in survival or primitive conditions [Part One]
Washing machines are another of those devices that modern man seems to think he couldn’t live without. Yet for the vast stretch of human history, there were no washing machines. People just washed with hot water and soap and worked the garments by hand until it was clean. Sometimes smooth rocks were used, sometimes not. In fact, sometimes it was just cold running water in the stream and no soap at all.
I once lived in Cuernavaca, Mexico, attending a daily language school. I lived downtown in a tall hotel where many other students stayed, and each day I walked a few miles to my language school, across town up in the hills. To get to school, I walked down and through a canyon on the west edge of town through which a river flowed. This canyon was the poor district, and the people there lived in little square adobe houses, where the window and doors were merely openings in the adobe. A stream flowed through this canyon and everyday I’d see how all the people washed their clothes in the stream, usually with rocks. It took me a few minutes to walk through the area where the stream flowed, and I always tried to see what all the people were doing in the river. It was already hot in the morning when I went to school, and the young children were mostly naked, and the women had the clothes stretched out on flat rocks. The clothes had already been soaked in water, and they were rubbing parts of the clothes with small rocks, presumably to take out stains. Later, I was shown the types of rocks used – they were oval shaped, fit into the hand, and though they looked smooth, the surface was actually rough, like fine sand paper. It was a type of decomposed granite, as well as sandstone, that was used. Then they laid the clothes out on the stones to dry in the hot afternoon sun. When I walked home from school, I’d often see them removing the now-dry clothes.
Clearly, a washing machine is not vital to life. But it was invented because people wanted and needed more time to do all the other things in life that they deemed far more important than washing clothes by hand, whatever those other things may be. Clothes are so essential to our daily life – whether in the urban jungle or in the remote outback – that I am often surprised how little attention is given to clothing and fabric selection in the so-called “survival-manuals.”
TYPES OF FABRICS
When you’re out shopping for clothing in the first place, try to think long term. Will this garment hold up to rugged use? Will I be able to sew it if it tears? Does it have a lot of pockets? Would I be comfortable wearing this if I was suddenly stuck in some disaster and could only wear this for the next two weeks? And read the labels where it tells you how to clean the garment. Those “delicate” garments that should only be taken to a dry cleaner – perhaps you really don’t need those garments.
OK, your clothes are dirty, but you don’t have soap or water. Now what? Many times while practicing survival skills in the desert, we’d remove our clothes, shake them out, and lay them in the sun for a bit. Then we’d turn them inside out, and lay them in the sun for another hour or longer. Then, to keep the body clean, my mentor showed us to simply do a dry scrub with a natural bristle brush, which removes dirt and takes off dead skin cells. It may sound like torture, but you really feel refreshed after doing this.
Eventually, you’ll get to some water, and you’ll want to wash your clothes. Let’s begin with soap.
CHOOSING SOAP
A bar of soap is easy to carry. So many people these days are practicing self-reliance skills such as soap-making that you should have no trouble finding a local source of home-made soap. Try local farmers markets, or try learning the soap-making process yourself. It’s really not that hard.
Or, if you don’t care for bar soap, just use some liquid detergent and carry it in your pack in a plastic squeeze container. Make sure you twist the lid on tight!
There are endless choices these days in bar soap, or liquid soap, so a lot has to do with your personal preferences. However, if you’re going to be camping in the backwoods, do your best to bring along the purest soap you can find so you’re not polluting the water, or the soil. Read the ingredients! Avoid coloring agents, and non-natural perfumes.
Here are some of my preferences: When carrying bar soap, I will bring along a bar that was home-made by any of my half-dozen friends who regularly make their own soap. Sometimes I carry Fels Naptha laundry bar soap. For liquid detergent, I sometimes carry Basic H, a completely biodegradable soap. (The only thing wrong with Basic H is the price!). Or, almost as good is Ivory dishwashing liquid. I also like the Seventh Generation soap line.
NEXT TIME: We’ll discuss soaps from nature.
