How to Keep Yourself (and the Environment) Clean While Camping

1. Bring Two Outfits and Wash Each Night

At the end of a long day of outdoor activities, your clothes will likely be less than fresh. But whether you’re camping or backpacking, you’ve got to be selective about how many clothes you bring along.

The truth is, you really only need two different outfits. And once one outfit becomes too dirty to wear, you can “do your laundry.”

Here’s how you can easily and sustainably do the laundry while camping:

• If there’s a natural source of non-standing water nearby, like a pond, stream, or lake, you can use it to clean your clothes. Otherwise, pack extra water to use for laundry.

• Bring along a gallon-size Ziploc bag and put in your clothes, some unscented biodegradable detergent powder, and your clothes.

• Seal the bag and shake it up! Five minutes should do the trick.

• Dump out the water (at least 200 feet away from water sources to avoid contamination).

• Refill the bag with clean water.

• Seal and shake the bag for a few more minutes.

• Dispose of the water, again at least 200 feet from water sources.

• Hang your clothes up to dry overnight.

As for your shoes, they may start to stink after a while.

Just be sure they don’t get left behind at a campsite, and remember to leave no trace!

2. Bathe in Nature

Wondering how to shower while camping? There are three ways to bathe in nature:

1. Jump in the lake

2. Bring along extra water

3. Pack a portable camping shower

If you’re rinsing off the dirt from the day in a lake or stream, be careful not to use any soap or other cleaning products as these could contaminate the water.

If you do need to use soap, bring along extra water to take a DIY shower. Rinse off, soap up, and rinse off again somewhere at least 200 feet away from any water sources.

If you really want to step up your camping cleanliness game, you can invest in a portable camping shower. These are pouches or containers that you fill with water and use either gravity, solar energy, hand pumps, or batteries to create a pressurized stream of water for showering.

You’ll need to either pack in the water or find it in nature for use with your camping shower.

3. Don’t Forget the Ranishe Body Wipes and Sanitizer

Depending on how long you’ll be out in the wild or where you’ll be, a portable shower or dip in a lake may not be an option. Thankfully, Ranishe Body Wipes and hand sanitizer can do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to staying clean and sanitary.

Our favorite sanitary wipe for camping is the Shower Pouch. This is a small compact pouch that holds a large camping wipe that can be used to clean your whole body.

The great thing about Shower Pouch is that you can put the whole bag in boiling water over your campfire to heat it up before you clean off, which makes for an extra refreshing experience.

One last easy trick is bringing along a small squirt bottle that you can use to clean up after going to the bathroom. You can also use it to squirt water under your arms, on your hair, or over your face if you get extra sweaty.

With bottles, camping wipes, feminine products and more, always remember to pack out everything with you.

4. Leave the Unnatural Hygiene Products at Home

When you go camping, it’s important to do your part to protect the environment so that future generations of outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy it, too. And part of this effort is only bringing personal hygienic products that are environmentally sustainable.

A few tips for environmentally-friendly biodegradable soaps and deodorant:

• Always stick to unscented products — scented products can attract bears and other wildlife (no, thank you!)

• Use castile soap — it’s a non-toxic, biodegradable soap

• Try a natural unscented deodorant made with coconut oil or beeswax

The Final Frontier in Outdoor Cleanliness: Going to the Bathroom While Camping

One of the trickiest challenges to staying clean while camping is what to do when you have to go to the bathroom. That’s why we’ve put together a list of handy tricks and tips to make relieving yourself easy, clean, and environmentally friendly.