Soap Alternatives – Yucca

John — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:37:56 +0000

Spend a weekend camping and your hands will invariably show it. There is no escaping the dirt, ash, pine tar and other unmentionable funk that can accumulate on the surface of the skin from the variety of tasks the hands perform while in the field. But where is the soap when you need it? Depending upon where you live there should be at least one plant variety in your area that contains enough saponin to be used as a soap substitute. In the book How to Survive Anywhere, Christopher Nyerges describes several options that are available for personal hygiene for those spending lots of time in the woods. One of the plants that Christopher discusses in detail is Yucca. Now, where I live in the northeast, yucca is definitely not a naturally occurring plant. It is typically associated with the desert southwest. However, it is widely planted as an ornamental landscape species and can be found in many places throughout. So, I happened to have access to some yucca from which I picked a couple of leaves and then processed them as outlined by Christopher. As he explains, just separate the fibers from an individual leaf into several smaller strands, add water to the bundle and agitate between your palms to build up a lather, then rinse. The lather that is generated, in combination with the semi-abrasive quality of the leaf fibers, should leave your hands squeaky clean. And as you can see in the accompanying photo, the lather is an interesting shade of chlorophyl-green, so now washing can be fun AND hygienic at the same time.

Birch Fungus Bandage

John — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:34:55 +0000

Lifehacker linked to an interesting Instructables submission using the birch polypore for use as a band-aid. Check it out.

Making plasters/band-aids in the woods

Lithic Labs » hygiene

Soap Alternatives – Yucca

Birch Fungus Bandage