WafflePolly 🙀 on Nostr: Equipment If you browse a camping retailer's offerings you might convince yourself ...

Equipment

If you browse a camping retailer's offerings you might convince yourself you need a double decker bus to accommodate all the items they tell you are essential.

People have been bathing *checks notes* for millennia and without all of it.

I have purchased, tested, and put into storage a lot of stuff over the years. I was living on portable solar in a rental for a time so I've gear-tested a lot of stuff.

Here's what you actually need (beyond your toiletries):

a receptacle for water
some form of cloth for scrubbing yourself
wet wipes
a towel (this can be optional)

Here's what some gear nut in an outdoor retailer might try to convince you to buy:

an ensuite
a camping shower
any kind of dedicated item to use for water to bathe in
all the other stuff marketed under outdoor bathroom that I scroll past without registering

You can repurpose anything to hold water. I've bathed out of an upcycled yoghurt pot.

I highly recommend buying something long and narrow as a cloth. You can lather it up and scrub your back. Make it something thin which will dry quickly.

For the longest time I resisted buying and using wet wipes. I hate generating waste. But the reality is that you need them. I use them to wash my nether regions. If I have access to water I'll lather them up with 'soap' too. By disposing of wipes I'm not risking cross contamination. You do not want a urinary tract infection if you have a coochie, and a great way to get one is to transmit E. Coli from your anus by indiscriminately wiping.

There have been moments when I've forgotten my towel and I've drip dried. You can dry off pretty quickly if there's a bit of wind!

https://www.kmart.com.au/product/480-pack-baby-wipes-42749196/