I can add that I use a product called no-rinse. It is specifically designed for folks that are not able to bathe regularly. I take the liquid form on long trips. It is not ultralight, but it is important to me that I keep clean.
http://www.norinse.com/no-rinse-products/body-care.html