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Spending most of my life here in northern Michigan, in the spring\summer\fall months, one can always find wild burdock growing. It has a huge leaf structure and is as soft as a cotton diaper. I have always referred to it as "butt wipe weed" which has gotten more than a few snickers from folks who have asked me what that plant was. It also produces the huge burrs that stick to near any kind of fabric or pet's fur. I have also had to use cattails in the winter time on a couple of occasions. They are also soft on the bum.
 
Here in the northeast I've used the leaves of both goosefoot maple and witch hobble. Both are broad, supple and strong. Off season snow works just fine but it does give you a bit of a start until you're use to it.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper
 
Native Arizonan said:
On the subject of hygiene, horses like a good roll in the dust, as do dogs. The Navajo, as an example, who live in an area where water is almost non-existent without digging and waiting for a small seep through the sand, didn't make daily treks to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to wash in the river. They did just like horses and dogs do naturally, they took dust baths. Sometimes these would follow a bit of time in a sweat lodge, but other times it was just how they bathed.

I have washed my hands in dirt, when I didn't have enough water to waste. It will get rid of the smell, and take away any particles that may be clinging to you. If I find water, I will use it, but dust or sand is better than nothing. This is not trying to be PC, just part of growing up a child of the desert. If you find yourself in the desert unprepared, it's what you do.

Being prepared is a good thing, though, with TP and handi-wipes; but I would imagine the PC thing would be more like I described above.

As far as MM bathing? I remember an old joke about a cowboy getting ready to take a bath in the fall and remarking: "No wonder it was such a hot summer, I forgot to take my long handles off last spring."

Bathing was probably something you did to relieve yourself of who lice, more than having a "fresh as an Irish Spring" feeling and smell. For re-enactors, however, I think cleanliness and hygiene are important, as you are indeed among the public and they wouldn't really appreciate the PC smells.
We don't want to stink with or with out the public. The idea that folks wandered around with a cloud of flies is a myth. Soap was sent west by the ton. People didn't take a full immersion bath often but 'sponge baths were a daily event. You don't want game to smell you up wind. And the local Indian princesses would look askance at you if she could smell you coming. There was no deodorant and perfume or cologne was not as important as soap, and clothing might be a night stiff. However ther is no reason to think they lived in filth
 
colorado clyde said:
just wondered if any knew of a secret that the Indians or mountain men knew about.

Just squat in the nearest river and wash your backside...

You're welcome to pee in my river because that is sterile, but don't you go crappin' it. That's not!

Went on a backpacking hike in the Sierra one time with my "no-impact camping" brother. No paper brought along or left behind. Rules were, dig a hole no deeper than 8" or it it won't degrade. Cover the hole when done or pile some rocks over it. Collect some round rocks to wipe your ass with and use de-barked twigs if you have a little trouble with the rocks. Now bear in mind this is in a hard to get to area, so you don't see a lot of crappy rocks around. Worked surprisingly well.

You think that's strange, I can tell you what they do when hiking in remote areas over 10,000 feet if you like.

Twisted_1in66:thumbsup:
Dan
 
Most places I've been in third world countries, they've never even heard of such things. Just wipe with a finger or two, rub your hand in the dirt and wash if and when you can find some water. Soap optional for most of them.

I've resorted to it a few times when all else failed, and it worked. Though I gotta say, for the rest of the day I was careful which hand I used for packing a chaw or snacking. :rotf:

Can't imagine our forebears being sidelined in the woods because they didn't have handy paper or leaves.
 
Random poops in a creek isn't going to polute it, how ever it's a bad idea. Use a hole, or even on surface under a bush will alow it to " recycle' . Our hobby should encompass a minimal impact. I won't " pack it out" but will treat it at least as well as a cat.
 
tenngun said:
We don't want to stink with or with out the public. The idea that folks wandered around with a cloud of flies is a myth. Soap was sent west by the ton. People didn't take a full immersion bath often but 'sponge baths were a daily event. You don't want game to smell you up wind. And the local Indian princesses would look askance at you if she could smell you coming. There was no deodorant and perfume or cologne was not as important as soap, and clothing might be a night stiff. However ther is no reason to think they lived in filth

I remember hearing from a Korean War vet that the NK could smell Americans because they smelled like soap, as well as just different body odor due to different diet.

