Don't Change Your Underwear

Nothing new. I have been impressed with the silver content liner socks I have and some towels and wash cloths we have at home.

From what little I know, the difficulty lies in the silver to base yarn bond. Not as robust as is needed for serious long term effectiveness.

The science behind the silver is sound however, and is employed in many products.

Polygiene (https://polygiene.com/) is used by Patagonia and other premium brands. Merino wool is favored for it’s stink resistance too.

Fast drying= easy washing on the trail (or traveling). Take a gallon ziplock, add water and something like Dr Bronners, shake to wash, rinse and dry. Dump the soapy water well away from water sources.

I never did anyway. No spare underwear on the trail has been my standard for years.  When things get funky, it’s time to swim.

You’re supposed to change your underwear?

You wear underwear?

Crotch vs Scalp?  I’ll wash my hair every time when there’s a choice between the two.  It’s difficult to do at 10F when using my cook pot as the “shower head” but I definitely like clean hair and scalp after 15 days on the trail.  It’s too cold to submerge in any real way—although a wet paper towel takes care of the nether regions.

The secret to underwear on a long (21 day) winter trip is to take two pair—clean one pair in a creek and let dry if possible and repeat this every 5 or 6 days.

Sometimes it’s so cold you won’t remove your hats—ever—and you’ll stay in your warmth layers for weeks.  Bathing is the last thing on your mind.

I hear that Finns and/or Swedish people recommend never cleaning the oil off your body during a long winter trip—especially on the face—as you’ll just get colder in the long run.

About 15 years ago I had silver hiking socks. I found that they caused a pretty bad rash on my ankles. So no thanks to the silver underwear for me.

I recall some of my older marmot lightweight thermals used silver thread for anti-bacterial (odor) reasons bought around 2006 or 7. Then they replaced it with recycleable materials (to be eco but less hiker friendly) with a less effective chemical treatment.  I also have some of the silver socks, but they are crew soaks with some weight (thickness) that I don’t use for most of my hiking as I shortly afterwards moved to short thin socks to keep my feet drier and lessen the likely hood of blisters (which has worked for me as I rarely develop any in recent years).

Tipi – you’re still wearing hair?

You could save up to 2oz if you shaved it!

Really, if we’d all learn from that Naked and Afraid show, we could truly be ultralight.