Originally Posted by
TwistedCF
It's been interesting to read some other folks viewpoint on the issue of hygiene. My personal habits, thought processes, general outlook etc. were all fully formed in a pre-internet world. I grew up in a hunting/outdoors family, participated in Boy Scouts of America and did military service in the US Army before the You Tube age. Don't get me wrong. I love the internet and all the access to information it provides. What I find perplexing is the pervasiveness of "trends" that get accepted as "conventional wisdom". Just because everyone is doing it doesn't mean it's necessarily right, or wrong, it just means a lot of people are doing it.
The longest I ever went without a proper shower was during my military service. My personal record is twenty one days. During that twenty one days I remained clean shaven enough to get a proper seal on a gas mask, I kept my face, neck, armpits, and......"down south", clean and free of salts and general funk. This was managed with cold water, a wash cloth and hand soap. I wasn't clean enough at the end of twenty one days to sit down at a starred restaurant, but neither was I unhygienic.
To each his own, or more specifically, HYOH. If being funky helps you hike an extra mile I say go for it. My pack will continue to haul hygiene basics because it weighs less than the amount of coffee I carry, I believe cleanliness is directly linked to a broad range of health issues, and if I don't make the effort I feel like I've let myself down.