It can't be proven, but I think it would be a safe bet to say each and every free trapper that spent time in the West spent some pretty long stretches without any kind of a bath, or even touching a bar of soap. Whether it was because of the bitter cold in the winter, or because of the lack of water while traveling across the plains and deserts, life wasn't always living in a heated cabin by a running stream. Sponge baths, BTW, are not an efficient way to eliminate body lice, and probably not as good as the dust bath for easing cases of breachclout rash, the MM form of diaper rash.

I was reading the book "Tough Trip Through Paradise" by Andrew Garcia, who lived variously among the tribes in the 1870s and he noted one difference between native women and white women was that the natives always smelled like smoke, and he was married to three of them before he finally married a white woman. They often cleansed themselves in smoke and almost never bathed with soap. Smoke of various plants like Juniper and Sage is an excellent antibacterial agent. Smoke also keeps the flys and skeeters away.

Soap wasn't even invented until the middle ages and great civilizations came and went for thousands of years without it. it's convenient, but don't think the native people didn't have other methods that worked.
 
My grandfather used to say that he had a bath every Saturday night, whether he needed it or not. He had 20 acres of vineyards & would use those leaves when they were on the vines. Other than that he would use grass.
I used to try those things as a kid but no longer.
I do not like.
O.
 
In Florida, and the deep south, Spanish moss works great, but I was taught to pull it fresh from limbs, and never use any laying on the ground.
 
Soap wasn't invented till the 12th century, that's true. However, the use of cleaning angents stretches back at least to the Stone Age. The Grreks and Romans used oil and scrapers. Steam rooms sweat lodges ect were built by people in the ice age. Lots of native plants make a soap root, yucca common over much of the west. Bags of soap were sent to rendezvous, I don't think natives were buying it. Did mm keep as clean as today's folk, no. Did people clean them selfs, yes. Stinky was no more welcom then around a fire then now
 
tenngun said:
Soap wasn't invented till the 12th century, that's true. However, the use of cleaning angents stretches back at least to the Stone Age. The Grreks and Romans used oil and scrapers. Steam rooms sweat lodges ect were built by people in the ice age. Lots of native plants make a soap root, yucca common over much of the west. Bags of soap were sent to rendezvous, I don't think natives were buying it. Did mm keep as clean as today's folk, no. Did people clean them selfs, yes. Stinky was no more welcom then around a fire then now

When I mentioned the public wasn't ready for PC smells, I wasn't just thinking about body odor. I would imagine there were (and still are in some cases) smells around a trapper's camp or cabin that would cause a lot of people to want to keep their distance. Soap, bathing, and cleanliness are all PC, but so are a lot of smells most people would not find pleasurable, body odor just being one of them.
 
Yup, there was no deodorant or antiperspirant back then. Then there was the old joke about having an outhouse out side and making sauerkraut in the house. Even a lot of foods could smell strong, wool that could be damp, tallow candles and the results of gassy food and multi glasses of ale, could make a bit of smell. Let's not forget people living on farms, or working in tanneries, animals pulling carts ect.
 
I remember hearing from a Korean War vet that the NK could smell Americans because they smelled like soap, as well as just different body odor due to different diet.

Ha, thanks funny! My Korean war vet dad said almost the same thing.
He said that "you could smell a ROK soldier from across the street".
 
I suspect more than one tenderfoot has learned about stinging nettles the hard way.

Or poison ivy. The effects will be there to remind you the next time to just bring TP. :doh:
 
We called it "bung hole fodder" in camp.
We didn't have running water, no way to take a shower, so we didn't-for ten days. My wife would make me undress in the garage when I got home. We would sorta wash down our upper half with an antique wash bowl, soap and warm water.
 
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