Gear Review - Personal Care

If I could have done one thing better, it would have been to take better care of myself.  Mostly I would have drank more water, taken supplements, and eaten better.  I did get a few things right and I had a few personal care items that I'd like to recommend - and one that I recommend but only with several cautionary statements.  This could get a little personal, so be forewarned!

Cleanliness
Coleman Biowipes
Crystal Body Deodorant Wipes

Staying clean and reasonably stink-fee is a real challenge.  After a while, you have to just live with it.  No amount of rinsing off in lakes or wiping down with wet wipes is going to change the fact that you are dirty, stinky, and probably a little uncomfortable.  But it is VERY important that you keep certain areas clean.  Chafe is a bad thing and keeping chafe-prone areas clean(ish) is one of the best ways to deal with it.  I used Coleman Biowipes to help with personal cleanliness.  They're great because they're pretty big (8x10") and they're biodegradable.  If you're a conscientious, Leave No Trace kind of hiker, you will be packing everything out but if you had to leave one behind (for whatever reason), it will biodegrade.  Just bury it deep people!!  My only complaint about the Biowipes is that they're not terribly moist.  But they get the job done.  They come in packs of 30 and a full pack weighs 8.4 oz.  That's pretty heavy but I think having wet wipes along is crucial.  I will never hike without them.  I got mine at Wal-Mart.

The other item I brought was Crystal Deodorant Wipes.  Dealing with body odor is probably a mostly losing proposition but I chose to fight it as best I could.   I didn't want to carry a stick of deodorant because it's too bulky and can melt, making a huge mess.  I bought a box of 40 individually wrapped deodorant wipes online and packed one for each day I was on the trail.   These deodorant wipes were AMAZING.  I was pretty skeptical that they could combat BO on the trail but they worked extremely well.  I tried to remember to use one every morning but sometimes forgot.  If I noticed a funk coming from my pits, I'd stop and use one and it ERASED any BO.  What's more, my husband used them too and he normally stinks horrendously - seriously, he could give a skunk a run for its money.  Jeff never smelled of BO the entire time he was with me.  They take up almost no space and are biodegradable.  I packed mine out but if you had to bury one you could (see above about Leave No Trace).  They're not cheap though, about $0.75 per wipe.

Bandanas

Pretty much anyone who hikes knows that a bandana is a crucial piece of equipment.  They have so many uses, it's ridiculous.  I carried two.  Before the hike, I had heard about girls using bandanas as pee rags.  I've never done this, always having been a "drip dry" kind of girl.  But after a friend strongly recommend I bring a pee rag, I conceded, convinced that I'd never use it.  Well, I used it and I'm extremely grateful to my friend for insisting I bring it.  Girls -when you pee outside day after day with no hope of a shower, things start to get a bit rank - namely your clothes.  Add to that a little drip of pee here and there and it gets super rank, fast.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to do whatever you can to stay just a teensy bit clean.  I will always carry a pee rag from now on, even on day hikes.  I kept mine tied to the back of my pack with a caribiner alongside my orange trowel.

I carried a second bandana because I used it for wiping the sweat off my face and blowing my nose. I kept it tied to the shoulder strap of my pack so it was always accessible and had a chance to dry.  I'm sure I looked a little silly festooned with colorful bandanas but I loved this set up.

That Time of the Month
Diva Cup

Menstruation is something all girl hikers have to deal with and it's never fun.  I did a lot of research on this and decided to go with the Diva Cup because you can use it on its own and it's small  (rather than carrying a lot of tampons and pads) and there's no trash to pack out.  Sounds great right?  Well, in my opinion, using the Diva Cup for hiking is for experienced users only.  It does have many benefits but there are certainly many, many drawbacks if you use it on the trail.  I STRONGLY suggest you get to know your Diva Cup extremely well before using it for backpacking or hiking.  I had only used mine once before taking it to Oregon and although I did OK with it, it was not easy to use.  

Beyond the normal learning curve that comes with using a menstrual cup, I had some pretty serious concerns with it on the trail.  1) When hiking it's really hard to keep your hands clean and with the Diva Cup, you're going to be doing some serious rooting around in your private parts. 2)  You're going to get some blood on your hands, so be prepared to wipe them off somehow.  3) It's really hard to get the cup clean unless you're prepared to spare some of your precious drinking water to rinse it out.  4) You'll need to find a very private place to deal with emptying it and re-inserting it.  Taking a poop is one thing, letting it all hang out while you struggle with getting the cup in and out is a whole other thing. 5) Keep in mind that you have to squat for a long time to deal with it and when you're legs are already tired from being on the trail, it can be really hard to squat AND relax at the same time.  And trust me, if you don't get your internal muscles to relax, you ain't gettin' that thing in.  One tip regarding inserting the Diva Cup -  relax your jaw and your kegels will relax too.  Don't ask me how but it really does work.

And one final warning - the makers of Diva Cup will tell you that you only need to empty the cup every 12 hours.  Well, if you have a heavy flow, this can actually be reduced to 6 hours.  That's better than a tampon but if you're thinking how nice it will be to only deal with it twice a day, think again.