When All Hell Breaks Loose (61 page)
Read When All Hell Breaks Loose Online
Authors: Cody Lundin
Temporary Toothbrushes
New toothbrushes are dirt cheap, so having a few spares around the house is easy. When they wear out for humans, they're still great for cleaning stuff. The following are options for keeping teeth clean in a crisis. Toothpaste is overrated. I haven't used it for nearly twenty years and four out of five dentists surveyed say I have great teeth. Here are some toothbrush and toothpaste substitutes:
Fabric, rags, or washcloths and baking soda. Pioneer folks, including my grandparents, used wet pieces of fabric (hand towels work great) with salt or baking soda (toothpaste substitute) and simply rubbed their teeth and gums clean.
Salix
species) or cottonwood (
Populous
species). Willows and cottonwoods contain
salicin
and
populin
, ingredients in aspirin that also double as a great plaque fighter. Simply cut a fresh twig of either about as big around as a pencil and chew the end until it's fuzzy. Use this as your toothbrush and scrub away. At first, both have a slightly bitter taste but it's not all that disagreeable; some people even like it.
Dental floss is very hard to duplicate in nature. I have used fibers of yucca and agave plants here in the Southwest but if your teeth are "tight," forget it. I think we have all experienced the agony of having something wedged in between the teeth. You may also be eating who knows what as part of your survival diet in which floss rates higher than dessert. In my first book, I pay homage to the multiuse virtues of dental floss and always carry some in my survival kit. Follow the advice and have some extra floss around the house.
Worthwhile Waterless Washing
If water is hard to come by,
externally
smelly areas of the body such as crotches, armpits, and feet can be dealt with using a variety of alcohol-based products and a paper towel or rag. While not truly getting you clean from dirt, the alcohol kills the critters that cause the stink instead of just masking the smell with a fragrance. In my dubious water situation, I commonly use waterless hand sanitizer to knock down the funk factor and it works wonderfully. Funky smells are not only a real romance killer, they are also harbingers of skin diseases ready to manifest themselves and should be dealt with seriously. Obese friends and family members may have the same bacterial buildup between the folds and rolls of their fat, caused by no light and high-moisture conditions. Help them keep as clean as possible through regular methods or wiping with one of the following alcohol products. Like mom does for baby, high-moisture areas can be treated and kept dry by using baby powder or cornstarch to absorb excess moisture.
SELF-CLEANING CLOTHING?
"During Desert Storm most casualties were from bacterial infections rather than from accidents or friendly fire. We have treated T-shirts and underwear for soldiers who tested them for several weeks and found that they remained hygienic, as the clothing was actively killing the bacteria. They also helped clear up some skin complaints in those testing them."
—Jeff Owens, scientist, U.S. Air Force
Scientists have created a coating that repels water, resists stains, and even kills many of the bacteria in human sweat that cause odors. While the clothing would still need to be laundered, it would need to be washed much less often and would wash much easier. The technology involves using microwaves to fix microscopic nanoparticles, which have "attached" chemical properties such as water repellency or the destruction of bacteria, to clothing fibers. Although the coating wears off over time, makers claim it can be restored by soaking the material in a fresh solution of the same chemicals.
U.S. Air Force scientists initially became involved in the research in hopes that soldiers' clothing could offer protection during biological warfare. Initial tests discovered that the process could kill anthrax and other weaponized bacteria.
The coating, especially its antibacterial properties, could revolutionize sports and backpacking clothing as well as offer hundreds of other possibilities, from hospital bedding, doctor and nurses' uniforms, and chefs' aprons to air conditioning filters on planes and cruise ships.
Super Sun-washing
While doing the laundry is not a disaster priority, I'll share the following tip nevertheless. Between extended field courses in outdoor survival and unique living situations for the majority of my life, I have found myself at times unable to do the laundry. Professional slobs will tell you that there are various levels of "dirty" that clothing can become before it should be burned. Most urban folks don't have dirty clothes at all as there is no dirt to dirty them within their environment. The majority of metropolitan dirty clothes are unclean due to perspiration and sloughed dead skin cells from the owner. Add cigarette smoke, pungent food odors, stains from Al's Garlic Deli, and animal hair from the family pet, and that usually rounds out the equation. Unclean, yes, but dirty? I don't think so.
As the fabric of your clothing continues to take on your dead epidermis and glandular fluids, the fibers become clogged and the dead air space, or insulation value of the clothing, starts to decrease. For nearly two decades, I have experimented with wearing the same shirt for several days unless it becomes dirty, i.e. caked with earth, weeds, or something else picked up in the backcountry. I'm so sensitive to this routine that I can literally feel the increased insulation value of a clean T-shirt as opposed to a dirty one. In other words, if it's cold outside, I feel warmer with a fresh shirt. Remember, clean clothing is a plus if your survival situation happens when it's cold.