Today's article is
about hygiene and staying clean under rough conditions (such as living full
time in an RV). I have always enjoyed a long relaxing shower after a day of
stressful work, and on any given afternoon I would wash my worries away by
spending 20-30 minutes taking a luxurious hot shower. After considering a
frugal and minimalist lifestyle, I decided to rid myself of water wasting
habits by avoiding showers all together. I refer to my new shower alternative
as "Whore Bathing". I created a "whore bathing" kit which
includes a washcloth, bar of soap, homemade squirt bottle, bath pan, and a
towel for drying off. This started out as a simple experiment to test travel
trailer conditions were running water will not be available. My "whore
bathing" techniques work wonderfully inside a normal bathroom, however
changes will be made in order for them to work inside a cozy 80sq/ft. travel
trailer. The only difficult part is dealing with unmanageable long hair,
however I have been keeping mine at a buzz cut length ever since I started
using my shower alternative. I start out by wetting myself down lightly with a
wet wash cloth. Then, I lather up some soap (my personal favorites are Dove and
Ivory bar soaps, but liquid soap or body wash might be easier to rinse off) and
lightly lather up sweaty areas such as arm pits, groin, etc. It never hurts to
give these areas a moderate scrubbing before lathering up other areas of the
body. I recommend starting from the head/face area then working your way down.
After you feel like your body is all soaped up and lathered, rinse out your
wash cloth and begin washing away the soap suds. Make sure to remove all soap residues
or it might cause skin irritation and dryness. Last but not least, use the
towel to dry off before putting on a clean set of clothes. I recommend using a
sport's deodorant for future stink prevention, however a half dozen squirts of
musky spray cologne usually does the trick for me. My tried and true
combination is Old Spice roll-on deodorant mixed with Wal-Mart's knock off Bleu
De Chanel spray cologne. Throw in a splash of cheap after shave and you can
smell good for 24+ hours, with a total investment of $15.00 you can keep the
fragrance going for 4-9 weeks. You can't beat that kind of deal. No running water needed.
Sincerely, Travel trailer hermit.... Signing off........-----
Found your blog from a link at Dakins. I read all your posts and enjoyed most of it. I'll add it to my list of regulars.
ReplyDeleteI admire that you find happiness in the frugal life and that you enjoy your job more or less and have a good family. You are way ahead than most in this country and certainly almost all of the rest of the world.
I'd be interested in your trailer preps and mods. I've considered getting a larger trailer and making it into one big room. The tiny standard trailer furnishings dont appeal to me but perhaps one big room could accomodate regular sized furniture, chairs, etc.
Thanks! The first trailer I considered was a 26 footer, however I was afraid my truck wouldn't be able to pull it. My area has quite a few steep grades, and with a smaller trailer I feel i am more mobile. My tiny twelve footer doesn't really have miniature furniture, but it does lack a bathroom. If van-dwellers can live full time in tiny compact vans, I can live in a modest travel trailer.... :)
ReplyDeleteHermit;
ReplyDeleteDo a search for the luggable loo. It's basically a 5 gallon bucket that a toilet seat snaps to, and I believe it's less than $20.00? If you desire a bit more comfort, walmart has some reasonably priced porta-potties.
Trust me, when the temperatures dip, or the insects become unbearable, you will wish that you had something like this.
I was actually looking at a simple 3.5 gallon chemical portable toilet at Wal-Mart the other day. I think it was around $40-$60, I cant really remember the price. I plan on going that route and dumping it once or twice a week. I did see the luggable loo online a few months ago, and I might get one just for backup in the event my primary chemical toilet has a malfunction. This should cover #2, and i could rely on a simple soda bottle for #1. I don't want the out house experience. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! People have been keeping clean since day one using this basic technique, why can't the modern human? Society has tricked people into thinking a modern shower or full body bath is a requirement for staying clean, but history tells no lies..
ReplyDeleteHERMIT<>
keeping clean in a travel trailer ,, when i was younger we nevr had a bath /shower , so we used to strip wash , one basin , bar of soap face cloth/towel, we survived like this for over 5yrs , we were always clean , besides which we didnt waste much water
ReplyDeletei also live in my travel trailer for 6 months in the summer its a 21x8 ft trailer , with all the comforts except a shower , but that part i can survive using strip wash method , my comforts are , microwave oven , satilite tv full sponge mattress, as well as what usualy comes with the trailer , plus my refrigerator ,, i like this life as its laid back and the people at the other trailers are great people , i would live all year this way , but im in ontario canada , and its gets really cold here , and as for storing stuff . most of what we have , we dont really use it that much anyway , keep yourself healthy body and mind , and enjoy life
ReplyDelete