Washing your clothes on tour

[glenn forger]

What Hill Wimp said, wear black shorts and shirt and sling them in the shower tray and tread them as you shower.

 

[Bodhbh]

I generally have a set of civvie clothes for the evening, which tend to be clean, and the day clothes I'm not too bothered if it gets pongy. Every few days I just wash stuff in the shower, or whenever there's a window of dry weather.

I do appriciate the non-pongy properties of merino, but it's only a matter of time till it ends up in an hot wash and ending up as technical wear for a midget.

 

[Ian H]

Why not soap?

I presume because soap is more difficult to rinse out thoroughly.

 

[snorri]

I generally have a set of civvie clothes for the evening,

Me too, but I refer to them as my 'going ashore' clothes, too much salt in the blood perhaps

 

[22camels]

I thought there was a more technical reason why you shouldn't use soap on merino so I looked up the Icebreaker care instructions (I have one of their tops). It appears that I was quite wrong to be hand washing with wool-specific detergent. According to their instructions, you should use regular detergent and also they advise against hand washing.

https://uk.icebreaker.com/en/customer-service/product-information/service-product-information.html

 

[andrew_s]

It's that machine washed with detergent and properly clean is better than soap/hand wash and not properly clean, rather than that soap/hand wash is actively bad. Any washing that's available is better than no washing. Even so, not being able to wash isn't the end of the world - fabrics like wool control smelliness fairly well, and unwashed shorts aren't a guarantee of instant saddle sores.

You can more or less guarantee to get things reasonably dry after two nights indoor drying, but camping can be difficult, with persistently wet/cold weather extending drying times to maybe 4 or 5 days. I'd generally combine multi-day wear and wearing yeterday's wet gear. There's no point putting on dry stuff if it's raining, as it will be wet in 2 or 3 hours anyway.
Evening civvies should never be allowed to get wet.

 

[MichaelW2]

Why not soap?

Most soap is alkaline which is not good for wool. pH neutral soap may work.

 

[Creamcrackered]

When I was wild camping a lot, I found a collapsible bucket - like this one - was very useful for washing clothes (and a whole host of other stuff)

 

[robing]

I guess then for a short tour like the one I've just done, you can get away without doing any washing. Especially if it's not a hot climate and you're not going to get all sweaty.

On a longer tour you can probably have a rest day and get your washing done, so it's not such a problem.

 

[HelenD123]

I guess then for a short tour like the one I've just done, you can get away without doing any washing. Especially if it's not a hot climate and you're not going to get all sweaty.

On a longer tour you can probably have a rest day and get your washing done, so it's not such a problem.

Yes, I've never been able to face washing clothes out every evening on tour. On short tours I take enough to last. On longer tours I either stick on a load in an evening at a campsite, or mostly I wait until a rest day.

 

[Tin Pot]

My gear comes in the shower with me and hangs in the bathroom. It is usually dry the following morning.

A bit OT but is this suitable at home too?

Wear a couple of times before they go in the washing machine.

 

[steveindenmark]

A bit OT but is this suitable at home too?

Wear a couple of times before they go in the washing machine.

I am not sure of the question. But just to clarifiy. I shower after every ride and I take my jersey and shorts off and soap them through as I shower. They are dry the next morning.

They go in the washer at the end of the week.

Pretty simple really and I dont waste water or electricity.

 

[Wolf616]

I invest all the money I would have used on soap for washing clothes in Canesten Duo and thoroughly bathe my groin in the cream every evening