Fur trimming for long trips to reduce odor

I have trimmed shaved and let it grow, didn’t make any difference for me.

Have you been doing a bit of a wash up before bed? Feels great, does wonders.

I started shaving my armpits in September 1982. Still do.

Perhaps unusual for a male, but I don’t care.

Much neater, easier to wash and keep clean, less odor.

The other crevices are left “as is” though.

HYOH.

Same as Link here. Amount of hair has not made a difference for me. Other factors like diet, hormones and type of fabric seem to have more to do with it, but I am not a very smelly person to begin with. Try Lavilin, it’s the only product I use and rarely at that.

I trim (not shave), not just before hikes but as a regular thing.

As far as smell, I think most bodies wouldn’t smell that much if we’d stop washing the heck out of them. The body has an inherent ability to keep itself pretty clean.

Just on this last trip I took along a little spray bottle of tea tree and lavender essential oils diluted in water.  Did wonders for restoring my feet after hiking wet all day, cleaning any small cuts I might have gotten, and minimizing the funk in my armpits and other places.  It was a major winner; I’m going to take it along on all my longer trips now.

Oh, that was weird. Had me wondering why that post has my name on it!

+1 to Doug’s trimming, not shaving.

I find it helps a little.  For me, it’s my clothing that stinks worse than ME.  And once it starts to stink, it keeps on stankin’!

Hrm, well I guess the concensus is that it may help a little.  Might as well try it.  May even save a gram in true UL style!

Btw, regarding the tea tree oil thing, I tend to be skeptical of any herbal remedies, however it appears tea tree is a documented natural antibiotic.  Sounds cool to me.  Trying to find a spray on Amazon….so many options…

“Hrm, well I guess the concensus is that it may help a little.”

Not sure I would call that consensus…only 2 people  said so..

Tea tree oil, on the other hand has a smell that will even keep bugs away ;)

Again, “Have you been doing a bit of a wash up before bed? Feels great, does wonders.”

What is your normal field hygiene routine?

+1 on two not being a consensus.

“+1 on two not being a consensus.”

Of course, if it’s only two people, especially if they agree in harmony, they’ll just think they’re gay. But if three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people posting here and agreeing on trimming and then signing out, they may think it’s an organization. And if we can get 50 people to agree with trimming, then friends, they may think it’s a MOVEMENT! And that’s what it is friends, the pre-hike, hair-trimming, odor-massacre’ing movement. And all you gotta do to join is sing it the next time it comes around on the guitar.

With feelin’…

You can trim anything you want, before your next wilderness jaunt

Sing it with me!

You can trim anything you want, before your next wilderness jaunt…

Didn’t realize tea tree oil smelled so bad…oh dear.  I just ordered some.  Never said I was smart.

Maybe I’ll try mixing it with lavender or something.

Oh, and my daily hygiene routine is horrible.  I’ll try to be more diligent about wiping myself down.  The challenge is that I multipurpose my buff as a bandana (which would do the wiping) and a pillowcase (wrapped around a stuff sack).

Sounds like I should re-add a seperate bandana to my kit.

Yeah, just slop the funk from your crack and crotch back over your face and body with the same rag every day. That’ll make it all better.

I carry a monstrous 1oz bottle of Germ-X(with my TP and trowel) and some Wet Wipes.
A whore bath a day and all that…

Dislike body hair, so keep everything trimmed, anyway. Can’t say it makes any practical difference, but it feels better, so it IS better.

Well I can’t argue with that logic.  I did find some wet wipes from Montbell that seem light and small and don’t leave residue, but I need half a pack to really clean up.  For a 10 day trip between resupplies, that could mean 4-5 oz of wipes.

Wet wipes brand seem much better and go further, but tend to make me feel sticky. I suppose I could experiment with some different brands. I know my kids organic baby wipe things work pretty well.   Or I could just go with blue shop towels and water like I used to do back in the day.

I did remember reading here somewhere about drying out baby wipes, and then rehydrating on the trail.

Choices choices…

Check these out http://www.cabelas.com/product/EZ-Towel-Pack/701655.uts?searchPath=%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FcategoryId%3D734095080%26CQ_search%3Dtowels%26CQ_st%3Db

(sorry, don’t know how to paste that picture in here…)

I’ve been using these guys for several years now and they are PERFECT.  you can keep them loose in a ditty bag (that’s what I do) until needed…and they are the perfect size for washing things up at night in the tent when a public bandana bath isn’t appropriate; it would also work AS the public bandana bath.  One goes a long way.

“Well I can’t argue with that logic.”

Makes it sound pretty disgusting, doesn’t it? :)

“Check these out”

Forgot all about those, and they sound really good. Already have 4 packs of them in my cart for myself and a couple of friends who do a lot of backpacking to try out…

Trail hygiene is one of those things that alludes many people :) If there is a body of water in which to swim, that is the best solution IMO…alpine lakes afford an “invigorating” swim.

check these out…

I had never seen that product before, thanks to Jen for pointing them out.  They are also available from amazon for ~$8 (1.6 cents each) with free Prime shipping. These appear to be identical, or at least very similar, and with Prime come out to ~1.2 cents each.

I like this sanitizer. Relatively cheap and easy to pack only as much as the trip requires.

PS: A forum admin needs to uncheck the include-more-than-one-link-and-we-delete-your-post configuration option.

I read elsewhere on this forum that trimming your armpit hair can reduce body odor.  Anyone here do this?  How effective is it?  How short do I need to trim it to work?

I just went out for five days and coincidentally tried this trimming of the armpit hair before I left (basically buzz cut it). Maybe it helped for an hour or so after taking a swim, but I’d return to being “Grateful Dead pungent” fairly soon.

I think is one of those things that’s true for a day sitting in a cubicle, but relatively ineffective against a blazing sun and sweaty hiking.

I’ll try the tea tree oil on my next trip.

I’ve been using these guys for several years now and they are PERFECT.

Very cool. Thanks for posting Jennifer!

In all seriousness, without normal cleaning routines available it makes a lot of sense to shave one’s butt.

trim your butt

trim your arms

even trim your johnson

it’ll do no harm

it won’t keep you cleaner

it won’t stop the sweat

and if you don’t trim it too short

it won’t lead to regret

but if you shave it all off

right down to the skin

it’ll soon itch like crazy

which will lead to chagrin

so if you see someone hiking

and itching like mad, then

they’ve probably shaved all their hair

and wishing they hadn’t….