Genital hygiene on extended walks

[GPSGuided]

Inside out because that way the cloth is only against the skin for one day. I've had issues in the past with UTIs, and this works for me. Anyone else can do what works for them.

Fair enough. Changing contact and sanitation wipes can all help.

[rcaffin]

I remember getting some very queer looks one time when we having our daily wash in the creek.
Ok, the creek was coming out of a glacier in Nepal, and the rocks had icicles hanging off them.
But! we felt a lot cleaner afterwards, and warmed up very quickly too. (Just as well.)

Cheers
Roger

[Orion]

I guess it depends. I usually don't bother for anything under a week. After that maybe a little splash once in a while.

I talked to this one Dutch group climbing a route on Ama Dablam and they told me that after about 10-12 days it stops getting any worse. That was my experience too. For two weeks I didn't take any base layers off except for an occasional change of socks. I would have gone longer but an opportunity to buy a small bucket of hot water for something like fifty cents was too tempting to pass up. My wife has gone for about a month without removing any layers. I think there's something healthy about it, up to a point.

In hot conditions I find my tolerance is less. After about five days I need to do something. Fortunately it's easier in that case to entertain the thought of washing in cold water.

On a recent trip in Tasmania the March flies were so numerous late one afternoon that I hid in my tent. The tent lacked sufficient ventilation and it was like a sauna. My cotton underpants, usually only an issue in persistent rain, were wet with perspiration at bed time. So I took 'em off. They didn't dry out overnight but I did. That reminds me... I need to wash my quilt.

[crollsurf]

There doesn't appear to be any general consensus, each to there own it would appear, based mainly on comfort levels.

The type of underwear is important, I used to wear the active wear you get from Big W and alike and found them itchy in the evenings/sleeping. Moving to Merino has been a big improvement in that regard, although I still prefer to swap out at bedtime.

I'm finding 2 day turnaround and a proper wash every 4-6 days keeps me happy.

My wash process is get everything ready 100 ft from the creek. Go rinse off in the creek and return with kitchen sink and water bottles, add Wilderness Wash to sink and soap up, rinse with bottles, then back to creek to refill sink. Rinse again away from the creek and then a final rinse in the creek.

NB for the "Leave no trace" Police, I keep well covered when walking so rarely if ever use sunscreen or repellent. So that initial rinse in the creek is fine.

Last edited by crollsurf on Wed 21 Mar, 2018 8:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Orion]

There doesn't appear to be any general consencous...

I believe you misspelled genital.

[crollsurf]

There doesn't appear to be any general consencous...

I believe you misspelled genital.

The genital consensus is that consencous is misspelt also